By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

DETROIT — The life and death tale of Billy Reilly is gut-wrenching. It involves his counterterrorism work online for Detroit FBI agents, penetrating radical groups under false names, and a three-year, worldwide odyssey by Oakland County parents in search of their missing son.

Wall Street Journal reporter Brett Forrest chronicles his movie-like saga. Through laborious investigative reporting and fingerprint identification, he finds that Reilly had been murdered in the Ukraine in 2015 at age 28.

The FBI insists he was not there on a bureau assignment or suggestion. William and Theresa Reilly, the parents living in Oxford, aren’t so sure.

“The FBI never directed William Reilly to travel overseas to perform any work for the FBI,” Brian P. Hale of bureau headquarters in Washington responded.

(Photo: FBI)

The Journal’s lengthy Oct. 11 story raises many questions about what the FBI knew. The agency had asked the Reillys to talk the paper out of publishing it.

Oakland University graduate

The saga began when Reilly was attending a Catholic high school after Sept. 11, 2001 and took an interest in  in Islam and the koran. Reilly went on to get a biology degree from Oakland University.

In 2010, when he was 23, the FBI came to the family house, the Journal reports. An agent said U.S. forces had raided an Al Qaeda position and found communcations from an IP address traced to the Reilly home.

Billy explained to the FBI he had found his way into restricted jihadist chat rooms. During their conversation, the agent asked Billy, who had knowledge of Arabic, if he had any interest in working with the FBI.

He said yes and became a part-timer or paid “source” for the bureau, working undercover online to unearth counterterrorism information. Forrest, the journalist, points out that sources work in a dangerous world, with little training and no government benefits “beyond an occasional paycheck and a pat on the back.”

Donald Trump Jr., via Wikipedia

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

The Justice Department confirmed Sunday that former White House counsel Don McGahn and President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., never testified before a federal grand jury during the Robert Mueller probe.

The details were revealed as part of an ongoing court battle between the House of Representatives and the Justice Department.

“Don McGahn did not testify before the grand jury. Indeed, none of the witnesses for whom the Committee requested FBI Interview Reports in Volume II of the Mueller Report, testified before the grand jury, with the exceptions of [redacted],” the DOJ notice states, The Hill reports. “Donald Trump, Jr. also did not testify before the grand jury.” ry

Details of why McGahn and Trump Jr. didn’t testify are still unclear. The Mueller report indicated Trump Jr. declined a voluntary interview.

McGahn agreed to private interviews, which played a major role in Mueller’s report.

Dominican Republic by Alexrk.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A rash of American deaths in the Dominican Republican has stirred fears that tourists were being poisoned by alcohol.

But a recent FBI investigation has bolstered Dominican Republic authorities’ findings that the deaths were from natural causes, not foul play.

The FBI conducted toxicology tests for three cases that were initially considered suspicious by family members, and the results ruled out methanol poisoning from alcohol, The Hill reports.

“Toxicology test results to date have been provided by the FBI to Dominican authorities, and family members of the deceased have been informed,” a State Department spokesperson told The Hill in a statement. “The results of the additional, extensive toxicology testing completed to date have been consistent with the findings of local authorities. Our condolences and sympathy go out to the families during this difficult time. Methanol poisoning from tainted alcohol was ruled out by the FBI in these cases during the toxicology screening, and it was not the finding in any other cases of U.S. citizen deaths investigated by Dominican authorities.”

Because some of the victims died after drinking alcohol, families became suspicious that the alcohol was poisoned.

The State Department and Dominican Republic have both said the number of American deaths in the country – 13 in 2018 –were not occurring at an unusual rate.