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JOURNALIST Christopher Sign revealed he and his family received death threats after he broke the news of the 2016 secret "tarmac meeting" involving Bill Clinton and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

The Alabama TV anchor, 45, was found dead at his home in Hoover on Saturday and cops are investigating his death as a suicide.

Read our Christopher Sign live blog for the latest news and updates...

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Sign, a former University of Alabama football player, penned a book about the meeting between Clinton and Lynch, which happened during the presidential election in June 2016.

Its reported that the meeting took place on a private jet at Phoenix airport amid the investigation into Hillary Clintons private email server.

The book "Secret on the Tarmac" was published in 2019.

The journalist told Fox News in February last year that he and his family received death threats and his credit cards were hacked.

He said: My family received significant death threats shortly after breaking this story.

Sign revealed that he and his wife had given their children secret code words in case something happened to them.

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Clinton and Lynch claimed it was a "friendly" chat, centered around their grandchildren.

But, it took place days before the FBI decided it would not recommend criminal charges against Hillary.

The meeting sparked suspicions about whether Bill was lobbying her on behalf of his wife - at the time a presidential candidate.

Sign said the get-together "was a planned meeting, it was not a coincidence".

He said: [Secret on the Tarmac] "details everything that they dont want you to know and everything they think you forgot.

"But Bill Clinton was on that plane for 20 minutes and it wasnt just about golf, grandkids, andBrexit. There's so much that doesnt add up."

Sign's source told him that Clinton had arrived at the airport, and he was waiting for Lynch.

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The journalist said: He then sat and waited in his car with the motorcade, her airstairs come down, most of her staff gets off, he then gets on as the Secret Service and FBI are figuring out How in the world are we supposed to handle this? What are we supposed to do?

Lynch testified before the House Oversight Committee in 2018.

Sign said: "She mentioned that Bill Clinton flattered her, talked about Eric Holder, talked about how things were going at Justice, talked about her job performance, not this golf-grandkids, Brexit."

But Bill rejected the journalist's claims and said that he was "offended" over allegations of misconduct regarding the airport meeting.

Clinton told investigators, according to a 2018 report released by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz: I thought, you know, I dont know whether Im more offended that they think Im crooked or that they think Im stupid.

The ABC 33/40 newsman was found dead at his home at around 8am on Saturday and the news network released a statement mourning the loss of their colleague.

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It read: To know Chris was to love Chris. His family was the single most important thing in his life which is why he ended up returning to ABC 33/40 four years ago."

The veteran anchor worked as a reporter in Montgomery and Midland/Odessa, Texas, Birmingham, and Phoenix.

He returned to ABC 33/40 in 2017 after turning down an opportunity to work at a major news network so he could spend more time with his family.

The outlet said: "What most people don't know is Chris turned down an opportunity to work for one of the national networks to come to ABC 33/40, and he made that decision because of his family.

"That decision put him in a place where he could see his boys off to school in the mornings, watch them play baseball in the evenings, and take them fishing on the weekends."

The former college footballer played for the University of Alabama under Coach Gene Stallings in the 1990s, the outlet reported.

Sign won several awards for his journalistic work throughout the years.

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In 2014, he got an Emmy Award for breaking news for his coverage of the shootings of two Phoenix police officers.

In 2016, he earned an Edward Murrow Award for spot news for his coverage of the search for the "Baseline Killer" and "Serial Shooter" in Phoenix.

He and his wife, Laura, met while attending the University of Alabama and went on to marry and have three sons.

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.

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Anchor Christopher Sign who killed himself was hit with death threats after exposing Clintons 2016 tarm... - The US Sun

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

President Biden uttered its simply, simply wrong when news arrived that the Trump Justice Department had spied on reporters phone records and emails to try to catch leakers.

Mr. Bidens verdict sounded great for the First Amendment in an era of left-wing muzzling.

You would never guess that the not-so-long-ago Obama-Biden administration conducted some of the most mindboggling spying on journalists in modern U.S. history.

How does the Kremlin or Tehran or Beijing top this? The last Democratic administration bugged the Washington bureau of the nations leading wire service, the Associated Press.

The AP operation was part of a larger press assault. The Obama-Biden team displayed little hesitancy in targeting journalists not only to find sources, but to make examples for any sources in waiting.

In 2012, Attorney General Eric Holder approved the extensive intrusion into the APs daily reporter-source communications. He wanted to know who tipped off the wire service to a CIA operation that stopped an al Qaeda airplane bomb plot hatched in Yemen.

Obama-Biden was not content with just spying on the APs D.C. bureau. The feds harvested a large number of records including reporters home and cell phone calls from APs Hartford and New York offices and its bureau in the House of Representatives.

It was not mob-style wiretapping, with agents in headsets in a disguised van. Instead, the FBI secretly collected a larger number of digits who called whom revealing just about everyone APs reporters routinely contacted.

This sort of activity really amounts to massive government monitoring of the actions of the press, and it really puts a dagger at the heart of APs newsgathering activities, APs lawyer David Schultz, told NPR.

There were no subpoenas to AP. No warnings. Just raw data collection. (Imagine what Adam Schiff would do if Trump).

So offended was Gary B. Pruitt, APs president and chief executive, that he wrote directly to Mr. Holder in May 2013.

There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of the Associated Press and its reporters, Mr. Pruitt wrote. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to APs newsgathering operations, and disclose information about APs activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know.

He said Mr. Holder violated the departments own regulations to make subpoenas on a news reporters call records as narrow as possible.

That same month the Obama-Biden team outdid itself. Not content with bugging bureaus, they decided to stalk a reporter, James Rosen, then of Fox News.

An FBI May 2010 affidavit revealed the Justice Department viewed the diplomatic reporter as a criminal a co-conspirator for reporting classified information on a North Korean nuclear test.

There is probable cause to believe that the Reporter has committed or is committing a violation of section 793(d), an aider and abettor and/or co-conspirator, to which the materials relate, the FBI agent wrote.

Federal law 793 makes it a crime to leak classified information and conviction can bring a maximum 10-year prison sentence.

The FBI tailed Mr. Rosens comings and goings at the State Department by monitoring his card swipes and by prying into his personal GMail account.

We are outraged to learn today that James Rosen was named a criminal co-conspirator for simply doing his job as a reporter, Michael Clemente, then Fox News executive vice president of news, said at the time. In fact, it is downright chilling.

The liberal website Slate.com weighed in: Government spying on Fox News Reporter Even Worse Than AP Case.

The Obama-era FBI used reporters emails to nail other leakers, including:

CIA covert officer John Kiriakou. He leaked two names of covert officers involved in the infamous enhanced interrogations of captured Islamic terrorists to The New York Times and other news organizations. The Obama administration opened a probe in 2010 and charged him in 2012 based on his back-in-forth emails with reporters.

Retired Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, said to be Mr. Obamas favorite general when he served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The FBI read his email communications with a New York Times reporter about the secret U.S. operation to inject the Stuxnet malware into Irans nuclear machinery. Confronted with the emails, he confessed to the FBI.

By 2016, the Obama-Biden administration racked up quite a record: the most anti-leak administration in modern history, if the judging is based on criminal convictions. Such cases had been relatively rare. They scored nine of them against government officials.

The Obama-Biden anti-press history is relevant given President Bidens dismissal of President Trumps efforts to find leakers using journalists phone and email records. Three such cases at the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN came to light recently.

Why not? Trump people might say. The Obama-Biden penchant for reading reporters emails, texts and phone logs well, it works.

They nabbed James Rosens source, who went to prison. Mr. Cartwright pleaded guilty as did Mr. Kiriakou.

As for Mr. Holders AP bureau phone sweep it also hit pay dirt.

The leaker was former FBI special agent bomb technician Donald Sachtleben, who then worked as a bureau contractor. His name showed up via AP reporters phone records. The FBI then obtained Mr. Sachtlebens texts and emails from his devices. A judge sentenced him to three years in prison. (He also pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.)

The Obama-Biden team had a loathsome record on another facet of open government.

An Associated Press analysis released in 2015 said Obama administration bureaucrats set a record for refusing open-records requests, filed under the Freedom of Information Act. The backlog of unanswered requests grew by an astounding 55%.

Mr. Biden likes pronouncing things wrong, simply wrong. He used the phrase against Mitt Romney in the 2012 election and against Mr. Trump in 2020.

Wrong, simply wrong spoken to a CNN reporter last month is a good media play. Mr. Biden knows the liberal mass media is his most important constituency.

He occasionally keeps them in check with a scolding dismissive retort when a question veers to a conservative theme. During the 2020 campaign, Today Show co-host Savannah Guthrie asked Mr. Biden if it was wrong for son Hunter to take a lucrative corporate board job in 2014 in Ukraine. Critics say it was an attempt to buy influence with the vice president.

Well, thats not true. Youre saying things you do not know what youre talking about, Mr. Biden snapped.

During the transition, aides guided Mr. Biden away after delivering a statement alongside congressional Democrats.

CBS News Bo Erickson then asked if the president-elect would urge the teachers union to get kids back in the classroom.

Why are you the only guy that always shouts out questions? Mr. Biden shot back, and walked away.

Conservatives are asking the same question.

Rowan Scarborough can be reached by email at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter at @RoScarborough.

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Rank hypocrisy in Biden's press criticisms of Trump - Washington Times

DANBURY The YouTuber who has recorded his interactions with police and security guards at the Danbury Library and City Hall claims they tried to violate his first and fourth amendment rights.

But experts say the situation is more complicated.

Theres a lot more nuance than that, said Laszlo Pinter, the citys attorney.

Danbury police department has launched an internal investigation into its officers response captured in YouTuber SeanPaul Reyes video where he refused to stop recording at the Danbury Library, despite a library policy banning filming without permission.

A second video, where police are called when the YouTuber declines to give his name to a security guard at Danbury City Hall, is not part of the investigation, Chief Patrick Ridenhour said.

The five officers from the library incident, including a city sergeant who the YouTuber says he intends to sue, remain on duty, Ridenhour said.

Screenshots from a video from the YouTube channel Long Island Audit showing interactions with a security guard, police and other officials at Danbury City Hall on Thursday, June 10, 2021. Danbury police were called to City Hall on Thursday, June 10, 2021 after YouTuber SeanPaul Reyes refused to give his name to the security guard in order to enter the building. Reyes left after the town clerk was called down to the lobby so he could file his intent to sue a city sergeant.

Screenshots from a video from the YouTube channel Long Island Audit showing interactions with a security guard, police and other officials at Danbury City Hall on Thursday, June 10, 2021. Danbury police were called to City Hall on Thursday, June 10, 2021 after YouTuber SeanPaul Reyes refused to give his name to the security guard in order to enter the building. Reyes left after the town clerk was called down to the lobby so he could file his intent to sue a city sergeant.

Screenshots from a video from the YouTube channel Long Island Audit showing interactions with a security guard, police and other officials at Danbury City Hall on Thursday, June 10, 2021. Danbury police were called to City Hall on Thursday, June 10, 2021 after YouTuber SeanPaul Reyes refused to give his name to the security guard in order to enter the building. Reyes left after the town clerk was called down to the lobby so he could file his intent to sue a city sergeant.

Screenshots from a video from the YouTube channel Long Island Audit showing interactions with a security guard, police and other officials at Danbury City Hall on Thursday, June 10, 2021. Danbury police were called to City Hall on Thursday, June 10, 2021 after YouTuber SeanPaul Reyes refused to give his name to the security guard in order to enter the building. Reyes left after the town clerk was called down to the lobby so he could file his intent to sue a city sergeant.

Screenshots from a video from the YouTube channel Long Island Audit showing interactions with a security guard, police and other officials at Danbury City Hall on Thursday, June 10, 2021. Danbury police were called to City Hall on Thursday, June 10, 2021 after YouTuber SeanPaul Reyes refused to give his name to the security guard in order to enter the building. Reyes left after the town clerk was called down to the lobby so he could file his intent to sue a city sergeant.

It has not been necessary to put anyone one on leave, he said in an email.

Ridenhour declined to comment further, citing the ongoing investigation. Hearst Connecticut Media requested through the Freedom of Information Act the records of the officers involved in the library incident, as well as the body camera footage.

Both videos are edited.

I only see one side of the story, Mayor Joe Cavo said. Until I get all the facts, Im going to reserve my comment and see what happens with the rest of the information and how things proceed.

Danbury plans to keep its building policies in place, although officials are reviewing the incidents.

First Amendment law is very complicated, Cavo said. Fourth Amendment law is very complicated. Were trying to sort out how that relates to our responsibilities here as a public agency, and were working out those details now within inside counsel and outside counsel.

Reyes is part of a social media movement known as First Amendment Audits, where people film in public buildings, such as libraries or municipal centers, in an attempt to showcase how officials abide by the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech and the press.

Allied Universal, the security company that the Danbury guards in the videos work for, trains its staff on how to respond to these auditors, the company spokeswoman said.

Guards take a specific training module on these audits when they join the company. The module includes appropriate practices for how to handle these situations, spokeswoman Vanessa Showalter said.

Guards are informed if auditors are in their area and get additional tips if so, she said.

The company has seen auditors the most in California, where Allied Universal, is based, she said.

Their whole goal is to provoke on-site security professionals in order to illicit a negative response, she said. The reason why they do this is so they can get a lot of likes on their Facebook and their social sites in order to get money. That is their whole goal.

Reyes told Hearst Connecticut Media on Friday that he aims to exercise his rights and educate police through his videos. He said he aims to start an outreach program in Connecticut where activists like himself could shed light on rights violations and is thinking about starting a YouTube channel to teach kids about these issues.

He said he has not taken any criminal justice courses and learned what he knows through YouTube and other online sources.

Im a big believer of knowing your rights, he said.

His channel, Long Island Audit, has about 24,200 subscribers as of Monday evening, up from around 22,800 subscribers on Friday. His video at Danbury Library has 66,000 views, while the City Hall video has 49,000 views.

Heck, if it does nothing other than make government employees aware that we the people have the right to observe that which is observable by the naked eye, it cant be a bad thing from where we sit, said Dan Barrett, legal director with the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut.

Cavo said hed rather see a collaborative approach.

I see what this guys doing and he has the right to do that, he said. For me, I dont know. I think in this world we need to figure out how to work together instead of instigate.

Some police officers know Constitutional law better than others, Barrett said.

Its never been clear to me that the training, if any, that they get on the free speech and the right to memorialize has any effect, he said.

Individuals have the right to film in and from public places, Barrett said.

Anywhere that you are allowed to be as a member of the public and anything you can see with your own eyes, its fair game, he said.

But the rules get trickier in places that are more sensitive, he said. Libraries can be places where people research or conduct private activities, such as research health related information, he said.

So, its unclear whether the librarys policy banning filming or photography would stand in court.

It depends a little bit on whats restricted where and what the librarys interests are, Barrett said.

The library policy states that filming or photography is not allowed inside the building without permission from the library director. Patrons may not take photos or videos of other library users without their permission.

Motivations dont matter when it comes to the First Amendment, Barrett said.

It doesnt particularly matter from the First Amendment standpoint, Barrett said. Thats all fair game. What matters is whether the library has a good enough reason and an appropriately tailored policy.

In a second video uploaded Sunday, Reyes goes to City Hall to file his intent to sue a Danbury police sergeant but refuses to give his name to the security guard, as required for visitors under COVID-19 precautions.

I shouldnt have to surrender my Fourth Amendment right to enter a public building, Reyes says.

Dont go there, the security guard says.

Dont go there, Reyes says. This is the United States of America.

I am the guard here, the security officer says. I dont make the rules. I enforce the rules. This is what they want me to do. They want me to take your name, give you a card and you go upstairs.

Collecting names to contact trace for COVID-19 in public buildings would likely not violate peoples protection from unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment, Barrett said.

In the time of COVID mercifully waning though it is in Connecticut it may be the case that collecting names is O.K., providing there is sufficient restriction on the use of those names, Barrett said.

Its fine if Danbury throws out the names after 14 days, but not if the city uses them to track if those people are paying their taxes, for example, he said.

Pinter argued the YouTubers claim about the Fourth Amendment violation is misplaced. Asking for someones name to enter a public building for COVID or security reasons is reasonable, he said.

Asking for identification is not a seizure if its reasonable, Pinter said. If its reasonable, its not a search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment.

See the rest here:
A YouTuber tried to 'audit' how well Danbury follows Constitutional rights. The answer is complicated. - Danbury News Times

An American man is suing the city of Springfield, Illinois, and six of its police officers for opening an urn containing his daughter's ashes and allegedly "desecrating" it during a traffic stop.

In his lawsuit, Dartavius Barnes claims the officers violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

Mr Barnes also claims the officers stopped his car initially without reasonable suspicion or probable cause that he had committed a crime, according to the lawsuit filed by his attorney, James C Pullos.

The lawsuit further accuses the police department of violating the Springfield man's Fourth Amendment rights of unlawful search and seizure of his vehicle without probable cause, a valid search warrant, or consent, and claims the officers acted intentionally and maliciously.

In its response to the lawsuit, the city denied Mr Barnes' claims and maintained the city and its officers were protected by "qualified immunity as their conduct was justified by an objectively reasonable belief that it was lawful."

"Unfortunately, I am not permitted to expand upon the contents of our answer at this time," Ms Fancher said.

The Springfield Police Department also declined to comment when contacted by CNN.

Mr Barnes has declined to speak with CNN about this incident.

Body camera footage shows traffic stop and search

The traffic stop occurred on April 6, 2020, when Mr Barnes was pulled over by a Springfield police officer for speeding and running a stop sign, according to the police incident report.

The officer who stopped Mr Barnes' car stated in his incident report that he heard through department radio that Mr Barnes was also a potential suspect from a nearby report of shots fired.

Mr Barnes' vehicle was shot one time in the passenger side rear fender, according to a police incident report.

"It is unknown if the blue Chrysler driven by (Dartavius Barnes) was a target of the shooter or was hit by the round," the incident report states.

"I had Dartavius exit the car and secured him in handcuffs," and sat him in the backseat of the officer's patrol car, according to the incident report.

Body camera footage of the incident was recently published and obtained from the police department by CNN.

The footage showed that Mr Barnes sat inside in a police vehicle for nearly 30 minutes after he was stopped.

Five other officers who were also on patrol came onto the scene and searched the vehicle.

"No problem if I search?" an officer asks Mr Barnes in the video.

"Yeah, go ahead," Mr Barnes states, as police search his car.

In the bodycam footage, an officer is seen holding a sealed urn which he found during his search. The incident report states a brass object was discovered which was shaped like a rifle round.

"I have seen similar items like this before utilised to contain narcotics," the officer wrote in the report.

"Then I checked for cocaine, but it looks like it's probably molly," the officer says in the bodycam video to one of his colleagues.

In the video, police tell Mr Barnes they found a substance in his car that tested positive for drugs, specifically ecstasy or meth.

The substance was instead the ashes of his deceased two-year-old daughter, Ta'Naja Barnes, which were kept in a sealed urn.

The brass object shaped like a "rifle round" or a bullet is a commonly used cremation urn necklace worn by individuals.

"No, no, no, bro. That's my daughter. What are y'all doing bro ... give me that bro, that's my daughter," Mr Barnes says in the video when officers showed him the urn.

Police decided not to re-test the ashes and gave the urn back to Mr Barnes' father, who had arrived on the scene in a separate car.

"Common sense, though, man," Mr Barnes' father is heard saying the video, regarding the contents of the urn.

The lawsuit claims the officers "desecrated" his daughter's ashes when they spilled some of them during the search.

Ms Davis and her boyfriend, Anthony Myers, were sentenced to prison for their roles in her death.

Mr Myers is serving 30 years in prison after he was found guilty of first-degree murder, according to WICS and court documents.

Ms Davis is serving 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder, according to WICS and court documents.

A trial on Mr Barnes' lawsuit against the city is scheduled for August 2022, according to court documents.

According to the lawsuit, Mr Barnes is asking for "compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial" along with attorney's fees, costs, and litigation expenses and any other "relief as the court may deem just or equitable."

Continue reading here:
Father suing US police department for opening an urn containing the ashes of his daughter - 9News

President Joe Biden supports a ban on assault weapons like the one that has been in place in California since 1989. On June 4, however, Roger Benitez, United States judge for the Southern District of California, ruled that California's ban is unconstitutional.

The judge is probably correct.

Benitez's ruling is a peculiar piece of work for a document that aspires to serious legal analysis. The ruling's tone and the judge's personal high regard for assault weapons are obvious in its first sentence: "Like the Swiss Army Knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment."

Elsewhere Benitez's prose smacks of the oppression that pro-gun advocates claim to endure at the hands of anti-gun zealots: "Under this relaxed test a state could enter a person's home without a warrant and seize him or his guns in violation of the Fourth Amendment prohibition of searches and seizures without a warrant." This is paranoia worthy of an NRA lobbyist.

Benitez devotes a couple of pages to breathless descriptions of six cases in which homeowners used AR-15s to thwart home invasions, but he doesn't acknowledge that this is anecdotal evidence, which should be of questionable standing in legal analysis.

The judge also doesn't note that, according to FBI homicide data, for every "justifiable" gun homicide in 2012, there were 34 criminal homicides, 78 suicides and two accidental gun deaths.

And how common are home invasions? Judge Benitez says, "it surely happens a lot."

All we really need to know about the sketchy nature of this ruling is this unhelpful sentence from page 47: "More people have died from the COVID-19 vaccine than mass shootings in California." That can't be true. In fact, it's not, suggesting that we should view the entire document with some skepticism.

Our American infatuation with firearms is regrettable. The daily carnage is tragic. And the emergence of the AR-15 as the essential icon of a disgruntled minority who are angry, fearful, aggrieved and hostile to government is ominous.

Nevertheless, despite his bias, Benitez probably got it right about the unconstitutionality of an assault weapons ban, and his ruling is a good predictor of the result if the issue ever reaches our conservative Supreme Court.

The right to have a weapon for self-protection precedes the Constitution, a right so "natural" that the founders didn't bother to secure it by language any stronger than the slender reed of the Second Amendment.

The founders could not have imagined the killing efficiency of a modern assault rifle, any more than they could have imagined television, a Black president or a female vice president. For them, the "right to bear arms" implied muzzle-loading muskets. Still, if the modern hypothetical home invader is much better armed than in colonial times, the modern hypothetical homeowner has a right to be better armed, as well.

But even a constitutional right can be limited. The courts have held that citizens cannot own machine guns or bazookas. Some of the carnage might be limited by more rigorous background checks, mandatory training and demonstrated proficiency.

Even Benitez's ruling includes testimony (p. 30, p. 47) suggesting that the real culprit in mass shootings is large-capacity magazines. Reducing legal magazine size might help even the odds in the Great American Shoot-Out.

But in the meantime, our challenge is to find a way to live in a society drowning in guns, even as a hundred of us die every day by gunfire.

Tribune Content Agency

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Crisp: Learning to live with assault weapons - Chattanooga Times Free Press