Journalist Christopher Sign, who as a Phoenix-based reporter broke the story of a secret 2016 meeting between former President Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, is dead at the age of 45.
Sign died Saturday in Hoover, Alabama.
Hoover police Lt. Keith Czeskleba said Sign’s death is being investigated as a suicide, according to Al.com.
TV anchor and former Alabama football player Christopher Sign has died.
I never met him but know his work: At KNXV-TV in Phoenix, Sign broke the news of the secret tarmac meeting between former President Bill Clinton and AG Loretta Lynch. #RIPSign ?? https://t.co/5MCretUVzv— HARRISFAULKNER (@HARRISFAULKNER) June 13, 2021
“Our deepest sympathy is shared with Chris’s loving family and close friends,” said Sinclair Broadcast Group Vice President and General Manager Eric Land, according to Al.com.
“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.
“Chris was a tremendous leader in our newsroom,” WBMA-TV, Sign’s current station, wrote in a tribute to him Saturday.
“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,” the tribute stated. “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.”
Sign left Arizona for Alabama in 2017.
Sign wrote a book about the Clinton-Lynch meeting called “Secret on the Tarmac.”
Getting ready for a quick hit on @FoxNews @seanhannity talking #SecretOnTheTarmac book –> https://t.co/zDAkQU6fDs pic.twitter.com/sr1nRP7xH6
— Christopher Sign (@ChristopherSign) February 19, 2020
“The plan was perfect. No cameras, no microphones, no prying eyes and plenty of security. The setting for a clandestine meeting could not have been better. Former President Bill Clinton exited Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s private plane 20-minutes after he boarded. Both thought they got away with it. Both were wrong. Amid a heated Presidential race, federal investigations involving emails and Benghazi and society looking for clarity on the future of the country, the secret tarmac meeting would only complicate things,” the book promo on Amazon reads.
In talking about the meeting, which took place as the Justice Department was investigating Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, Sign later told “Fox & Friends” that there was no doubt the meeting was more than the chance get-t0gether Clinton and Lynch claimed it was.
“We knew something had occurred that was a bit unusual. It was a planned meeting. It was not a coincidence,” he said, according to Fox News.
He said his source painted a picture of a well-choreographed event after Clinton arrived in a car that was waiting near Lynch’s plane.
“He then sat and waited in his car with the motorcade, her airstairs come down, most of her staff gets off, he then gets on as the Secret Service and FBI are figuring out ‘How in the world are we supposed to handle this? What are we supposed to do?’” Sign said.
Sign said at the time his family received death threats.
“This story isn’t about right or left, Republican or Democrat, it’s about right and wrong and journalism,” he said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.