Police are investigating the apparent suicide of a reporter who broke the story that former President Bill Clinton secretly met with then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch on a tarmac in Phoenix just ahead of the 2016 presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Law enforcement discovered Christopher Sign, 45, dead in his home in Hoover, Ala., early Saturday after receiving reports of “a person down,” AL.com reported.
“Our deepest sympathy is shared with Chris’s loving family and close friends,” said Sinclair Broadcast Group Vice President and General Manager Eric S. Land.
“We have lost a revered colleague whose indelible imprint will serve forever as a hallmark of decency, honesty and journalist integrity. We can only hope to carry on Chris’s legacy. May his memory be for blessing,” Land said.
In 2017, Sign broke the story about Clinton and Lynch meeting on the tarmac of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport while Lynch was investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
The news anchor eventually wrote a book about meeting titled “Secret on the Tarmac.”
“We knew something had occurred that was a bit unusual,” Sign had told “Fox & Friends” in before the book’s release in Feburary 2020. “It was a planned meeting. It was not a coincidence.”
According to Sign, the investigation caused his family great stress, and he, his wife and three sons were even subjected to death threats.
“My family received significant death threats shortly after breaking this story,” he said. “Credit cards hacked. You know, my children, we have code words. We have secret code words that they know what to do.”
ABC 33/40 wrote a tribute to the reporter shortly after his death was revealed.
“Chris was a tremendous leader in our newsroom,” the outlet wrote. “He worked with our reporting staff on a daily basis, but also worked behind the scenes with the I-Team and with news managers on coverage of major events. You were very likely to get an email from him with a story idea in the middle of the night. He was passionate about journalism and showed it each and every day as he pushed himself and his colleagues to be the best.”
Eric Land, the vice president and general manager of ABC 33/40, also issued a statement offering condolences to the Sign family.
“Our deepest sympathy is shared with Christopher’s loving family and close friends,” he said.
“We have lost a revered colleague who’s indelible imprint will serve forever as a hallmark of decency, honesty and journalist integrity,” Land continued. “We can only hope to carry on his legacy. May his memory be for blessing.”
