Police in Alabama said this weekend they are investigating the death of the television news reporter who broke a story in 2016 about a secret tarmac meeting between former President Clinton and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch as a suicide.
Lt. Keith Czeskleba with the Hoover Police Department told AL.com that Christopher Sign, who played football at the University of Alabama and spent years as a new broadcasters for various stations across the country, was found dead at a residence Saturday morning.
Sign’s death is being investigated as a suicide, Czeskleba said.
“Our deepest sympathy is shared with Chris’s loving family and close friends,” said Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns the Birmingham-based station where Sign had worked since 2017, said in a statement. “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.”
Sign first worked at ABC 33/40 from 2000 to 2005, AL.com noted, covering many major stories in the region before a stint at ABC affiliate KNXV-TV in Phoenix.
While in Phoenix, Sign broke the story about a tarmac meeting between Lynch and Clinton, which came as former President Obama’s Justice Department was investigating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then running for president, over the use of her private e-mail server for official government business.
“When I broke this story, we knew that something had occurred here that was a bit unusual,” Sign said of the meeting during an appearance on Fox News that year. “It was a planned meeting. It was not a coincidence. This details everything they don’t want you to know and everything they think you forgot.”
Lynch, during a subsequent interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, said she regretted the meeting and acknowledged criticism that stemmed from Sign’s report.
“I do regret sitting down and having a conversation with him, because it did give people concern. And as I said, my greatest concern has always been making sure that people understand that the Department of Justice works in a way that is independent and looks at everybody equally,” Lynch said. “And when you do something that gives people a reason to think differently, that’s a problem. It was a problem for me. It was painful for me, and so I felt it was important to clarify it as quickly and as clearly and as cleanly as possible.”