NewsChannel 5’s Phil Williams Responds with Deceptive Distractions When Confronted Over His Journalistic Failures to Get Justin Jones on the Record Over 2020 Claim

Phil Williams Justin Jones

NewsChannel 5’s chief investigative reporter Phil Williams continues to be criticized for his “journalistic failures” as he dodged an opportunity to confront State Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) on his alleged coverup of a 2020 assault of two protesters by a homeless man.

Read the full story

NewsChannel 5’s Phil Williams Refuses to Explain His Failure to Get Justin Jones on the Record about Allegations He Covered Up Report of 2020 Sexual Assault, Tries to Distract with False Claims About Tennessee Star Reporter

Phil Williams

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, addressed personal attacks from NewsChannel 5’s chief investigative reporter Phil Williams over the weekend, saying such attacks are “absolute silliness” and a common tactic used by Williams when pressed on his “journalistic failings.”

On Sunday, Pappert reported on an interview between Williams and Dan Mandis, host of Nashville’s Morning News with Dan Mandis on SuperTalk 99.7 WTN, where Williams said that he once asked Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) to respond to claims made by his former close colleague Jeneisha Harris on June 18, 2020 that the state lawmaker had covered up the sexual assault of two protesters by a homeless man.

Read the full story

Tennessee State Judge Orders Police to Provide Redacted Copy of Covenant Killer Manifesto Ahead of Possible Release

Judge I'Ashea L. Myles

Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles on Monday afternoon ordered the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to provide a redacted copy of the manifesto written by Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale for the judge to review.

Myles made the order after Metro Nashville attorney Lora Fox previously confirmed MNPD holds no objections to releasing a redacted version of the manifesto, and would now make less redactions to the manifesto than were previously proposed in 2023.

Read the full story

Michael Patrick Leahy: As a Plaintiff in Covenant Manifesto Case, I Want All Documents Released, Not Just the Killer’s Writings Recovered from Vehicle

Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star, said as a plaintiff in the case seeking to compel the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to release the manifesto left behind by the Covenant School shooter, he believes the the full manifesto should be released – not just the “documents in the car” found on the day of the shooting which Metro Legal suggests would satisfy the plaintiffs in the case.

Read the full story

Reporter Tom Pappert: NewsChannel 5’s Phil Williams ‘Ought to be Embarrassed’ for Illegitimate Responses to Questions Surrounding Legality of Recorded Phone Call in Anti-School Choice Hit Piece

NewsChannel 5's Phil Williams

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said News Channel 5’s Phil Williams “ought to be embarrassed” as the investigative journalist continues to provide illegitimate responses to inquiries surrounding the legality of a recorded phone call the network aired during last Monday’s 8-minute anti-school choice hit piece.

Read the full story

Michael Patrick Leahy: New Covenant Killer Investigation Revelation That ‘There Was a Failure to Report’ and ‘Massive Failure of the Mental Health System’ of ‘Epic Proportions’ Highlights Public Interest in Release of Documents

Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star, dissected a critical revelation in the case of The Covenant School shooter, 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who took six lives last year at the Nashville school.

Hale, who identified as transgender, shot and killed three adults and three students at The Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023.

Read the full story

Phil Williams and NewsChannel 5 Refuse to Answer Questions About Legality of Recorded Phone Call Broadcast in Anti-School Choice Report

NewsChannel5 news Director Sandy Boonstra and reporter Phil Williams

NewsChannel 5 and investigative journalist Phil Williams have so far refused to answer questions about the suspicious origin of a phone call recording Williams obtained and broadcast in a Monday report attacking a school choice advocacy group.

The recording captured a phone conversation between Executive Director Tori Venable of Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee and State Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill), who currently opposes Governor Bill Lee’s pending school choice legislation.

Read the full story

Phil Williams’ Use of Phone Call Recorded by ‘Someone in the Room’ Not a Party to the Call in NewsChannel 5 Report Raises Questions About His Journalistic Credibility

Phil Williams, Todd Warner, Tori Venable

Matthew Giffin, a reporter for The Tennessee Star, and Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief and CEO of The Star, questioned the legality of News Channel 5’s airing of a so-called secret recording of a call between Tennessee State Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) and Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee (AFP-TN) State Director Tori Venable.

On Monday, the news outlet ran investigative reporter Phil Williams’ 8-minute anti-school choice hit piece focused on AFP-TN’s push for state lawmakers to advance the governor’s bill.

Read the full story

Michael Patrick Leahy: Phil Williams’ ‘Nothing Burger’ School Choice Story is Built on Secretly Recorded 2016 Strategy Session of Choice Advocates

JC Bowman, founder and president of Professional Educators of Tennessee, and Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star, debated an audio recording slated to be released by News Channel 5’s Phil Williams supposedly addressing the “origin of school vouchers” in Tennessee.

Read the full story

Aaron Gulbransen, Michael Patrick Leahy Slam State Rep. Todd Warner’s Vote Against School Choice Bill

Todd Warner

Aaron Gulbransen, executive director of the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition, and Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star, condemned Tennessee State Representative Todd Warner’s (R-Chapel Hill) vote against Governor Bill Lee’s proposed school voucher program.

On Tuesday, state lawmakers on the K-12 Subcommittee voted 6-2 to pass the House version of the governor’s school voucher program, which would make Education Freedom Scholarships worth $7,000 available to students in every county of the state.

Read the full story

Joe Allen Details ‘Nightmarish Visions’ in the Making with AI, Transhumanism

AI

Joe Allen, author of Dark Aeon: Transhumanism and the War Against Humanity, said transhumanism in artificial intelligence, commonly known as AI, is a war against the “very concept of the human.”

Allen, on Friday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report, described transhumanism as a “quest to go beyond our current human state by way of science and technology – to transform the some portion of the human species and some versions of it or to transform the entire human species using everything from genetic engineering to artificial intelligence, a kind of symbiosis with artificial intelligence, a partnership, and, of course, using whatever means are available to connect the brain to artificial intelligence.”

Read the full story

Michael Patrick Leahy and Crom Carmichael Debate Bill That Would Allow State Attorneys General to Sue DHS

Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy and Crom Carmichael, original all-star panelist of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, discussed on Monday a bill recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would give state attorneys general a greater standing to sue the Department of Homeland Security when it fails to enforce existing immigration laws passed by Congress.

Read the full story

Michael Patrick Leahy: John Fredericks Owns the Only Independent ‘America First’ Radio Network in the Country

Michael Patrick Leahy and John Fredericks

Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy said the John Fredericks Radio Network is the only radio network left in the country that hosts independent, America First personalities as other networks, like Audacy, are being bought out and transformed into left-wing outlets by the likes of George Soros.

Leahy, who hosts The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on 760 AM WENO “The Flame,” Nashville’s only America First Newstalk station, said Soros, a Democrat mega-donor, is buying up radio networks across the country as a “2024 campaign contribution for the Democrats.”

Read the full story

Michael Patrick Leahy on J6 Defendant Reporting to Memphis Prison: ‘What Kind of Safety Is Stewart Parks Going to Have There?’

Stewart Parks

Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy dedicated a segment during Tuesday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss the imprisonment of January 6 defendant Stewart Parks, who self-reported for incarceration at the Federal Correctional Institution in Memphis on Tuesday to serve an eight-month sentence for being present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

D.C. Circuit Court Judge Amit P. Mehta, who has presided over several trials related to the January 6 Capitol riots, sentenced Parks in November 2023 to three years imprisonment on misdemeanor trespassing, disorderly conduct, and theft charges. Parks, however, will serve his sentence concurrently, reducing his term to eight months behind bars.

Read the full story

Leahy Tells Bannon Texas Gov. Abbott’s Response to Supreme Court’s Decision on Border Wire Sounds a Lot Like Andrew Jackson

MLP

Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy joined Steve Bannon’s War Room on Wednesday to discuss Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s response to the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in favor of the Biden administration, which allows Border Patrol agents to cut through or move razor wire the state installed on its border with Mexico to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing.

In a statement released Wednesday, Abbott argued President Joe Biden has “refused to enforce” current federal laws protecting states, “including immigration laws on the books right now.”

Read the full story

Steve Bannon on War Room: Michael Patrick Leahy Just ‘Dropped a Bomb’ on AZGOP Leaked Audio Recording Story

MLP

Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy joined Steve Bannon’s War Room on Wednesday to discuss who orchestrated the message Jeff DeWit, the now-former chair of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP), delivered to Kari Lake, which included offering her money and a job if she stayed out of politics for two years.

Read the full story

Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy Radio Show Moves to 760 AM, Nashville’s Only ‘America First’ Newstalk Station

The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, the radio show produced by the state’s leading conservative media company, begins broadcasting Monday, December 11 on Nashville’s newest conservative talk station 760 AM WENO “The Flame,” Nashville’s only America First newstalk station.

The Tennessee Star Report moves to its new home after a five-year run on TalkRadio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC. The show is produced by Star News Digital Media, the parent company of The Tennessee Star conservative news website.

Read the full story

After Recent Trip to Israel TN State Rep. Gino Bulso Says Biggest Need for Communities Attacked by Hamas Is a Freestanding Emergency Room

Tennessee State Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) sat down with the Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy in the latest episode of The Tennessee Star Extra to discuss his recent overseas trip to Israel following the terrorist group Hamas’ October 7 attack on the country that left around 1,200 Israelis dead.

Read the full story

AFP-TN State Director Scorches Opponents of Gov. Lee’s School Choice Proposal: Keeping Kids in Failing Schools is ‘Morally Reprehensible’

Michael Patrick Leahy and AFP-TN Tori Venable

Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee (AFP-TN) State Director Tori Venable sat down with the Editor-in-chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy in the latest episode of the Tennessee Star Extra to discuss Governor Bill Lee’s legislative push for universal school choice.

Read the full story

Michael Patrick Leahy: Antisemitism at MTSU Enabled by Administration and Faculty Adviser to School Newspaper

Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star and CEO of The Star News Network, warned Dan Mandis of SuperTalk 99.7 WTN that the administration of Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) and the student advisor of the school newspaper, Sidelines, have enabled antisemitism on the university’s campus.

Tennessee legislators at the state and federal level continue to decry the MTSU student newspaper’s decision to pull an article written by former editor Matthew Giffin, who Leahy explained wrote a “straightforward” story about an MTSU student originally from Tel Aviv.

Read the full story

Michael Patrick Leahy: Tennessee House Speaker Sexton’s Proposed Change of One Word in Tennessee Law from ‘Immediate’ to ‘Imminent’ Would Not Have Kept Alleged Killer of Belmont Freshman in Custody

Michael Patrick Leahy, the Editor-in-Chief of The Tennessee Star and CEO of The Star News Network, revealed during a Monday afternoon appearance on “The Matt Murphy Show” that Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton responded to The Star’s fact check of his claims regarding Shaquille Taylor, the alleged killer of Jillian Ludwig, after Leahy’s prior appearance on SuperTalk 99.2 WTN earlier on Monday.

Leahy noted that during Sexton’s Friday appearance on Murphy’s show, he explicitly stated that Ludwig would still be alive if the laws passed by the Tennessee House during the recent special session were passed by the Tennessee Senate, before revealing that Sexton changed his story during an early morning phone conversation on Monday.

Read the full story

Neil W. McCabe: Trump’s Decision to Skip the Second Debate and Go to Michigan Has Democrats ‘Freaking Out’

National political reporter Neil W. McCabe shares his insights and political acumen as a new week in presidential politics unfolds on Wednesday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report. Host Michael Patrick Leahy, along with all-star panelists Crom Carmichael and Carol Swain join in to discuss Donald Trump’s latest decision to skip the second debate and instead, go to the striking UAW auto workers – and sending Michigan Democrats into a tizzy.  TRANSCRIPT Michael Patrick Leahy: 7:20 a.m. – in-studio, original all-star panelist, Crom Carmichael; all-star panelist, Carol Swain. On the newsmaker line right now, the best national political correspondent in the country, our good friend, Neil W. McCabe. Neil, good morning. Neil W. McCabe: Hey, Michael, Crom, Carol, good to be with you. Michael Patrick Leahy: So we have some counterprogramming going on again from Donald J. Trump. We had the Tucker Carlson interview in the first debate of the Munchkins, and now there’s going to be a second debate at the Reagan Library Donald Trump is not going to go there. Tell us where he’s going to go and why. Neil W. McCabe: I’ll tell you, Donald Trump is brilliant. He is a showman and he is going…

Read the full story

Tennessee Star Files Records Request for Information on ‘Handwritten Words, Drawings, and Numbers’ Found on Covenant Killer’s Clothes

The Tennessee Star filed a public records request seeking information related to “handwritten words, drawings, and numbers” found on the clothing of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the Covenant School killer, at the time of the mass shootings.

Michael Patrick Leahy, Tennessee citizen and CEO of Star News Digital Media, Inc., parent company of The Tennessee Star, filed the records request Thursday morning with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. MNPD officials sent an automatic reply acknowledging receipt of the request.

Read the full story

Court Filing: The Tennessee Star and Others Argue Metro Nashville Has No Case in Denying Release of Covenant Killer’s Manifesto

In a new court filing, attorneys for Star News Digital Media, parent company of The Tennessee Star, argue that the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davison County and intervenors in a public records lawsuit have no right to keep the Covenant School killer’s manifesto and related records from the public.

The memorandum of law, filed with Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles, asserts the Metro Nashville Police Department cannot “play ‘hide the ball’ with the reason for denial and come in later, raising wholly new and unrelated denial reasons.”

Read the full story

The Tennessee Star’s Public Records Lawsuit in Covenant Killer Case Transferred to Chancery Court

The Tennessee Star’s state lawsuit demanding the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) release the Covenant School killer’s manifesto and related documents is being transferred to Chancery Court. 

Tennessee First Circuit Court Judge David Briley this week granted the transfer, requested by attorneys for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, defendants in the case. 

Read the full story

Attorneys for Covenant Church File Motions to Intervene in Lawsuits Seeking Covenant Killer’s Writings

Attorneys for the Covenant Presbyterian Church have filed a motion to intervene in Star News Digital Media Inc.’s lawsuit seeking the immediate release of the manifesto and related documents of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the transgender killer behind the March 27 mass shootings at the private elementary school.

The 20th Circuit Court-Davidson County will hold a hearing on the motion to intervene, which seeks to protect the Covenant Presbyterian Church’s “interests relating to the release of records sought in this matter.” The court set a hearing for 9 a.m. May 26.

Read the full story