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Four Americans gunned down in a withering, four-hour firefight in the Sahara -- part of a 10-man Green Beret team said to have gone rogue and been ambushed by ISIS while hunting down a top terrorist to "capture or kill" -- were ill-prepared, poorly trained and "not indicative" of their high-performing peers on the continent, U.S. military officials said. And in the strangest twist of all, they had been trying to locate an American aid worker who was being held hostage by the terrorist commander they were trying to kill. That story, as presented by the Pentagon, sounded like an...

An al Qaeda-linked terrorist, who was resettled in the U.S. as an Iraq War refugee after allegedly killing American soldiers, was caught on camera in Kentucky handling heavy weapons that the FBI said he believed would be sent to insurgents back in Iraq. The 2010 video, obtained exclusively by ABC News, was part of a broader ABC News investigation into the flawed refugee vetting program, which officials said may have let “dozens” of terrorists into the country. READ FULL EXCLUSIVE: US May Have Let ‘Dozens’ of Terrorists Into Country as Refugees In the video, Waad Ramadan Alwan is seen expertly...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.fbi.gov/louisville/press-releases/2011/iraqi-national-pleads-guilty-to-23-count-terrorism-indictment-in-kentucky Iraqi National Pleads Guilty to 23-Count Terrorism Indictment in Kentucky Defendant Participated in Numerous Efforts to Kill U.S. Troops in Iraq with IEDs U.S. Department of Justice December 16, 2011 Office of Public Affairs BOWLING GREEN, KY—Iraqi citizen Waad Ramadan Alwan pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges today in U.S. District Court before Senior Judge Thomas B. Russell, announced Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; David J. Hale, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky; and Elizabeth A. Fries, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Louisville Division. Alwan,...

Former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Jessica Aber, who was found dead at the age of 43 by Virginia authorities on Saturday, was at the helm of high-profile investigations into intelligence leaks, allegations of war crimes against Russian-linked individuals and people suspected of providing sensitive U.S. technology to Moscow before she stepped down at the start of the year. Why It Matters Aber, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, resigned in January after President Donald Trump was inaugurated. She had risen to lead one of the most important federal prosecutor's offices and roughly 300 prosecutors, civil...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (7News) — Former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Jessica Aber was found dead by Alexandria Police Saturday morning, and local leaders are reminiscing on her efforts as a public servant. Investigators are working to find out what led to her death after she was found unresponsive in the 900 block of Beverly Drive in Alexandria around 9 a.m. Saturday, police said. A medical examiner will determine the cause of her death. U.S. Attorney Erik S. Siebert shared his condolences for his former colleague: "We are heartbroken beyond words to learn of the passing of our...

A former US Attorney who served under President Joe Biden was found dead Saturday morning at her home in Alexandria, Virginia. Jessica D. Aber, 43, stepped down on January 20 after being appointed to one of the most high-profile federal prosecutorial posts in the country by Joe Biden. She assumed the role as the top prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia in 2021. Alexandria police confirmed that officers responded to a call early on Saturday morning but are withholding further information pending notification of Aber's family. No cause of death has yet been released. Aber, a longtime federal prosecutor,...

A Biden-era US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, was found dead in her Alexandria, Virginia, home on Saturday morning. The cause and manner of death is unknown. Jessica Aber, 43, was found unresponsive on Saturday morning. Her death is under investigation. “This morning, at approximately 9:18 a.m., Alexandria Police responded to the 900 block of Beverley Drive for the report of an unresponsive woman. Officers located a deceased woman. Following notification of family members, the Alexandria Police Department can confirm the identity of the woman as Ms. Jessica Aber, age 43, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District...

Former President Barack Obama placed blame on tech companies for failing to address the disinformation problem he said the industry has amplified during a speech Thursday at Stanford University. The new information ecosystem, fueled by the rise of dominant social media platforms, is “turbocharging some of humanity’s worst impulses,” he said in the roughly hour-long speech. “But not all problems we’re seeing now are an inevitable byproduct of this new technology. They’re also the result of very specific choices, made by the companies that have come to dominate the internet generally, and social media platforms in particular. Decisions that intentionally...

Elon Musk is fueling speculation about the veracity of the infamous “Pizzagate” controversy after one of the leading mainstream media voices who called the issue “debunked” pleaded guilty to charges of trafficking child pornography. In a series of posts on X, Musk posted an “Office”-themed meme about the arrest of James Gordon Meek, a 13-year veteran of ABC News who in July reached a deal with federal prosecutors that saw him plead guilty to possessing dozens of child abuse images. Another post by Musk linked to an NBC news story about Meek’s plea deal. Does seem at least a little...

AT A MINUTE before 5 a.m. on April 27, ABC News’ James Gordon Meek fired off a tweet with a single word: “FACTS.” The network’s national-security investigative producer was responding to former CIA agent Marc Polymeropoulos’ take that the Ukrainian military — with assistance from the U.S. — was thriving against Russian forces. Polymeropoulos’ tweet — filled with acronyms indecipherable to the layperson, like “TTPs,” “UW,” and “EW” — was itself a reply to a missive from Washington Post Pentagon reporter Dan Lamothe, who noted the wealth of information the U.S. military had gathered about Russian ops by observing their...

A former investigative journalist with ABC News and father-of-two girls has been sentenced to six years in jail after he was found guilty of possessing child porn. James Gordon Meek, 53, was sentenced to 72 months in prison after he was caught sending and receiving sexually explicit content involving prepubescent minors while visiting South Carolina in 2020. Federal prosecutors had initially pushed for the disgraced journalist to receive between 12 and a half and 15 years. Meek joined ABC News' Washington bureau as an investigative producer in 2013 and was based in Virginia returned to Virginia with an iPhone containing...

Disgraced former ABC News reporter James Gordon Meek is facing at least five years in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography in a Virginia federal court Friday. Meek, 53, admitted to transporting and possessing child sexual abuse material, which carries jail time ranging from 5-20 years. Under federal sentencing guidelines that come with his guilty plea, Meek is likely to face far less than the max at his Sept. 29 sentencing. Meek, a once-acclaimed national security journalist, was hit with the federal charges in February roughly 10 months after the FBI raided his Arlington, Va., home April 27, 2022,...

An ABC News reporter who bragged about ‘debunking’ evidence of an elite pedophile ring had pleaded guilty to a sickening array of child sex crimes, according to reports. James Gordon Meek, 53, who served as a national security journalist at ABC, is scheduled to appear in a Virginia federal court on Friday following his January 2023 indictment on child rape charges. He faces up to 20 years behind bars. The disturbing crimes were exposed after the FBI conducted a raid on the journalist’s Arlington home in April 2022. FBI officials were alerted by Dropbox in March 2021 of ‘sickening child...

Disgraced former ABC investigative journalist James Gordon Meek is reportedly set to plead guilty to federal child pornography offenses, which could have put him behind bars for decades. Meek, 53, is expected to change his plea to guilty during an appearance in a federal courtroom in Virginia on Friday. The move to change his plea comes after his attorney filed a motion in June to delay his July trial, The Daily Beast reported. The filing argued a delay would allow Meek's team and prosecutors to 'engage in discussions regarding the possible resolution of the case.' A plea deal could allow...

A former ABC journalist who went missing after the FBI raided his home and seized his laptop has been arrested for transporting child pornography. As reported last year, Emmy-winning investigative journalist James Meek went missing after the FBI raided his Virginia home and seized classified information from his laptop in April 2022. James Gordon Meek, 52, went missing after the feds raided his Arlington penthouse apartment, the Rolling Stone reported. Meek produced the Hulu documentary “3212 Unredacted” which detailed the 2017 Pentagon coverup of the deaths of US special forces in Niger. The “lightning raid” was conducted after a search...

'Missing' ABC producer James Gordon Meek has emerged from hiding – but refuses to discuss the mysterious FBI raid that brought his storied journalism career to an abrupt halt. **SNIP** The magazine alleged that agents spent ten minutes inside Meek's top-floor pad and found a laptop containing classified information, citing 'sources familiar with the matter' – but friends and former colleagues of the popular, well-regarded reporter say that doesn't add up. They point out that ABC has not made any legal intervention, nor voiced its support for the star correspondent, who is said to have cited 'personal reasons' for abruptly...

After FBI agents raided the home of ABC News producer James Gordon Meek’s home last spring, a report in Rolling Stone floated the possibility that the sweep could have been related to his work as a journalist. However, new information reported by The Daily Beast suggests the raid was unrelated to his journalistic pursuits. Mr Meek’s home was raided by the FBI, but the agency’s reasons for the search were unknown to the public. According to Rolling Stone, "independent observers believe the raid is among the first - and quite posible, the first - to be carried out on a...

In April, the FBI raided ABC investigative journalist James Gordon Meek’s apartment. People “believe the raid is among the first — and quite possibly, the first — to be carried out on a journalist by the Biden administration.” Are we in China? No one knows for sure why the FBI targeted Meek, who once worked as a senior counterterrorism advisor and investigator for the House Homeland Security Committee. No one has seen or talked to Meek since the raid. Believe it or not, Rolling Stone broke the story five days ago. John Antonelli described the raid at the Arlington, VA,...

Acclaimed national security reporter James Gordon Meek hasn’t been seen since an April FBI raid on his apartment just outside of Washington, DC. Former colleagues at ABC News, a co-author on his forthcoming book, and even his neighbours say they have no idea where the documentary producer has been. The worrying disappearance raises questions over whether the Biden administration has targeted or arrested the journalist, a major test of the president, who made a point last year to put new safeguards in place protecting reporters during leak investigations. **SNIP** His co-author on a forthcoming book, Operation Pineapple Express: The Incredible...

AT A MINUTE before 5 a.m. on April 27, ABC News’ James Gordon Meek fired off a tweet with a single word: “FACTS.” The network’s national-security investigative producer was responding to former CIA agent Marc Polymeropoulos’ take that the Ukrainian military — with assistance from the U.S. — was thriving against Russian forces. Polymeropoulos’ tweet — filled with acronyms indecipherable to the layperson, like “TTPs,” “UW,” and “EW” — was itself a reply to a missive from Washington Post Pentagon reporter Dan Lamothe, who noted the wealth of information the U.S. military had gathered about Russian ops by observing their...