ABC News producer James Gordon Meek has been missing for six months after the FBI raided his home for allegedly possessing classified documents, reports Rolling Stone. The Emmy winner was writing a book about U.S. forces withdrawing from Afghanistan, as ordered by President Joe Biden.
After the raid in April, the FBI said it was conducting "law enforcement activity authorized by the judge." According to neighbors, the producer has not been seen in months and his home appears to be empty.
Missing since April
The FBI raid on his apartment involved at least 10 "heavily armed" agents who surrounded the area with several unmarked vehicles, including one that looked like a tank, according to Meek’s neighbor John Antonello, one of the eyewitnesses. The entire operation was estimated to take approximately 10 minutes.
His last post on social media was on April 27. The Emmy winner quoted a tweet about U.S. intelligence operations regarding Russian military stunts and added the comment "Facts." That tweet was in response to Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA agent who had commented that the Ukrainian army was defending itself against Russian forces with U.S. assistance.
Facts: https://t.co/VNyhbFETvT
- James Gordon Meek (@meekwire) April 27, 2022
Within days of the post, federal agents raided his home in Arlington, Virginia, and claimed to have found classified information on his computer during the raid. Meek's lawyer, Eugene Gorokhov, argues that the producer has not been charged with any crime and strongly denies that he was in possession of classified material:
Mr. Meek is unaware of what allegations anonymous sources are making about his possession of classified documents. If such documents exist, as claimed, this would be within the scope of his long career as an investigative journalist covering government wrongdoing. The allegations in your investigation are troubling for a different reason: they appear to come from a source inside the government. It is highly inappropriate and illegal for government persons to leak information about an ongoing investigation. We expect the Department of Justice to immediately investigate the source of this leak.
Since that day, Meek's whereabouts have been unknown. "He fell off the face of the Earth," stated one of his neighbors.
Meek has published several high-profile stories. He is known in the media for his investigations, especially in social circles surrounding the country's national security. In 2017, he published a story about the Pentagon covering up U.S. military deaths in Niger, which later served as the basis for the documentary 3212 Un-Redacted.
Journalists on alert for disappearance
An ABC News spokesperson told Rolling Stone in an interview that Meek "resigned very abruptly and hasn't worked for us for months." "Now, Meek seems to be on the wrong side of the national-security apparatus. And no one can say with certainty whether law enforcement officers actually removed him from the building. And thus, a riddle was born. Documents related to the case remain sealed," Rolling Stone reports.
"I just want to know what happened. Meek’s situation is making me nervous. I’m just gonna deadbolt my door," stated one of his co-workers, who preferred to remain anonymous.
