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Global honey bee populations are in severe decline, putting the worlds food supply under severe pressure. Now, scientists are coming up with smart devices to keep track of the bees hives and populations as well as there health.

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how smart tech could help save the world's honey bees - cnn

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How smart tech could help save the world's honey bees

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Technology startups are developing smart devices to improve the health of honey bees.

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Group of men arrested allegedly plotting to kidnap governor of Michigan.

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Five Michigan men and a man from Delaware have been arrested for allegedly plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) from her vacation home, authorities said Thursday afternoon.

According to the criminal complaint , Adam Fox of Michigan, and Barry Croft of Delaware, were among a group of individuals who the FBI identified in early 2020 as wanting to take violent action against state governments in the name of the U.S. Constitution. The two were later joined by Ty Garbin, a leader of a Michigan-based militia group, which allegedly was already on the radar of law enforcement after a concerned member reported to police that he believed members were intent on killing officers.

Throughout the summer, some of the men started training and discussing methods of attacking the government, including attacking a Michigan State police facility. Fox, Croft, and Garbin were later joined in their efforts by a few others before settling on a kidnapping attempt on the governor.

According to the Department of Justice, " [o]n two occasions, members of the alleged conspiracy conducted coordinated surveillance on the Governor's vacation home. Fox and Croft discussed detonating explosive devices to divert police from the area of the vacation home and Fox even inspected the underside of an M-31 highway bridge for places to seat an explosive, according to the complaint. Among other activities, the complaint alleges Fox purchased a taser for use in the kidnapping and that the group successfully detonated an improvised explosive device wrapped with shrapnel to test its anti-personnel capabilities. The FBI and Michigan State Police executed arrests as multiple conspirators met to pool funds for explosives and exchange tactical gear."

"All of us can disagree about politics, but those disagreements should never, ever result in violence," said U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider, of the Eastern District of Michigan, in a statement Thursday. "The allegations in this complaint are deeply disturbing. We owe our thanks to the men and women of law enforcement who uncovered this plot and have worked so hard to protect Governor Whitmer."

According to the criminal complaint, some of the alleged conspirators also talked about options for stifling a law enforcement response to the plan once it was put into action, including using molotov cocktails against police cars and exploding a bridge. They also allegedly discussed plans through encrypted apps and appeared to use code to reference explosives.

The complaint reads (Strong Language Warning):

The conspirators often communicate via encrypted online platforms and use "code words" or phrases to describe their plans in a self-proclaimed effort to avoid law-enforcement detection. For example, on July 24, 2020, [Confidential Human Source 2] and GARBIN contacted FOX by telephone. The call was recorded by CHS-2. FOX said he had researched the Governor's office online, and he believed that the Governor kept only a ceremonial office in Lansing. FOX wondered aloud whether the group just needed to "party it out, make a cake and send it," in what CHS-2 believed was a coded reference to sending a bomb to the Governor. FOX discussed the need to train for the next three months to be ready to engage. FOX stated, "In all honesty right now . . . I just wanna make the world glow, dude. I'm not even fuckin' kidding. I just wanna make it all glow dude. I don't fuckin' care anymore, I'm just so sick of it. That's what it's gonna take for us to take it back, we're just gonna have to everything's gonna have to be annihilated man. We're go nna topple it all, dude. It's what great frickin' conquerors, man, we're just gonna conquer every fuckin' thing man." FOX and GARBIN further discussed the need for the government to collapse because it has become so tyrannical.

According to the criminal complaint, Fox conducted surveillance on Whitmer's vacation home in late August, sharing photos with other alleged conspirators, and conducted another surveillance trip with over a half-dozen other men in mid-September. One of the men was a human source who provided audio recordings to law enforcement officials from as early as mid-June. Another man on the trip was an undercover agent.

After another surveillance mission in September, one of the human sources allegedly provided audio that outlined conversations between several men, including Kaleb Franks, another man who was arrested for the alleged plot.

The complaint reads:

After arriving back at GARBIN's property, [Confidential Human Source 2] asked, "Everybody down with what's going on?" and someone stated, "If you're not down with the thought of kidnapping, don't sit here." GARBIN replied, "Oh no, we're not kidnapping, that's not what we're doing," which sparked general laughter. Amidst the laughter, another voice said, "No children!" and a voice added, "We're napping." FRANKS stated, "Kidnapping, arson, death. I don't care." The group then started discussing destroying the vacation home.

The other two alleged conspirators are Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta. Each of the six men faces up to life in prison if found guilty.

During a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Whitmer she "never could have imagined anything like this" when she took the oath of office back in 2018. "My husband and I are eternally grateful to everyone who put themselves in harm's way to keep our family safe," she said.

Whitmer also said President Donald Trump was "stoking distrust" and "fomenting anger" in America. She referenced comments Trump made during the debate last week, saying that the remarks were heard by unspecified hate groups and militias as a "rallying cry." (After Fox News debate moderator Chris Wallace asked whether Trump would condemn white supremacist and militia groups, Trump said that he would, but the subsequent exchange derailed and didn't yield the answer Wallace seemed to be looking for. Trump has since condemned white supremacist groups.)

According to The New York Times , Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) also tied the plot to rhetoric from the president, but the Times notes that the court documents released thus far do not provide evidence to support such a claim.

The Daily Wire is one of America's fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a

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Group Of Men Arrested For Allegedly Plotting To Kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer

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Five Michigan men and a man from Delaware have been arrested for allegedly plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) from her vacation home, authorities said Thursday afternoon. According to the criminal complaint , Adam Fox of Michigan, and Barry Croft of Delaware, were among a group of individuals who the FBI identified in early 2020 as wanting to take violent action against state governments in the name of the U.S.

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Hurricane Delta is supposed to make landfall tonight while still continuing to grow in size.

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Trump alleges ‘left-wing indoctrination’ in schools, says he will create national commission to push more ‘pro-American’ history

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The president has blamed schools for spurring the unrest in several U.S. cities that has led in some cases to looting and fires.

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A Michigan township worker had to get 13 stitches when he tried to move a booby traped Trump Pence sign lined with razor blades.

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'Boobytrap' political sign slices Michigan township worker's fingers

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A booby-trapped Trump-Pence sign has left a southeast Michigan township worker with 13 stitches in his fingers after he tried to move a razor-blade lined political sign that was too close to the road, according to a report. "Why would someone set a boobytrap sign to harm someone?"

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Grand juries are under criticism for their decision making in official misconduct cases, like the Breonna Taylor case. Grand juries work under a veil of secrecy to protect witnesses and the innocent. In many police shooting cases, the details of the proceedings including, what info prosecutors present to the panel, remains secret.

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When a Kentucky grand jury failed to return homicide charges against three white police officers in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor (in fact, two of the officers were not charged at all), the scenario sounded all too familiar to attorney Tony Rothert.

That included lingering questions about facts in the case and a juror eager to publicly counter what he called "inaccurate" statements by state Attorney General Daniel Cameron on how the panel reached its controversial decision.

Following a 2015 grand jury hearing that resulted in no charges against Darren Wilson, the white former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who fatally shot Black teenager Michael Brown, Rothert, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, represented the juror who sued to have a lifetime gag order lifted on the secret hearing.

Grand juries, which operate under the veil of secrecy to protect witnesses and the innocent, and to encourage full disclosure, have come under scrutiny for their decision-making in official misconduct cases, like police shootings, where indictments remain relatively rare. The details of the proceedings largely remain secret, including what information prosecutors present to the panel and there are no defense lawyers for the opposing side.

A 2014 report by FiveThirtyEight found three likely causes for grand juries not bringing indictments against members of law enforcement: jurors' bias for police officer; the bias of prosecutors in favor of the police, who they have a working relationship with; or lack of evidence.

Some states allow prosecutors the choice of seeking a criminal indictment in a grand jury or filing a criminal complaint on their own following an investigation. In two recent high-profile cases, the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the fatal police-involved shooting of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta, prosecutors filed criminal complaints charging officers with murder.

In the Brown case, "Juror Doe," as the panelist is referred to in court papers, wanted to publicly address what she alleged were inaccurate statements by then-St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch on why she and her fellow jurors declined to indict.

But Juror Doe has never been allowed to publicly speak. She's been stifled by court ruling after court ruling, including one issued in August of this year by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals at St. Louis, which concluded, "We think it thus beyond dispute that secrecy is an integral component to a functioning grand jury system."

In the Taylor case, Cameron filed a response on Wednesday afternoon arguing that the grand juror's request should be denied. In his motion, Cameron contended "this type of broad and unchecked disclosure could jeopardize not only witnesses and other grand jurors but also set a dangerous legal precedent for future grand juries."

One of the cases he cited to support his argument was Juror Doe's denied request to speak about the Brown case.

"The grand jury process is secretive for a reason, to protect the safety and anonymity of all the grand jurors, witnesses, and innocent persons involved in the proceedings," Cameron wrote. "Allowing this disclosure would irreversibly alter Kentucky's legal system by making it difficult for prosecutors and the public to have confidence in the secrecy of the grand jury process going forward."

A hearing was held Thursday on the juror's motion to speak out. A decision by Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Annie O'Connell is pending.

Grand juries process comes under attack

Criticism about grand juries in official misconduct cases surfaced after a panel declined to indict police officers involved in the chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York, Brown's shooting and the fatal police shooting, all in 2014, of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland. None of those cases, all involving Black people killed by police, produced indictments and gave rise to nationwide protests and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Rothert said the juror he represented in the case against Wilson cited her First Amendment right to challenge the accuracy of Bob McCulloch's statement -- that after hearing all the evidence the grand jury found no probable cause to indict Wilson.

In a response, McCulloch's lawyers successfully argued the request should be denied, saying in a motion that "such information, especially as it relates to evidence and witnesses, is not Plaintiff's to disclose, and would pose a clear and present danger to the persons whose identities remain unknown to the public.'' Such disclosures, McCulloch's lawyers contended, "would be contrary to Missouri law, and would be counter to the state's interest in promoting a freedom of disclosure before future grand juries.''

Rothert said his client contended that the way prosecutors handled the case against Wilson was different than other criminal defendants, in that the victim was blamed instead of advocated for.

"And the law was presented in a way that was too confusing for the jury to figure out what to do. That is why there wasn't an indictment, not because there wasn't probable cause," Rothert said. "Grand juries are intended to protect innocent people from public scrutiny, but it seems like they are also used sometimes by prosecutors who don't want there to be charges to avoid public scrutiny."

Rothert said he believes the time has come for another mechanism to be used in criminal police misconduct cases other than the grand jury, and he has been joined by a growing number of criminal justice advocates and legal scholars who agree.

In two states, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, the use of grand juries for all criminal indictments was abolished, opting instead for preliminary hearings in open court with a judge deciding if there is probable cause to support charges based on the evidence presented by prosecutors and challenged by defense attorneys.

Connecticut did away was grand juries in criminal cases in 1983, citing inequities in the grand jury process. Pennsylvania did away with grand juries in criminal cases in the 1970s following complaints about the secrecy of the closed-door hearings. Both states still maintain a grand jury system to investigate things like government corruption and organized crime.

In 2016, California briefly became the first state in the nation to ban the use of grand juries in deciding whether police officers should face criminal charges when they kill people in the line of duty, putting such decisions in the hands of district attorneys. But the law was struck down in 2017 by a state appeals court that ruled the state Legislature did not have the power to enact the statute.

"They can be misused and there's no oversight of that," Rothert said of grand juries. "Just as it's easy for a prosecutor to indict anyone they want to, it's easy for them to not get an indictment if they don't want one, too."

Roger A. Fairfax Jr., a law professor at George Washington University and an expert on grand juries, said the grand jury process stems from the 17th and 18th centuries when they were used in England and colonial America as a crucial safeguard against governmental overreaching.

Grand juries in Kentucky serve prolonged terms and hear a variety of cases to determine if charges are warranted. The 12-member grand juries don't have to be unanimous in their decisions (nine must agree to indict or decline to file charges) and they do not decide guilt or innocence.

"There are good reasons for grand jury secrecy but the secrecy of the grand jury proceeding also means that prosecutors, if they're so inclined, can engineer the outcome through their choice of evidence, witnesses to present to the grand jury, the legal instructions that they give the grand jurors and the charging recommendations that they make or don't make in a given case," Fairfax told ABC News.

Grand juries frequently indict in other cases

No comprehensive statistics are kept on the results of grand jury hearings in police misconduct cases, particularly at the state level.

But a 2013 Bureau of Justice Statistics report indicates how rare it is for grand juries to decline to indict. U.S. attorneys prosecuted a total of 162,000 federal cases in 2010, the most recent year for which data is available, and grand juries declined to return an indictment in just 11 of those cases.

A 2017 report Fairfax published in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review examined fatal police-involved shootings in the state of Georgia between 2010 and 2015. Of the more than 170 fatal police-involved shootings in the state during that time frame, prosecutors took 48 cases to the grand jury and asked for indictments in nine of the cases and a grand jury returned an indictment in one of those cases, a manslaughter charge which was later dismissed by a judge.

In the case of Taylor, who was shot to death in her apartment in March by officers serving a search warrant in a drug investigation, Cameron's office recommended only wanton endangerment charges against now-former Louisville Metro Police officer Brett Hankison, but not for Taylor's death.

The charges against Hankison, who fired 10 shots into Taylor's apartment, stem from the errant bullets that penetrated a wall of the residence and entered a neighboring apartment occupied by a child, a man and a pregnant woman, Cameron said at a news conference following the grand jury's announcement on Sept. 23. He said that none of the shots fired by Hankison struck Taylor, a certified emergency medical technician.

Hankison has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Cameron said Taylor was struck by six of 22 shots fired by Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove who returned a single gunshot fired by Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. The attorney general said that because Walker, a licensed gun carrier, fired the first shot, Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in their use of deadly force.

"This justification bars us from pursuing charges in Ms. Breonna Taylor's death," Cameron said.

But Walker claimed in a civil suit against the police department that the officers serving the search warrant after midnight on March 13 never knocked or announced themselves as police before they forced open Taylor's door, leading him to believe they were intruders. The City of Louisville has yet to respond to Walker suit while it reached a $12 million settlement in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed in April by Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, that includes a commitment to instituting major police reforms to avoid a similar tragedy from occurring.

In 15 hours of recordings of the three-day grand jury hearing, officers involved in the raid testified they knocked several times and announced themselves before forcing open the door and Cameron said their statements were corroborated by an independent witness.

Lawyers for Taylor's family claim that at least 11 other witnesses never heard the officers knock or announce themselves, and alleged the search warrant was obtained with an affidavit that contained false information. No drugs were found in Taylor's apartment and grand jury testimony from officers who served the warrant revealed the target of the investigation, Taylor's ex-boyfriend, was already in custody when the shooting occurred.

Cameron said the investigation of the search warrant is being handled by federal authorities and was not part of his probe.

'Affinity between prosecutors and police officers'

Fairfax said that one of the inherent problems in cases like the one involving the officers who shot Taylor is the close working relationship they have with prosecutors.

"Prosecutors work very closely with police officers day to day to investigate criminal conduct and to build cases. So there's a natural affinity between prosecutors and police officers," Fairfax said.

"There are always concerns raised when prosecutors are put in the position of having to investigate and prosecute those same officers for criminal wrongdoing or misconduct. And that's never more true than it is in cases of police killings of civilians," he said. "It's not impossible that such prosecutors act in an unbiased way but it does raise red flags."

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear appointed Cameron, the chief law enforcement officer in the state, as a special prosecutor in the Taylor case after the local district attorney recused himself citing a conflict of interest due to his office prosecuting Walker, who was initially charged with attempted murder. The charges against Walker were later dismissed, but Cameron maintained his position as the special prosecutor.

Lawyers for Taylor's family have called on Beshear to appoint a new special prosecutor to reopen the case, a prospect unlikely to happen, Sam Marcosson, a professor at Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville, told ABC News

"It would be very difficult to imagine a subsequent grand jury returning an indictment that would have much of chance to lead to a conviction in court," Marcosson said. "Defense attorneys in that case for the police officers -- if we assume there was a new indictment involving manslaughter or second-degree manslaughter for example -- would question that from the get-go and say this was the result of political maneuvers, of repeated attempts to force an indictment that doesn't have credibility."

Marcosson said another big problem with prosecutors bringing cases of police misconduct to grand juries is the temptation of politics influencing the outcome. Prosecutors are elected in all but three states -- Alaska, Connecticut and New Jersey, as well as Washington, D.C.

"These are elected officials and they care about re-election or future offices they might want to run for. It would be naive of us to believe that political considerations play no role," Marcosson said. "What we hope is that unlike other elected officials, judges, prosecutors and attorneys general understand and adhere to their ethical obligations in how they conduct their offices."

"Now whether that happens or not, whether that's happened in this case, a lot of people are questioning. A lot of people believe, rightly or wrongly, that the attorney general allowed political considerations, whether they be the influence of politics, the desire for future endorsements, and the views of those who are his political supporters to affect his decision making," Marcosson said of Cameron, the state's first African American attorney general and a Republican.

During his news conference following the grand jury's announcement of its decision in the Taylor case, Cameron expressed sympathy for Taylor's loved ones, including her mother.

"Every day this family wakes up to the realization that someone they loved is no longer with them. There's nothing I can offer today to take away the grief and heartache this family is experiencing as a result of losing a child, a niece, a sister and a friend," Cameron said.

Cameron also defended how he and his office handled the case.

"The decision before my office as the special prosecutor in this case was not to decide if the loss of Ms. Taylor's life was a tragedy. The answer to that question is unequivocally yes," Cameron said. "There's no doubt that this is a gut-wrenching emotional case and the pain that many people are feeling is understandable."

Alternatives to grand juries in police misconduct cases

A growing number of civil rights activists and legal scholars fed up with grand juries repeatedly declining to indict police officers in fatal shootings say the time is long overdue to reform the criminal justice system to instill more transparency in grand jury proceedings dealing with police misconduct and also undertake judicial reform to create greater independence.

"There's no judge and there's no lawyer representing the other side. It's completely a person in a room of people and he or she tells them what to feel, think and, basically, what to do," Joseph H. Low IV, a Los Angeles criminal defense and civil trial lawyer, told ABC News. "Honestly, it's an appearance of something that is supposed to be objective and fair, but in actuality, it's a complete joke."

He said he's heard calls from civil rights activists who say they want to see accountability in grand jury proceedings concerning police, but added that people should not look to government officials to provide it.

"Here's why: because that head prosecutor is paid by the state, the exact same people who pay the cops, and the exact same people who pay the judge," Low said. "If you really want some reform that's effective and is actually going to work, you've got to start with reforming the relationships between the judges and how they get appointed to that position, the prosecutors and how they get there and the cops so that they can't all work together again. So, if you want to do it you can't just do one, you've got to do all three and the people should be calling for that."

Stephen Bright, a civil rights lawyer and guest lecturer at Yale University Law School, said the cloak of secrecy in grand jury hearings concerning police misconduct should also be removed.

"When these big celebrated cases come along the grand jury I think is ill-fitted for these because the secrecy is a negative thing here. You want accountability, you want transparency," Bright told ABC News.

Bright suggested that instead of a grand jury, the decision to charge officers in police misconduct cases should be handled similar to a preliminary hearing in open court with a judge presiding over the proceedings and defense attorneys present to challenge the prosecution's evidence.

"In some places, there's a coroner's inquest and a coroner's inquest is like a semi-judicial proceeding," Bright said. "It's public, witnesses testify. I think that would be valuable because that way it's all out in public, everybody can hear the witnesses and see what they say and hopefully people who want to testify would have the chance to testify."

Bright added, "My criticism in this (the Taylor case) and other cases is they act like the grand jury is the trial. The grand jury is not the trial. The grand jury is just the charge."

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Breonna Taylor case sparks renewed scrutiny of grand juries in police misconduct cases

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When a Kentucky grand jury failed to return homicide charges against three white police officers in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor (in fact, two of the officers were not charged at all), the scenario sounded all too familiar to attorney Tony Rothert.

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Halla Barakat and her mother, Orouba Barakat were murdered in Turkey. They were American journalists/activists. It was said that their work may have threatened powerful figures who then had them killed.

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Turkey says the Barakats were killed in a family dispute. Others aren't so sure.

Halla Barakat and her mother, Orouba Barakat, devoted their lives to dangerous work. Halla, 23, was a reporter working for two news outlets in Turkey, where she covered the civil war in Syria that had forced millions of refugees to flee across the border. Orouba, 62, was a journalist-turned-activist, a fierce critic of ISIS and of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and an active member of the Istanbul-based opposition to his regime.

Halla's star was rising. She had recently worked on a human rights investigation for ABC News. Orouba, meanwhile, was already well known as a regularly fiery guest on Arab television, commenting on the latest news from her native Syria, often with unrestrained passion.

"(The Arab world) knows that this regime is a criminal regime," Orouba told Al Arabiya in 2012. "Bashar al-Assad said, 'My father taught Syrians a lesson for 30 years ... and I will do the same for a hundred years.' And I will respond to him: 'Screw you!'"

When the Barakats were killed in September 2017 in a brutal double murder in Istanbul that sparked headlines around the world, their family, friends and colleagues suspected that their work may have threatened powerful figures with the motive and means to silence them.

Their throats cut. Their bodies covered with blankets. Their blood-spattered apartment doused in laundry detergent, a way to hide the smell of decomposition and delay the discovery of the bodies. And no one in their quiet residential neighborhood reported hearing the sounds of a struggle. The scene, to many observers, suggested the work of a professional. Halla was an American citizen - born while Orouba was visiting relatives in North Carolina - who had worked for a U.S. media outlet. So two U.S. lawmakers from the state, Sen. Thom Tillis and Rep. David Price, soon called for a thorough investigation of that very possibility. H.R. McMaster, then a senior member of the Trump administration, even invited a member of the family, Suzanne Barakat, to the White House, where, she said, intelligence officials and diplomats assured her that the case was a priority.

By then, Turkish authorities had arrested and secured a confession from a distant relative named Ahmed Barakat, who had been working for Orouba since arriving in Turkey from Syria six months earlier. Orouba owed him money, Ahmed told prosecutors in the presence of a judge, according to court documents, and when he confronted her in the apartment she shared with her daughter, she refused to pay and attacked him with a kitchen knife, which he then used to kill her. When Halla screamed, he said, he killed her, too.

After a brief trial, Ahmed was convicted and given two life sentences. The case, as far as prosecutors were concerned, was closed, another so-called femicide in a country that has experienced a troubling rise in violence against women.

But questions about the case lingered, especially after the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey the following year. How could a small debt motivate a man to commit a double murder? Did the Turkish National Police investigate whether the suspected killer acted alone? And why did the FBI, the agency responsible for investigating the killings of Americans abroad, decline to pursue the case?

Suspicious social media activity only fueled more doubts. Within days of the murders, Orouba's Twitter account appeared to have been hacked. Her tweets were deleted and profile and banner images replaced by a picture of Assad in sunglasses, accompanied by a cryptic but harrowing message: "The Golden Condor / Hacked with greetings / The Golden Condor / Assad's soldiers are everywhere."

Suzanne Barakat, a U.S. citizen who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, was angered by the Trump administration's apparent indifference.

"An American journalist was murdered. Her throat was slit along with her mother's in her apartment in Istanbul. And no one gave a damn," she told ABC News and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. "Not a word. No one following up with the families to see how they can be of support. No outrage from within the American government."
Watch the full story, "Justice for Halla," on "Nightline" at 12:35 a.m. ET on ABC
In the three years since their deaths, a trans-Atlantic team of journalists - some based in Turkey, others in the United States, some of whom knew Halla and Orouba personally, others who did not - has been seeking answers to those questions on the Barakats' behalf. That reporting, led by ABC News, where Halla briefly worked in the months before her death, and Reveal, will be featured in a special edition of "Nightline" tonight and an episode of the Reveal podcast Saturday.

ABC News and Reveal obtained hundreds of pages of documents from the investigation led by the Turkish National Police - including police statements, autopsy reports, witness testimony, evidence inventories and court transcripts. Coupled with more than a dozen interviews with family members, friends, colleagues, government officials and outside experts familiar with the case, the documents reveal several inconsistencies and outright contradictions in the official narrative. And records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, filed by Reveal, show that despite assurances from officials in the White House National Security Council and U.S. Department of State to the contrary, the FBI never opened a case.

Some family members and colleagues have suggested that Orouba had been pursuing a sensitive investigation into Assad regime abuses at the time of her murder. Orouba's sister Shaza said Orouba had been gathering information about Syria's now-infamous Sednaya prison, where the United States has accused Assad's government of building a crematorium to hide evidence of mass killings. Orouba told an ABC News producer in Istanbul that she was "working on something" and "this time, it will be big," though ABC News and Reveal were unable to find documents or other evidence to corroborate the claim that she had a high-profile investigation in the works.

The Assad regime has been accused of targeting journalists for assassination, and Orouba had, according to police reports, received anonymous death threats in the weeks before the killings. Orouba had publicly feuded with members of the opposition, and she resigned from her position in the Syrian National Coalition, citing corruption within its leadership, in August, just a month before her death.

Abdel Majid Barakat, a former Syrian intelligence officer who later joined the Syrian National Coalition, said that while he had no special knowledge about Orouba's murder, the Assad administration views journalists as a top national security threat and routinely monitors opposition figures in other countries.

"The regime tries to target people inside these opposition areas," Barakat, who is not related to Halla or Orouba, told ABC News and Reveal.

The Syrian government has denied allegations that it has targeted journalists, but a U.S. court imposed a $300 million judgment against Syria in 2019 for the death of war correspondent Marie Colvin, in a case that depended in part on documents and testimony provided by Barakat, the former intelligence officer.

Ahmed Barakat recanted his confession to Halla and Orouba's murders in his very next court appearance, according to court documents - accusing his court-appointed translator of coercing him to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for leniency - and appealed his conviction. That appeal is pending. In response to questions from ABC News and Reveal submitted through an attorney in January 2020, Ahmed again denied playing any role in the killings. Turkish authorities did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the case made directly to the police and prosecutors and submitted through the Turkish Interior Ministry in Ankara and the Turkish Embassy in Washington.

The FBI, meanwhile, declined to answer specific questions about the case or the bureau's handling of it, issuing only a brief statement expressing support for the Turkish investigation.

"Upon review into the deaths of Halla and Orouba Barakat, the FBI is confident that the Turkish legal system and their law enforcement conducted a thorough investigation and identified, interviewed and received a confession from the subject," said Tina Jagerson, an FBI spokesperson. "The FBI is not in receipt of any further relevant information that would dispute the investigative findings or legal outcome. Additionally, the FBI has recently been in contact with the victim's family and has communicated the FBI's decision."

The Committee to Protect Journalists, which tracks violence against journalists around the world, has yet to make an official determination on whether Halla's death was work-related.

"We are skeptical about the confession of a distant male relative of the two women who said he killed them over money," said Joel Simon, the committee's executive director. "Authorities should consider Orouba Barakat's activism and Halla Barakat's journalism as possible motives."

That question, like so many others, appears to have been set aside with Ahmed's confession.

And Rep. David Price, who represents the Raleigh district where Halla was born, said the FBI and Trump administration should have done more.

"There were reasons to expect that this might be more than just a robbery or just a routine homicide," Price told ABC News and Reveal. "The motivation and the scale of the crime didn't fit the scene. ... It doesn't add up."

"This is the administration," he said, "failing to pursue an important case."

The case against Ahmed is circumstantial but significant. Ahmed, then 20, entered Turkey in early 2017. After a stint in the Free Syrian Army, he had been struggling to support himself in Damascus, Ahmed told investigators in October, and fearing he could be pressed into Assad's service, he arranged with the Barakats to work for Orouba and eventually settled with Orouba's younger brother Maen Barakat in Istanbul.

On Sept. 19, 2017, security camera footage obtained by investigators shows Ahmed walking away from a bus station in Istanbul's Küçüksu neighborhood in the direction of Halla and Orouba's apartment. The cameras capture him at multiple points along the route, and he is last seen just a few blocks away.

Security camera footage shows Ahmed again the morning after, walking away from the area of the apartment. He has changed his clothes and now appears to be carrying a plastic shopping bag. By the time he reaches the bus station, the bag has disappeared. Halla and Orouba's bodies were discovered the following night, after friends and colleagues realized they were missing.

Ahmed's attempts to explain his presence in the area that night strain credulity. He admits that he visited the apartment, but claims he left and spent the night sleeping near the water.

"I went to Orouba just for a visit," Ahmed told ABC News and Reveal, echoing his denials to investigators. "I knocked on the door and no one answered, and I needed to sleep because I don't have anyone to go to but Orouba in Istanbul."

Material evidence of Ahmed's presence inside the apartment, however, was contradictory. Investigators took swabs from Halla and Orouba's bodies twice - once at the crime scene and again during the autopsy. While forensic experts who examined the crime scene swabs reported that DNA matching Ahmed's profile was discovered under one of Orouba's fingernails, the autopsy report concluded that there was no foreign DNA found on Orouba's body at all.

The discrepancy does not appear to have been addressed or resolved. The case file indicates that forensic analysis of fingerprints, footprints and electronic devices taken from the crime scene were ordered, but there are no documents specifying whether those findings confirm or contradict investigators' theory of the case.

Police later searched for Ahmed's shopping bag, but never found it, according to a court filing. Experts examined all the knives in the apartment, but court documents indicate investigators were unable to identify the murder weapon.

The Barakat family doesn't doubt Ahmed's involvement, only his motive and his means to carry out the killings on his own.

"Ahmed alone cannot kill them. No way," Maen Barakat told ABC News and Reveal. "Ahmed was an accomplice in the crime."

Turkish investigators appear to have shared those suspicions, at least initially, and their immediate descriptions of the crime scene - corroborated by independent eyewitnesses - appear inconsistent with the prosecutor's theory of the case as a crime of passion.

Here, again, the investigative files reveal stark contradictions that were never directly addressed by prosecutors. According to the autopsy reports, Halla and Orouba each were stabbed multiple times in their face and neck area. But chief prosecutor Tuncay Karcioglu, who personally examined the crime scene, according to the police report, was left with a different impression.

"An external wound, slaughter style, can be seen on her neck," Karcioglu noted twice, once in reference to Halla and again in reference to Orouba.

Days later, when Shaza Barakat, Orouba's younger sister, was preparing to wash Halla and Orouba's bodies for burial in accordance with Muslim tradition, she made the same observation.

"Just one (wound). On her neck," Shaza told ABC News and Reveal. "Both of them."

In a handwritten note scribbled on a memo justifying the decision to continue to detain Ahmed amid an ongoing investigation, the chief prosecutor also indicated that the investigation may have been broader than previously known.

"In accordance with the evidence that has been found," the note reads, "the suspect is suspected of committing a collective crime."

It is the only indication that investigators believed Ahmed had not acted alone. In the wake of Ahmed's Oct. 6 confession, however, the investigation appears to end. Questions about Ahmed's motive - and whether he had co-conspirators - were left unanswered.

In the wake of the murders, Suzanne Barakat, 32, was determined to hold the Trump administration accountable for its response. It wasn't the first time she would pour her grief into activism.

Suzanne's brother Deah Barakat; his wife, Yusor Abu-Salha; and Yusor's sister, Razan, were killed in 2015 in an infamous triple homicide in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, that authorities initially insisted was over a parking dispute. Suzanne, however, condemned the murders as a hate crime, and she has continued to speak out against the Islamophobia that she and other Muslim Americans have endured.

When her close relatives Halla and Orouba were killed, she was nearly overcome, she said, by such an "eerily similar" trauma, but she knew "it was time to use my voice."

She emailed then-White House national security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who replied with condolences and offers of assistance.

"I speak for the Administration," McMaster wrote in an Oct. 11 email, "in saying we are deeply saddened to hear of the tragic losses your family has suffered."

McMaster helped Suzanne secure meetings with several National Security Council officials, as well as Michael Ratney, then the top U.S. envoy handling Syria affairs. In October 2017, she flew to Washington and - with her newborn baby in her arms - pressed top government officials at both the White House and the State Department to "find the truth" of what happened to her family.

"They assured me that they would kind of be on top of it and keep me updated," Suzanne said. "I received those assurances."

In November 2017, Suzanne received an email from Jennifer Davis, consul general of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, which Suzanne shared with ABC News and Reveal.

"Because this case involves an active criminal investigation," Davis said, "I would need to refer you to the FBI Agent and/or the Diplomatic Security official here at the Consulate who are working on the case."

By December 2017, however, any investigative efforts appear to have stalled. In a letter to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights group, George Piro, then assistant director of the FBI's international operations division, wrote that while the U.S. government "offered FBI analysis and assistance" to local authorities, the Turkish National Police "respectfully declined the FBI's assistance as TNP is very capable of conducting a thorough and complete investigation."

"The TNP is awaiting forensic evidence to be analyzed and currently has a suspect in custody who is strongly believed to be the perpetrator of the homicide of Halla and Orouba Barakat," Piro wrote. "Due to jurisdictional legalities, the TNP will continue to work this matter and provide updates to our Legal Attache office in Ankara."

A heavily redacted FBI memo dated Jan. 19, 2018, obtained by Reveal through the Freedom of Information Act, states that "there is no FBI case regarding the murder of Halla Barakat," adding that "there is no action that ALAT (assistant legal attaché) Istanbul can take at this point. Any further action should come from FBI HQ and LEGAT (legal attaché) Ankara."

But no one in the Trump administration informed Suzanne. She continued to push for action, unaware that the case already had been closed. When the responses to her inquiries slowed, Suzanne reached out to Rep. David Price, urging him to seek answers of his own. He requested an official briefing on the matter, and what he and his staff learned in October 2019 - from both the FBI and State Department - disappointed him.

Price said he came away from the briefing convinced that the question of U.S. involvement was not only a legal question, but "a diplomatic matter."

"But the diplomatic answer was not an adequate one," he said. "It was that the diplomacy says we don't get involved here."

Citing the United States' "increasingly fraught relationship" with Turkey, Price said he believes the Turks were willing to settle for Ahmed's "implausible" confession while the U.S. failed to insist that the case be jointly pursued.

"The larger context is troubling," Price said. "It gives one reason to particularly question this kind of deference to Turkish authorities. Especially in a case that involves an American citizen."

McMaster did not respond to requests for comment, and Ratney declined to comment. The State Department referred all queries to the FBI.

Suzanne also contacted Twitter, which she suspected might have information that could be useful in identifying who hacked Orouba's account. But multiple entreaties to the social media platform - from Suzanne's attorney, Price and ABC News and Reveal - did not produce any results.

"In order to protect the privacy of those who use our service, we're unable to provide details on the accounts you referenced," said Twitter spokesperson Trenton Kennedy. "However, our teams have been in contact with Congressman Price's office regarding this issue."

For Suzanne, it has been a long, frustrating odyssey, one that has left her questioning her own government.

"It's hard feeling like I'm still in the dark," Suzanne said recently. "What does this mean, as an American citizen, if I were to travel abroad and something happened to me, something happened to you?"
Watch the full story, "Justice for Halla," on "Nightline" at 12:35 a.m. ET on ABC
The Barakat family and their allies hope that new information could help break the legal and diplomatic logjam that appears to have left Halla and Orouba's case in limbo.

"We all deserve the truth," Suzanne told ABC News and Reveal. "What happened to them is so gruesome and horrific and unacceptable. ... Their lives mattered. And it matters that we know what happened and why it happened and to hold those people accountable."

The case could finally get some fresh attention. Agnes Callamard, the United Nations' special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, told ABC News and Reveal this week that her office has "received information" about the murders and is "in contact with the Turkish government about these killings." Callamard is the human rights and international law expert who determined that Saudi Arabia was responsible for the premeditated killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

"It is an important case for me," Callamard said. "My objective is to determine whether the investigation has met the standard it should meet under international law. Was it effective? Was it impartial? Was it independent? And importantly and most specifically, in the case of a journalist, did it consider all the possible motivations behind the killings?"

Callamard said it is her responsibility to ensure that governments "do not stop at identifying the hit men, but look as well to identify those that have ordered the crime."

"It is, in my view, absolutely crucial that as a society, we are prepared to do everything we can to go to the bottom of the killing of a journalist," she said. "When we dig into such a crime, when we go beyond the surface of such a killing, what we find usually are deep-seated corruption, criminal activities within the core of the state, or injustice and the impunity that have become part of the system."

"That is why investigating the killing of a journalist is very likely to have a ripple effect. Of course, it will deliver justice for that killing, but it may also deliver justice to all of us."

Price, meanwhile, pressed for a pursuit of open leads and called on State Department officials to appeal to their Turkish counterparts to grant the authorization for "FBI work on the ground."

"It involves our diplomacy," Price told ABC News and Reveal. "And it involves some work with our supposed friends and allies in Turkey."

At stake, according to Joel Simon, of the Committee to Protect Journalists, is the ability of journalists around the world to safely conduct their work.

"Murder of journalists is an ultimate act of censorship," Simon said. "It's important for other journalists to investigate the killings of their colleagues and help bring the perpetrators to justice in order to ensure the safety of other journalists. It's also important to continue the work of the killed journalist, to carry on the message and say, 'You may kill the messenger, but you won't kill the message.' "

Some chilling words came from Halla herself. In transcripts of a 2016 interview with ABC News, Halla spoke of an American friend working in Syria who had been killed while doing dangerous work of her own.

"It was completely proven," Halla said, "that the American citizen does not have any support by their government."
Engin Bas, Nicky DeBlois, Jake Lefferman, Ashley Louszko, Matthew McGarry and Katie Muldowney at ABC News and Taki Telonidis at Reveal contributed to this story. Asmaa Al Omar, Beril Eski and Kerem Inal contributed reporting, research and translations. This story was edited by Esther Kaplan at Reveal and Cindy Galli at ABC News and copy edited by Nikki Frick at Reveal. Fariba Nawa, a freelance investigative reporter in Istanbul, can be reached at fnawa@hotmail.com. ABC News investigative reporter James Gordon Meek can be reached at james.meek@abc.com. Reveal senior reporter Aaron Glantz can be reached at aglantz@revealnews.org. ABC News investigative producer Pete Madden can be reached at pete.a.madden@abc.com. Freelance producer and reporter Chris Harland-Dunaway can be reached at charlanddunaway@gmail.com. Follow them on Twitter: @faribanawa, @meekwire, @Aaron_Glantz, @pamadden and @ChrisHDeee.
Halla Barakat and her mother, Orouba Barakat, devoted their lives to dangerous work. Halla, 23, was a reporter working for two news outlets in Turkey, where she covered the civil war in Syria that had forced millions of refugees to flee across the border. Orouba, 62, was a journalist-turned-activist, a fierce critic of ISIS and of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and an active member of the Istanbul-based opposition to his regime.

Halla's star was rising. She had recently worked on a human rights investigation for ABC News. Orouba, meanwhile, was already well known as a regularly fiery guest on Arab television, commenting on the latest news from her native Syria, often with unrestrained passion.

"(The Arab world) knows that this regime is a criminal regime," Orouba told Al Arabiya in 2012. "Bashar al-Assad said, 'My father taught Syrians a lesson for 30 years ... and I will do the same for a hundred years.' And I will respond to him: 'Screw you!'"

When the Barakats were killed in September 2017 in a brutal double murder in Istanbul that sparked headlines around the world, their family, friends and colleagues suspected that their work may have threatened powerful figures with the motive and means to silence them.

Their throats cut. Their bodies covered with blankets. Their blood-spattered apartment doused in laundry detergent, a way to hide the smell of decomposition and delay the discovery of the bodies. And no one in their quiet residential neighborhood reported hearing the sounds of a struggle. The scene, to many observers, suggested the work of a professional. Halla was an American citizen - born while Orouba was visiting relatives in North Carolina - who had worked for a U.S. media outlet. So two U.S. lawmakers from the state, Sen. Thom Tillis and Rep. David Price, soon called for a thorough investigation of that very possibility. H.R. McMaster, then a senior member of the Trump administration, even invited a member of the family, Suzanne Barakat, to the White House, where, she said, intelligence officials and diplomats assured her that the case was a priority.

By then, Turkish authorities had arrested and secured a confession from a distant relative named Ahmed Barakat, who had been working for Orouba since arriving in Turkey from Syria six months earlier. Orouba owed him money, Ahmed told prosecutors in the presence of a judge, according to court documents, and when he confronted her in the apartment she shared with her daughter, she refused to pay and attacked him with a kitchen knife, which he then used to kill her. When Halla screamed, he said, he killed her, too.

After a brief trial, Ahmed was convicted and given two life sentences. The case, as far as prosecutors were concerned, was closed, another so-called femicide in a country that has experienced a troubling rise in violence against women.

But questions about the case lingered, especially after the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey the following year. How could a small debt motivate a man to commit a double murder? Did the Turkish National Police investigate whether the suspected killer acted alone? And why did the FBI, the agency responsible for investigating the killings of Americans abroad, decline to pursue the case?

Suspicious social media activity only fueled more doubts. Within days of the murders, Orouba's Twitter account appeared to have been hacked. Her tweets were deleted and profile and banner images replaced by a picture of Assad in sunglasses, accompanied by a cryptic but harrowing message: "The Golden Condor / Hacked with greetings / The Golden Condor / Assad's soldiers are everywhere."

Suzanne Barakat, a U.S. citizen who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, was angered by the Trump administration's apparent indifference.

"An American journalist was murdered. Her throat was slit along with her mother's in her apartment in Istanbul. And no one gave a damn," she told ABC News and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. "Not a word. No one following up with the families to see how they can be of support. No outrage from within the American government."
Watch the full story, "Justice for Halla," on "Nightline" at 12:35 a.m. ET on ABC
In the three years since their deaths, a trans-Atlantic team of journalists - some based in Turkey, others in the United States, some of whom knew Halla and Orouba personally, others who did not - has been seeking answers to those questions on the Barakats' behalf. That reporting, led by ABC News, where Halla briefly worked in the months before her death, and Reveal, will be featured in a special edition of "Nightline" tonight and an episode of the Reveal podcast Saturday.

ABC News and Reveal obtained hundreds of pages of documents from the investigation led by the Turkish National Police - including police statements, autopsy reports, witness testimony, evidence inventories and court transcripts. Coupled with more than a dozen interviews with family members, friends, colleagues, government officials and outside experts familiar with the case, the documents reveal several inconsistencies and outright contradictions in the official narrative. And records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, filed by Reveal, show that despite assurances from officials in the White House National Security Council and U.S. Department of State to the contrary, the FBI never opened a case.

Some family members and colleagues have suggested that Orouba had been pursuing a sensitive investigation into Assad regime abuses at the time of her murder. Orouba's sister Shaza said Orouba had been gathering information about Syria's now-infamous Sednaya prison, where the United States has accused Assad's government of building a crematorium to hide evidence of mass killings. Orouba told an ABC News producer in Istanbul that she was "working on something" and "this time, it will be big," though ABC News and Reveal were unable to find documents or other evidence to corroborate the claim that she had a high-profile investigation in the works.

The Assad regime has been accused of targeting journalists for assassination, and Orouba had, according to police reports, received anonymous death threats in the weeks before the killings. Orouba had publicly feuded with members of the opposition, and she resigned from her position in the Syrian National Coalition, citing corruption within its leadership, in August, just a month before her death.

Abdel Majid Barakat, a former Syrian intelligence officer who later joined the Syrian National Coalition, said that while he had no special knowledge about Orouba's murder, the Assad administration views journalists as a top national security threat and routinely monitors opposition figures in other countries.

"The regime tries to target people inside these opposition areas," Barakat, who is not related to Halla or Orouba, told ABC News and Reveal.

The Syrian government has denied allegations that it has targeted journalists, but a U.S. court imposed a $300 million judgment against Syria in 2019 for the death of war correspondent Marie Colvin, in a case that depended in part on documents and testimony provided by Barakat, the former intelligence officer.

Ahmed Barakat recanted his confession to Halla and Orouba's murders in his very next court appearance, according to court documents - accusing his court-appointed translator of coercing him to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for leniency - and appealed his conviction. That appeal is pending. In response to questions from ABC News and Reveal submitted through an attorney in January 2020, Ahmed again denied playing any role in the killings. Turkish authorities did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the case made directly to the police and prosecutors and submitted through the Turkish Interior Ministry in Ankara and the Turkish Embassy in Washington.

The FBI, meanwhile, declined to answer specific questions about the case or the bureau's handling of it, issuing only a brief statement expressing support for the Turkish investigation.

"Upon review into the deaths of Halla and Orouba Barakat, the FBI is confident that the Turkish legal system and their law enforcement conducted a thorough investigation and identified, interviewed and received a confession from the subject," said Tina Jagerson, an FBI spokesperson. "The FBI is not in receipt of any further relevant information that would dispute the investigative findings or legal outcome. Additionally, the FBI has recently been in contact with the victim's family and has communicated the FBI's decision."

The Committee to Protect Journalists, which tracks violence against journalists around the world, has yet to make an official determination on whether Halla's death was work-related.

"We are skeptical about the confession of a distant male relative of the two women who said he killed them over money," said Joel Simon, the committee's executive director. "Authorities should consider Orouba Barakat's activism and Halla Barakat's journalism as possible motives."

That question, like so many others, appears to have been set aside with Ahmed's confession.

And Rep. David Price, who represents the Raleigh district where Halla was born, said the FBI and Trump administration should have done more.

"There were reasons to expect that this might be more than just a robbery or just a routine homicide," Price told ABC News and Reveal. "The motivation and the scale of the crime didn't fit the scene. ... It doesn't add up."

"This is the administration," he said, "failing to pursue an important case."

The case against Ahmed is circumstantial but significant. Ahmed, then 20, entered Turkey in early 2017. After a stint in the Free Syrian Army, he had been struggling to support himself in Damascus, Ahmed told investigators in October, and fearing he could be pressed into Assad's service, he arranged with the Barakats to work for Orouba and eventually settled with Orouba's younger brother Maen Barakat in Istanbul.

On Sept. 19, 2017, security camera footage obtained by investigators shows Ahmed walking away from a bus station in Istanbul's Küçüksu neighborhood in the direction of Halla and Orouba's apartment. The cameras capture him at multiple points along the route, and he is last seen just a few blocks away.

Security camera footage shows Ahmed again the morning after, walking away from the area of the apartment. He has changed his clothes and now appears to be carrying a plastic shopping bag. By the time he reaches the bus station, the bag has disappeared. Halla and Orouba's bodies were discovered the following night, after friends and colleagues realized they were missing.

Ahmed's attempts to explain his presence in the area that night strain credulity. He admits that he visited the apartment, but claims he left and spent the night sleeping near the water.

"I went to Orouba just for a visit," Ahmed told ABC News and Reveal, echoing his denials to investigators. "I knocked on the door and no one answered, and I needed to sleep because I don't have anyone to go to but Orouba in Istanbul."

Material evidence of Ahmed's presence inside the apartment, however, was contradictory. Investigators took swabs from Halla and Orouba's bodies twice - once at the crime scene and again during the autopsy. While forensic experts who examined the crime scene swabs reported that DNA matching Ahmed's profile was discovered under one of Orouba's fingernails, the autopsy report concluded that there was no foreign DNA found on Orouba's body at all.

The discrepancy does not appear to have been addressed or resolved. The case file indicates that forensic analysis of fingerprints, footprints and electronic devices taken from the crime scene were ordered, but there are no documents specifying whether those findings confirm or contradict investigators' theory of the case.

Police later searched for Ahmed's shopping bag, but never found it, according to a court filing. Experts examined all the knives in the apartment, but court documents indicate investigators were unable to identify the murder weapon.

The Barakat family doesn't doubt Ahmed's involvement, only his motive and his means to carry out the killings on his own.

"Ahmed alone cannot kill them. No way," Maen Barakat told ABC News and Reveal. "Ahmed was an accomplice in the crime."

Turkish investigators appear to have shared those suspicions, at least initially, and their immediate descriptions of the crime scene - corroborated by independent eyewitnesses - appear inconsistent with the prosecutor's theory of the case as a crime of passion.

Here, again, the investigative files reveal stark contradictions that were never directly addressed by prosecutors. According to the autopsy reports, Halla and Orouba each were stabbed multiple times in their face and neck area. But chief prosecutor Tuncay Karcioglu, who personally examined the crime scene, according to the police report, was left with a different impression.

"An external wound, slaughter style, can be seen on her neck," Karcioglu noted twice, once in reference to Halla and again in reference to Orouba.

Days later, when Shaza Barakat, Orouba's younger sister, was preparing to wash Halla and Orouba's bodies for burial in accordance with Muslim tradition, she made the same observation.

"Just one (wound). On her neck," Shaza told ABC News and Reveal. "Both of them."

In a handwritten note scribbled on a memo justifying the decision to continue to detain Ahmed amid an ongoing investigation, the chief prosecutor also indicated that the investigation may have been broader than previously known.

"In accordance with the evidence that has been found," the note reads, "the suspect is suspected of committing a collective crime."

It is the only indication that investigators believed Ahmed had not acted alone. In the wake of Ahmed's Oct. 6 confession, however, the investigation appears to end. Questions about Ahmed's motive - and whether he had co-conspirators - were left unanswered.

In the wake of the murders, Suzanne Barakat, 32, was determined to hold the Trump administration accountable for its response. It wasn't the first time she would pour her grief into activism.

Suzanne's brother Deah Barakat; his wife, Yusor Abu-Salha; and Yusor's sister, Razan, were killed in 2015 in an infamous triple homicide in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, that authorities initially insisted was over a parking dispute. Suzanne, however, condemned the murders as a hate crime, and she has continued to speak out against the Islamophobia that she and other Muslim Americans have endured.

When her close relatives Halla and Orouba were killed, she was nearly overcome, she said, by such an "eerily similar" trauma, but she knew "it was time to use my voice."

She emailed then-White House national security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who replied with condolences and offers of assistance.

"I speak for the Administration," McMaster wrote in an Oct. 11 email, "in saying we are deeply saddened to hear of the tragic losses your family has suffered."

McMaster helped Suzanne secure meetings with several National Security Council officials, as well as Michael Ratney, then the top U.S. envoy handling Syria affairs. In October 2017, she flew to Washington and - with her newborn baby in her arms - pressed top government officials at both the White House and the State Department to "find the truth" of what happened to her family.

"They assured me that they would kind of be on top of it and keep me updated," Suzanne said. "I received those assurances."

In November 2017, Suzanne received an email from Jennifer Davis, consul general of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, which Suzanne shared with ABC News and Reveal.

"Because this case involves an active criminal investigation," Davis said, "I would need to refer you to the FBI Agent and/or the Diplomatic Security official here at the Consulate who are working on the case."

By December 2017, however, any investigative efforts appear to have stalled. In a letter to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights group, George Piro, then assistant director of the FBI's international operations division, wrote that while the U.S. government "offered FBI analysis and assistance" to local authorities, the Turkish National Police "respectfully declined the FBI's assistance as TNP is very capable of conducting a thorough and complete investigation."

"The TNP is awaiting forensic evidence to be analyzed and currently has a suspect in custody who is strongly believed to be the perpetrator of the homicide of Halla and Orouba Barakat," Piro wrote. "Due to jurisdictional legalities, the TNP will continue to work this matter and provide updates to our Legal Attache office in Ankara."

A heavily redacted FBI memo dated Jan. 19, 2018, obtained by Reveal through the Freedom of Information Act, states that "there is no FBI case regarding the murder of Halla Barakat," adding that "there is no action that ALAT (assistant legal attaché) Istanbul can take at this point. Any further action should come from FBI HQ and LEGAT (legal attaché) Ankara."

But no one in the Trump administration informed Suzanne. She continued to push for action, unaware that the case already had been closed. When the responses to her inquiries slowed, Suzanne reached out to Rep. David Price, urging him to seek answers of his own. He requested an official briefing on the matter, and what he and his staff learned in October 2019 - from both the FBI and State Department - disappointed him.

Price said he came away from the briefing convinced that the question of U.S. involvement was not only a legal question, but "a diplomatic matter."

"But the diplomatic answer was not an adequate one," he said. "It was that the diplomacy says we don't get involved here."

Citing the United States' "increasingly fraught relationship" with Turkey, Price said he believes the Turks were willing to settle for Ahmed's "implausible" confession while the U.S. failed to insist that the case be jointly pursued.

"The larger context is troubling," Price said. "It gives one reason to particularly question this kind of deference to Turkish authorities. Especially in a case that involves an American citizen."

McMaster did not respond to requests for comment, and Ratney declined to comment. The State Department referred all queries to the FBI.

Suzanne also contacted Twitter, which she suspected might have information that could be useful in identifying who hacked Orouba's account. But multiple entreaties to the social media platform - from Suzanne's attorney, Price and ABC News and Reveal - did not produce any results.

"In order to protect the privacy of those who use our service, we're unable to provide details on the accounts you referenced," said Twitter spokesperson Trenton Kennedy. "However, our teams have been in contact with Congressman Price's office regarding this issue."

For Suzanne, it has been a long, frustrating odyssey, one that has left her questioning her own government.

"It's hard feeling like I'm still in the dark," Suzanne said recently. "What does this mean, as an American citizen, if I were to travel abroad and something happened to me, something happened to you?"
Watch the full story, "Justice for Halla," on "Nightline" at 12:35 a.m. ET on ABC
The Barakat family and their allies hope that new information could help break the legal and diplomatic logjam that appears to have left Halla and Orouba's case in limbo.

"We all deserve the truth," Suzanne told ABC News and Reveal. "What happened to them is so gruesome and horrific and unacceptable. ... Their lives mattered. And it matters that we know what happened and why it happened and to hold those people accountable."

The case could finally get some fresh attention. Agnes Callamard, the United Nations' special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, told ABC News and Reveal this week that her office has "received information" about the murders and is "in contact with the Turkish government about these killings." Callamard is the human rights and international law expert who determined that Saudi Arabia was responsible for the premeditated killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

"It is an important case for me," Callamard said. "My objective is to determine whether the investigation has met the standard it should meet under international law. Was it effective? Was it impartial? Was it independent? And importantly and most specifically, in the case of a journalist, did it consider all the possible motivations behind the killings?"

Callamard said it is her responsibility to ensure that governments "do not stop at identifying the hit men, but look as well to identify those that have ordered the crime."

"It is, in my view, absolutely crucial that as a society, we are prepared to do everything we can to go to the bottom of the killing of a journalist," she said. "When we dig into such a crime, when we go beyond the surface of such a killing, what we find usually are deep-seated corruption, criminal activities within the core of the state, or injustice and the impunity that have become part of the system."

"That is why investigating the killing of a journalist is very likely to have a ripple effect. Of course, it will deliver justice for that killing, but it may also deliver justice to all of us."

Price, meanwhile, pressed for a pursuit of open leads and called on State Department officials to appeal to their Turkish counterparts to grant the authorization for "FBI work on the ground."

"It involves our diplomacy," Price told ABC News and Reveal. "And it involves some work with our supposed friends and allies in Turkey."

At stake, according to Joel Simon, of the Committee to Protect Journalists, is the ability of journalists around the world to safely conduct their work.

"Murder of journalists is an ultimate act of censorship," Simon said. "It's important for other journalists to investigate the killings of their colleagues and help bring the perpetrators to justice in order to ensure the safety of other journalists. It's also important to continue the work of the killed journalist, to carry on the message and say, 'You may kill the messenger, but you won't kill the message.' "

Some chilling words came from Halla herself. In transcripts of a 2016 interview with ABC News, Halla spoke of an American friend working in Syria who had been killed while doing dangerous work of her own.

"It was completely proven," Halla said, "that the American citizen does not have any support by their government."
Engin Bas, Nicky DeBlois, Jake Lefferman, Ashley Louszko, Matthew McGarry and Katie Muldowney at ABC News and Taki Telonidis at Reveal contributed to this story. Asmaa Al Omar, Beril Eski and Kerem Inal contributed reporting, research and translations. This story was edited by Esther Kaplan at Reveal and Cindy Galli at ABC News and copy edited by Nikki Frick at Reveal. Fariba Nawa, a freelance investigative reporter in Istanbul, can be reached at fnawa@hotmail.com. ABC News investigative reporter James Gordon Meek can be reached at james.meek@abc.com. Reveal senior reporter Aaron Glantz can be reached at aglantz@revealnews.org. ABC News investigative producer Pete Madden can be reached at pete.a.madden@abc.com. Freelance producer and reporter Chris Harland-Dunaway can be reached at charlanddunaway@gmail.com. Follow them on Twitter: @faribanawa, @meekwire, @Aaron_Glantz, @pamadden and @ChrisHDeee.

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An American journalist was murdered in Turkey. Why didn't the US investigate?

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Turkey says the Barakats were killed in a family dispute. Others aren't so sure. Halla Barakat and her mother, Orouba Barakat, devoted their lives to dangerous work. Halla, 23, was a reporter working for two news outlets in Turkey, where she covered the civil war in Syria that had forced millions of refugees to flee across the border.

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The FBI uncovered a plot to kidnap the Governer of Michigan. All of the individuals involved were arrested. After the event Governer Whitner said "There is ongoing rhetoric. Even the president last night in his tweet storm won't stop attacking me, and I think that it's creating a very dangerous situation, not just for me but for people in leadership roles who are trying to save lives all across this country,"

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"Even the president last night in his tweet storm won't stop attacking me."

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the alleged target of a foiled kidnapping plot, says the threats against her and other officials haven't stopped.

"There is ongoing rhetoric. Even the president last night in his tweet storm won't stop attacking me, and I think that it's creating a very dangerous situation, not just for me but for people in leadership roles who are trying to save lives all across this country," Whitmer told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos during an interview Friday on "Good Morning America."

The U.S. Department of Justice announced charges on Thursday against six men in Michigan allegedly involved in a monthslong plot to kidnap the Democratic governor and violently overthrow the state's government before the November presidential election. During a press conference that afternoon, a visibly angry Whitmer lashed out at President Donald Trump for "stoking" hate and called the suspects "sick and depraved men."

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the Michigan State Capitol has been the scene of numerous protests by right-wing activists, some armed and calling for Whitmer's resignation due to the lockdown order she imposed. Investigators said several of the suspects were among those protesting the state's lockdown.

Trump took to Twitter Thursday night, saying Whitmer has "done a terrible job" and, regarding the foiled kidnapping plot, "rather than say thank you, she calls me a White Supremacist."

"Governor Whitmer -- open up your state, open up your schools, and open up your churches!" he tweeted.

In April, amid protests over coronavirus-related restrictions, Trump faced heavy criticism for tweeting, "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!"

The FBI said it first learned of the suspects' plot in early 2020 and began embedding confidential sources and undercover agents to monitor their activities.

According to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday, Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta started planning to take Whitmer and others hostage at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing. They even planned to blow up a bridge and allegedly intended to hold Whitmer for a trial and then execute her. The men went to the governor's vacation home on two separate occasions in August and September to conduct surveillance, the complaint said.

During a press conference Thursday, Andrew Birge, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, said that the individuals were arrested Wednesday. Fox, Garbin, Franks, Harris, and Caserta are all residents of Michigan, while Croft is a resident of Delaware, according to the Justice Department.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told reporters that seven other individuals "linked" to a militia group called the Wolverine Watchmen have been charged under Michigan's anti-terrorism law.

"The individuals in (state) custody are suspected to have attempted to identify the home addresses of law enforcement officers in order to target them, made threats of violence intended to instigate a civil war, and engaged in planning and training for an operation to attack the capitol building of Michigan and to kidnap government officials, including the governor of Michigan," Nessel said.
ABC News' Luke Barr, Libby Cathey and Alexander Mallin contributed to this report. This report was featured in the Friday, Oct. 9, 2020, episode of "Start Here," ABC News' daily news podcast. "Start Here" offers a straightforward look at the day's top stories in 20 minutes. Listen for free every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, the ABC News app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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After foiled kidnapping plot, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says threats against her are 'ongoing'

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"Even the president last night in his tweet storm won't stop attacking me." Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the alleged target of a foiled kidnapping plot, says the threats against her and other officials haven't stopped. "There is ongoing rhetoric.

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There is suspicions that the White House is lying about the president's health conditions. There is still many concerns on when he got the virus and who he may have passed it on to.

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Analysis: Trump is getting increasingly desperate, sparking new fears for his health | CNN Politics

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President Donald Trump’s increasing political desperation is raising concerns about his judgment following his aggressive Covid-19 treatment and as suspicion mounts that the White House is not telling the truth about his health.

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Brazil just now went into quarantine after cases surpass 5 million and growing. In Brazil, 700 people are dying every day and 45 thousand are getting infected.

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Updated 10/8/2020 11:30 PM

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Dozens of people converged on the cobblestone streets of downtown Rio de Janeiro for its traditional Pedra do Sal samba party - the first since the pandemic began - and it seemed Brazil was returning to normal.

Among those dancing Monday were Luana JatobÃ¡ and two friends, all of whom overcame COVID-19. As a nurse technician caring for coronavirus patients, she knows better than most that occupancy rates at Rio's intensive-care units have surged as the city's seven-day average number of cases reaches its highest level since June.

But, she said, everyone is desperate for a respite from the gloom.

'œWe take care of the people who are sick with COVID, but something that isn't discussed is that there's a very serious disease all over the world, which is depression,' said JatobÃ¡. 'œAfter confinement, this samba circle is really to rescue those who felt downbeat and were oppressed. It's not just the virus that kills.'

Brazilians, like many across the world, are burned out on quarantine. The somewhat slower pace of COVID-19's spread, combined with less media coverage after it moved beyond Brazil's two biggest cities, has helped people put the disease out of mind. But it continues to rip through Latin America's largest country, and mayors - many of whom aren't keen to keep restrictions in place ahead of November elections - are reopening their cities.

And experts are warning of a possible second wave.

At its height, Brazil was registering more than 45,000 cases and 1,000 deaths per day. Those totals took the shape of a months-long plateau, unlike most other countries whose viral curves had defined peaks. While Brazil's figures have fallen to about 27,000 cases and 700 deaths daily - significant improvement, clearly - they're still nothing to sneeze at.

Brazil surpassed 5 million confirmed cases on Wednesday night and is verging on 150,000 dead, the second-most in the world, according to the tally from Johns Hopkins University.

'œPeople thought it unacceptable that 1,000 people were dying every day two months ago, and now they are fine with 700 people dying every day. It simply doesn't make any sense,' said Pedro Hallal, an epidemiologist who coordinates the Federal University of Pelotas' testing program, by far the country's most comprehensive. 'œWe can say the worst part of the first wave is done, and now obviously we need to continue to be monitoring to see if numbers go up again.'

Hallal added that a second wave of infections is unlikely this year, because of how long Brazil's crest lasted, but that tens of millions remain susceptible. As such, a second wave is 'œvery likely' in 2021, he said.

The University of Miami's observatory for COVID-19 in the Americas indicates that, at Brazil's state level, the number of policies adopted to counter infection has fallen to the third-lowest in the region, behind Nicaragua, which declined to muster any meaningful response, and Uruguay, where virus incidence is among the world's lowest.

The phenomenon is visible in Brazil's cities, too, as campaigning mayors allow bars, restaurants and movie theaters to reopen, encouraging people to emerge from quarantine. Brazil's statistics institute released data last week showing that the percentage of people in strict isolation or leaving home only when necessary dropped to 57% in mid-September, from 68% in early July.

'œMayors running for reelection have no interest in imposing any kind of lockdown or restrictions,' said Miguel Lago, executive director of Brazil's Institute for Health Policy Studies, which advises public health officials. Their incentive now is to roll back pandemic measures, he added.

Limitations that ostensibly remain are often ignored. For example, Rio's beaches have been packed on recent weekends, despite the fact sunbathing remains prohibited.

'œIn the Brazilian tradition, there are laws that stick and others that don't,' Alvaro Costa e Silva, a columnist for Brazil's biggest newspaper, Folha de S.Paulo, wrote this week. 'œTo maintain what today is considered mental health, filling beaches and gathering in bars became a tolerated compulsion in Rio.'

As shops and some offices reopen in Sao Paulo, traffic jams in South America's biggest city have started making a comeback. By mid-September, mobility across Brazil had returned to normal levels, according to the University of Miami's COVID-19 observatory, based on GPS data from Google.

In Amazonas state, where early on the pandemic slammed the capital, Manaus, and forced cemeteries to dig mass graves, mobility was 24% above pre-pandemic levels. A fresh surge of cases prompted local authorities in late September to reinstate restrictions on commerce and gatherings, and to shut down the riverside beachfront.

'œI wouldn't recommend governments to relax further; there's still room for big spikes based on people moving around and not wearing masks,' said Michael Touchton, a political science professor at the University of Miami, and co-founder of its observatory. 'œA second peak is still quite possible in Brazil.'

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has downplayed the severity of COVID-19 from the start, and insisted that shutting down economies would inflict worse hardship on working-class families than the disease. He told the United Nations General Assembly last month that the virus and joblessness were problems that needed solving simultaneously, and touted emergency cash payouts that helped 65 million Brazilians through the downturn.

But his government hasn't implemented a comprehensive national testing policy to identify cases swiftly and prevent their spread, nor shown any sign it intends to, according to Hallal. On the contrary, the Health Ministry yanked financing of his university's testing program in 133 cities after its third phase, forcing him to seek private funding for its fourth and upcoming fifth phases.

Results from the most recent phase, conducted in late August, found an average 1.4% infection rate in 33,250 people, down from 3.8% in June. While the rate was just 0.8% in Rio and Sao Paulo, 23 cities - almost all in Brazil's north and northeast - had triple that level or more.

'œThe population is behaving like the pandemic has been controlled, which isn't true,' said Margareth Dalcolmo, a respiratory medicine professor at the state-funded Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, who is also lead researcher for one of several vaccine studies in Brazil. 'œThe official discourse, versus the pressure from business and mayors to reopen everything, leaves people confused about what recommendations to follow. That's a big challenge in Brazil.'

Back at the samba show in Rio, partygoers showed they still remember how to quickstep without spilling their plastic cups of beer. A couple danced cheek to cheek. The percussionists striking their drums wore masks, but few spectators followed their lead.

Still, one of the event's organizers, Jeferson dos Santos, celebrated the return of the longed-for rhythm.

'œToday we have the first wave of samba, all the musicians are wearing their masks, all playing and respecting World Health Organization norms,' dos Santos said. 'œWe hope everything goes right, with God's will. We're in that positive vibe.'

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Brazil strains at quarantine as virus cases pass 5 million

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Updated 10/8/2020 11:30 PM RIO DE JANEIRO -- Dozens of people converged on the cobblestone streets of downtown Rio de Janeiro for its traditional Pedra do Sal samba party - the first since the pandemic began - and it seemed Brazil was returning to normal.