On Tuesday, Rolling Stone reported that an Emmy-winning ABC News producer James Gordon Meek has withdrawn from public and professional life following an FBI search at his home that allegedly turned up classified information on his laptop.
"To his detractors within ABC, Meek was something of a 'military fanboy,'" reported Tatiana Siegel. "But his track record of exclusives was undeniable, breaking the news of foiled terrorist plots in New York City and the Army's coverup of the fratricidal death of Pfc. Dave Sharrett II in Iraq, a bombshell that earned Meek a face-to-face meeting with President Obama. With nine years at ABC under his belt, a buzzy Hulu documentary poised for Emmy attention, and an upcoming book on the military's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the 52-year-old bear of a man seemed to be at the height of his powers and the pinnacle of his profession."
According to the report, FBI agents allegedly found classified information on Meek's laptop in the search, which was approved by a federal magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Virginia one day prior.
"In the raid's aftermath, Meek ... has made himself scarce," said the report. "None of his Siena Park neighbors with whom Rolling Stone spoke have seen him since, with his apartment appearing to be vacant. Siena Park management declined to confirm that their longtime tenant was gone, citing 'privacy policies.' Similarly, several ABC News colleagues — who are accustomed to unraveling mysteries and cracking investigative stories — tell Rolling Stone that they have no idea what happened to Meek. 'He fell off the face of the Earth,' says one. 'And people asked, but no one knew the answer.'"
The search raises questions about whether the Biden administration is targeting a journalist for actions done in the course of their reporting — a controversial move that has occurred under multiple presidents over the years.
This also comes amid the much higher-profile FBI investigation into boxes of highly classified documents found at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida, which may include foreign nuclear secrets and clandestine human sources. This investigation is currently tied up as Trump and the DOJ battle in federal court over which documents seized in the FBI's recent search can be reviewed by federal investigators.
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