(Ken Silva, Headline USA) An undercover informant who admitted to spying on CBS journalist Sharyl Attkisson died before he could provide more information about the U.S. government’s nefarious activities for her lawsuit over the matter.
Attkisson—who had her computers hacked by federal agents in retaliation for her numerous stories about the Obama-era Operation Fast and Furious scandal—revealed the death of the informant, Ryan White, on Monday.
I wish I were making this up. In my ongoing lawsuit over the govt. spying on my computers, I submitted this document to the court. It proved that one agent who admitted spying on me (and many others) had, indeed, worked as an informant for US Atty. Rod Rosenstein, as he'd… pic.twitter.com/dUyWTOHzZp
— Sharyl Attkisson 🕵️♂️💼🥋 (@SharylAttkisson) November 5, 2023
Attkisson sued White and numerous other government mad actors in January 2020, alleging a conspiracy to target her family when she was working on the “Fast and Furious” stories more than 10 years ago. “Fast and Furious” was an operation overseen by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in which the government purposely allowed firearms dealers to sell marked weapons illegally with the goal of tracking them to Mexican drug cartels.
Initially, White, who is a convicted felon, denied the charges and filed a motion to dismiss—claiming that Attkisson threatened to “doxx” him if he didn’t agree to a “secret settlement/confession.”
Then, White reversed his position.
“I do not want this case dismissed. This is an important case that will reveal deliberate and horrible crimes committed not only against Ms. Attkisson and her family, but against The United States, its Citizens and many others,” White said in a September 2020 letter to a federal judge.
“I look forward to the discovery process, there is a great deal that must be uncovered/shared. However, I and my family, will not be manipulated, intimidated, or threatened by any party, as has already happened on several occasions,” White said, not elaborating on the alleged threats.
After that, White worked with Attkisson’s lawyers, according to her amended complaint filed in April 2021.
According to Attkisson’s lawyers, White admitted that he worked with a team of government agents tasked with surveillance of the “Fast and Furious” project.
“White worked as an undercover informant for the Department of Justice and as a contractor operating out of the Baltimore Field Office under a group supervised by Rod Rosenstein,” Attkisson’s lawsuit said.
“White likewise reported that he was personally present with Defendant BRIDGES on “many occasions” when they were ‘accessing Attkisson’s computers’ and ‘retrieving information already accessed or manipulated’ and ‘erasing information’ or ‘passing the information on’ to contacts at the DOJ and FBI,” her lawsuit said.
But then, White seemingly disappeared.
Attkisson said attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. She sought a default judgment against him, which a federal judge granted in December 2021.
According to an online obituary, White died in May of this year. The obituary does not state a cause of death.
“Which of course means he can’t provide more details of the operation,” Attkisson lamented Monday on Twitter. “And the historic clerk’s default I received against him in my lawsuit—the first known such decision in a case of govt. spying on a journalist—pretty much will go nowhere.”
Attkisson’s lawsuit remains ongoing.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
