Obama-era whistleblower Philip Haney was found dead with a gunshot wound last month in Amador County, California and while an investigation into the cause and manner of his death is ongoing, two Republican lawmakers who knew him have indicated that he was, in fact, murdered.

Haney, one of the founding members of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), exposed the Obama Administration’s dangerously P.C. national security policies in 2015 and 2016, and was reportedly in recent “contact with top officials about returning to work for the DHS.”

The whistleblower was said to have kept a thumb drive around his neck containing sensitive government data about Islamic extremists and national security, but the whereabouts of that thumb drive are unknown.

An initial statement put out by the Office of the Sheriff-Coroner of Amador County incorrectly stated that Haney’s death was due to a “self-inflicted gunshot wound,” but a subsequent statement corrected that “misinformation.”

Currently we have scheduled a forensic autopsy to be performed by forensic pathologists from the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office. Additionally we have reached out to our law enforcement partners in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to assist in analyzing documents, phone records and a lap top that were recovered from the scene and Mr. Haney’s RV. We are currently in possession of his vehicle, the firearm located at the scene, and his RV and we will be requesting evidence processing assistance from the FBI on those items as well. Our investigators conducted a neighborhood canvas and interviewed his RV park neighbors on the day of the incident along with checking key areas for any video surveillance that may exist from that time. The investigators are continuing to follow-up with the overwhelming number of persons who are calling our office from throughout the United States asking for detailed information on our investigation.

Haney’s body was “located in a park and ride open area immediately adjacent to State Highway 16 near State Highway 124. Highway 16 is a busy state highway and used as a main travel route to and from Sacramento.” The DHS whistleblower lived in the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento, less than three miles away.

Over two weeks ago on the House floor, Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) delivered shocking, but under-the-radar remarks about Haney’s demise, both strongly suggesting that he was murdered.

“I’m standing on the floor here saying, Madame Speaker, I don’t believe that Phil Haney committed suicide,” King said. “I expect that we’re going to get a thorough investigation. The evidence that is coming to me indicates that he was murdered.”

King said that even when he first met Haney many years ago, he was concerned that “he would be a target of people.”

“Phil often said, ‘I would never commit suicide,'” King explained, adding that he was a good friend of Haney’s.

Gohmert, who was also friends with Haney, said that the two had a “mutual pact”: “[If] either one of us ended up having committed suicide, then the other is going to make sure that the truth wins out.”

Gohmert also noted that he’d been concerned about Haney’s safety, “with all the information he knew and people who could’ve gotten in trouble.”

In a bombshell piece in the Hill on May 5, 2016, Haney revealed that the Department of Homeland Security had ordered him “to delete or modify several hundred records of individuals tied to designated Islamist terror groups like Hamas from the important federal database, the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS).”

A month later, he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was forced to destroy documents about people tied to Islamic terrorism. Haney further detailed the Obama administration’s Islam-friendly policies in his book: See Something Say Nothing: A Homeland Security Officer Exposes the Government’s Submission to Jihad.

“And see, that’s what a real whistleblower—he testified before the Senate—that’s what a real whistleblower does,” Gohmert said on the House floor. “A real whistleblower does not remain anonymous. They come forward, subject themselves to cross-examination, and supposedly have protection. But that’s not happened in the Obama administration.”

The Texas Republican pointed out that the Obama administration prosecuted more people for leaking than any other administration.

Both King and Gohmert claimed that Haney always kept a thumb-drive around his neck containing a cache of highly sensitive data related to allegations that the government could have prevented domestic terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists.

“He had a thumb drive with a lot of data on it … hanging on a lanyard around his neck,” King said. “He kept that with him and I understood that that information was also deposited in a remote location or two or more, so there was a redundancy if anything happened to Phil Haney that information would be accessible to the people I imagine he trusted the most,” the Iowa Republican explained. “So that was his insurance policy that he wouldn’t be killed.”

Several of Haney’s friends spoke out in the media after his death was initially deemed a suicide.

Bill Becker, president and chief counsel of Freedom X posted on Facebook, “I’m in shock this morning to learn that my dear friend Phil Haney, former DHS whistleblower and author of “See Something, Say Nothing,” has died from gunshots in San Francisco. Phil, Trevor Loudon and I are the first recipients of American Freedom Alliance’s American Freedom Award. May he RIP.“

Becker told the California Globe that “Phil had firsthand evidence that Obama was secretly advancing Islamic hegemony in the U.S. He sacrificed his career to expose it. He was a friend and a patriot.“

Kelly Walton, another friend, posted on Haney’s Facebook page, “Phil was a hero. No way this is suicide. While I was running the ACT chapter network, Phil tirelessly worked to get the truth out. Watch your back everyone.”

Former Marine Randy McDaniels told the California Globe, “There are a lot of conflicting reports. I knew Phil well enough to say for certain…he would in no way commit suicide.”

American Greatness reached out to the Amador County Sheriff’s Office for an update on the Haney investigation but did not receive an immediate reply.

UPDATE:

A spokesman from the Office of the Sheriff-Coroner of Amador County got back to American Greatness but had no new information to offer on the case.

“This case is still under investigation and no release of information is being made at this time,” Undersheriff Gary Redman said in an email.