According to WikiLeaks’ Twitter account, BuzzFeed reporter Michael Hastings reached out to them just hours before dying in an automobile accident in Los Angeles earlier this week.
The London Telegraph points out this is not the first time Hastings has interactions with WikiLeaks:
Hastings has certainly been in contact with WikiLeaks before. In 2012 he wrote a profile of Julian Assange for Rolling Stone in which he asked tough questions – but the overall tone is sympathetic. Hastings appeared willing to accept that the US government might have targeted Assange in an effort to discredit him; the interview also highlights the failure of mainstream media outlets to expose mistakes made by the US military and generally permits Assange to push his side of the story. Hastings’ empathy for WikiLeaks ties together the deceased journalist, Julian Assange and (through Assange) the leaker Bradley Manning.
It’s rumored Hastings was working on a story involving the CIA at the time of his death. This latest revelation from WikiLeaks will certainly add fuel to the growing conspiracy theories that Hastings was a victim of a government assassination.