After viral conspiracies, California sheriff announces ‘whistleblower’ died by suicide
A former Department of Homeland Security whistleblower whose death two years ago spurred a barrage of right-wing conspiracy theories — including from top Congressional Republicans — did, in fact, die by suicide, a California sheriff announced Tuesday.
Philip Haney fatally shot himself in the chest Feb. 21, 2020 on a roadside southeast of Sacramento, the Amador County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a detailed statement.
An autopsy did not reveal any suspicious trauma or injuries, and a forensic handwriting analysis found that Haney had signed a suicide note found at the scene of the shooting along Highway 124, authorities said. Haney, 66, had arranged financial papers on the kitchen counter in his motor home, with some detailing how he wanted his assets dispersed.
He’d been depressed in the days before his death, a neighbor said. He even gave away his potted plants.
While Haney’s death was long suspected to have been a suicide, Tuesday’s update closed a multi-year investigation that unwittingly brought the rural county, population 40,000, into viral claims that the man’s death was part of a deep-state plot to silence a whistleblower.
A prominent critic of the Obama administration’s handling of terrorism investigations, Haney in May 2016 published “See Something, Say Nothing: A Homeland Security Officer Exposes the Government’s Submission to Jihad,” which alleged inaction against terrorism on the part of the federal officials.
A DHS officer for 15 years, Haney spoke during a Senate judiciary subcommittee hearing in June 2016 that centered on the use of the term “radical Islam.” He also appeared on right-wing outlets, including a Sean Hannity segment labeled “Jihad in America.”
After his death, conspiracy theorists and politicians praised Haney and said, without evidence, that he had likely been murdered because of the secrets he held.
“I’d been concerned about his safety, with all the information he knew,” Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert said in a speech on the Capitol floor.
“Phil Haney didn’t kill himself,” Rep. Steve King of Iowa, wrote on Twitter.
The conspiracies ricocheted around the internet. Within hours, callers inundated the small county’s clerical staff and dispatchers. People claimed they were friends with Haney and that there was no way he died by suicide.
As part of the investigation into his death, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traced the gun to a friend of Haney’s who sold it to him about five years earlier.
The FBI also reviewed multiple flash drives and a laptop computer found in Haney’s motor home. The devices contained many “contraband” documents. “The thumb drives and laptop containing the contraband documents were turned over to CBP for their investigation into violations of CBP policy and numerous United States Codes,” the sheriff’s office wrote.
Well aware of the dangers of misinformation that could swirl across the internet and reach the halls of power, Sheriff Gary Redman has long insisted on delivering a thorough investigation.
The detailed Tuesday statement sought to put to rest the conspiracies, though Redman was well aware of the Catch-22. By being extra thorough and involving federal investigators, some people would inevitably see a deep-state plot afoot.
“At no time did the FBI or any other federal agency attempt to influence or take this investigation from my office,” Redman told The Sacramento Bee Tuesday night. “Unfortunately we are already being accused of being bought off by the CIA, etc.”
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 9:07 AM.