'Paranoid' Michael Hastings told WikiLeaks lawyer he was being investigated by the FBI only a few hours before deadly car crash

Whistleblowing site makes claim day after journalist's death
Friends and colleagues say award-winning reporter had been nervous

PUBLISHED: 15:55 EST, 20 June 2013 | UPDATED: 17:12 EST, 20 June 2013

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In the hours leading up to his death in a fiery car crash, a 'paranoid' Michael Hastings told WikiLeaks he was being investigated by the FBI, according to the whistleblowing website.

A tweet sent from WikiLeaks yesterday claimed: 'Michael Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him.'

The Rollingstone and Buzzfeed reporter, who famously brought down General Stanley McChrystal with his 2010 profile, died in a crash in Los Angeles at about 4.30am on Tuesday.

Talented: Award-winning journalist Michael Hastings died in a car crash this week in Los Angeles

Since the award-winning journalist's death, conspiracy theorists have suggested the crash may have been suspicious, casting doubt on whether a Mercedez-Benz would catch fire so quickly after a crash.

Fueling the suspicions, WikiLeaks posted a tweet claiming: 'Michael Hastings death has a very serious non-public complication. We will have more details later.'

Three hours later the website claimed Mr Hastings had contacted their lawyer a few hours before he died.

Los Angeles police are still investigating the crash but say they have found no suspicious circumstances.

Friends have said that the journalist had been concerned in the lead up to his death, but said they could not be sure if that contributed to his death.

'He was incredibly tense and very worried, and was concerned that the government was looking in on his material,' Cenk Uygur, a friend and fellow journalist, said.

'I don't know what his state of mind was at 4:30 in the morning, but I do know what his state of mind was in general, and it was a nervous wreck,' Mr Uygur told New York Magazine.

BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith added that Mr Hastings had told friends and family 'he was concerned that he was under investigation.'

Claims: WikiLeaks sent a tweet saying that the reporter had been in contact with their lawyer before he died

Fatal: Michael Hastings was killed when his car crashed and burst into flames in Los Angeles early on Tuesday

The 33-year-old reporter had been working on a story about Florida socialite Jill Kelley's lawsuit against the Department of Defense and the FBI in the weeks before the crash.

Ms Kelley alleges that military officials and the FBI leaked her name to the media to discredit her after she reported receiving emails from Paula Broadwell, who had an affair with the former CIA director David Petraeus, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A friend of Mr Hastings, who asked to remain anonymous, said the reporter was 'very paranoid that he was being watched by the FBI'.

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Mr Hastings had claimed to have been investigated by the FBI before. In an interview with Reddit last year he said the Pentagon had investigated him three times in the past 18 months.

He added that although he did receive death threats from people who didn't approve of what he had written, the more dangerous threat was an attack on his career.

Allegations: Michael Hastings was said to be researching a piece on Paula Broadwell, who had an affair with former CIA director David Petraeus, in the weeks before he died

'There's a more insidious response most of the time when you p*** off the powerful. They come after your career, they try to come after your credibility,' he said.

'They do cocktail party whisper campaigns. They try to make you "controversial". '

The reporter was no stranger to death threats. In his book, The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan, he recalls the time one of General McChrystal's staff members told him: 'We'll hunt you down and kill you if we don't like what you write'.

Hastings wrote: 'I wasn't disturbed by the claim. Whenever I'd been reporting around groups of dudes whose job it was to kill people, one of them would usually mention that they were going to kill me.'

His last published piece had been about the widely reported NSA scandal for Buzzfeed, which ended with: 'Perhaps more information will soon be forthcoming.'

Threats: Michael Hastings always said the government's way to bring down a journalist was to discredit them

Mr Uygur said: 'Michael Hastings was a journalist who definitely gave the government trouble, the Pentagon trouble, so if they were surveilling him it wouldn’t be that surprising.'

'I know that made him nervous,' he told CBS Los Angeles, adding that he had no idea whether it actually led to his death.

Police have not yet confirmed that the person killed was Mr Hastings because the body was burned beyond recognition.

An official cause of death is not expected for up to six weeks.

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Show the proof that he spoke to you hours before the crash,WikiLeaks.Then i might believe it.

- jackd , england, United Kingdom, 21/6/2013 00:57

Click to rate Rating 63

I live in the area he was killed in. A 4 am car crash is usually from drunk/inebriated driving, but reports called it a "high speed" accident which feel like accelerating while sleeping (doubtful) or being chased (probable). Driving at 4 am as a married man is also a little odd. Those hours are for the partying crowd in LA.

- ElizaDevere , Los Angeles, Ca, 21/6/2013 00:53

Click to rate Rating 76

A few years ago this would have even the fiction stuff of James Bond. After our US ambassador ( who wasn't really there.....it was a secret.....huh?!?) begged for protection and got none from the care less and less and less Mrs. Clinton and by association the still campaigning Mr. Obama and could someone tell him he won, knock it off w the giant airplane, stay home and go to the office everyday: You have a bloody job!!! ......... after we found out the IRS, which we all thought idiotic and much too full of itself, was really and truly rotten to its core; then we found out our NSA had copied the KGB playbook............this "accident" ain't lookin so much like an accident. As America begins to resemble more and more the USSR of the Cold War (and didn't that all work out so well for the Soviets!?)........, if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck and looks like a duck......it probably was no accident.

- Dcblacqua , Chandler, United States, 21/6/2013 00:46

Click to rate Rating 83

People who were accused of being paranoid are now being vindicated. Lots of people have advance information and are either unable or afraid to disclose it. Not just Americans being spied on - every country and its citizens are being spied on and have been for a long time. Echelon and Five Eyes were reported on years ago but it did not resonate with the public. Will Orwell come back and write "2013"?

- cleophis , Toronto, 21/6/2013 00:12

Click to rate Rating 78

Freedom in a 21st century democracy is doing what you are told and not saying what you really think or you will be in trouble. In Britain enemies of the state Russians mysteriously die but no suspicious circumstances are found. We can be sure that nothing suspicious will be found in this case too.

- Keveen , newcastle, United Kingdom, 21/6/2013 00:05

Click to rate Rating 61

So much I used to dismiss as paranoid tall tales, attention seeking for position or money,PR to sell a book/movie I now am so horrified to realize my first reaction to this was " too coincidental to be coincidence" and my mindset reset is due to all that as come out in the last few months: don't protect the begging ambassador cause w aren't even there (theoretically) so he and others die and then the horrible people(hello Mrs.Clinton and by association, Mr. Obama) just go on their merry way. The IRS, never held in high esteem and always joked bout turns out to be some 60's KGB deal but no action taken. And then the NSA deal and my home calls n urs and my email n urs and built in trackers on cars ..flip a switch and we can find anyone.....even the most innocent. My America is resembling the USSR of the Cold War. And didn't that work out well for the Soviet folks. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck and looks like a duck.......the awful thing is, I think this man was killed

- Dcblacqua , Chandler, United States, 20/6/2013 23:47

Click to rate Rating 59

No surprise really. The USA has become a very sinister criminal state. Any state that openly and proudly admits to the kidnapping (by extraordinary rendition), torturing and imprisoning people for years without trial, is capable of anything. The USA has become like a Mafia controlled state now. I am not at all surprised that Julian Assange is reluctant to be extradited.

- Max , London, United Kingdom, 20/6/2013 23:45

Click to rate Rating 58

He was in a single car crash and the car blew up. I've in plenty of fender benders and my car never blew up with the engine thrown 50 feet from the car. Seems suspicious. The Obama driven media is purposely trying to gaslight the public by calling real journalists like him "crazy" or "paranoid." They know this could be them next!

- InTheSun , Fishing, United States Minor Outlying Islands, 20/6/2013 23:40

Click to rate Rating 85

the petrol tank blew what on a merc and blew the engine out and down the road move on nothing to see here only a hint of the feather men

- andy in wales , llanarth, 20/6/2013 23:39

Click to rate Rating 31

Just another coincidence. Nothing to worry about!!

- Annski , London, 20/6/2013 23:37

Click to rate Rating 49

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