show as an expert. joining me now, chris whittingham, co-host of the football podcast with grant wahl. i am so sorry for your loss. thank you, nicolle. first let s talk about grant wahl first and then we ll talk about what we know. i read every tribute i could find online. i thought this was the most sort of cruel and vicious kind of tragedy, someone at the height of their profession, of their expertise, and giving back to everybody coming up behind him. just tell me what it was like to work with him. yeah. i started working with him about 2 1/2 years ago and it was at a time where i d just recently been let go from a job. i had known grant a little bit from having had him as a guest on a few podcasts i worked on. and he i reached out to him saying hey, if you ever need any production help i d be happy to help. and he took me up on that. despite the fact that he barely knew me at all. i guess he researched me somewhat. and we forged a relationship that initially started as
intentionally but a view toward let me learn about this place and what are actually the ills here and are there actually any people that would say nice things? he tried to fairly tell the story. but as you say it was a professional moment. really from the beginning he also prior to the tournament beginning took a picture of a sign in the media center and was told to delete the picture from his phone. a story that has happened to other journalists while there. tried to tell the story, obviously, of the lgbtq rights issues in the country and has been constantly talking about things that are not related to soccer. was incredible at covering the soccer but also was dedicated to telling the stories of the world cup beyond that. grant wahl s journalism will now live in the voices and the words and the stories that people google and read from years on. what work, what body of work, i think i can already guess where you might go with this. what was he most proud of in terms of stories that h
suggested that they ve seen no indication of foul play or anything nefarious at this point. those questions were grounded in two areas. first, wahl was admirably outspoken on human rights issues and was openly critical of fifa and qatar on the topic of migrant worker deaths. plus he was initially refused entry to the usa-wales match and subsequently detained for declining to remove a rainbow t-shirt he was wearing in support of lgbtq rights. whatever the medical expectation and autopsy reveal, whatever the cause of death was, we will always remember that his loving family will be dealing with unimaginable loss this holiday season and well beyond. our thoughts are with them, particularly with his geffect shouz disease specialist who was part of joe biden s transition team providing advice on the pandemic. she has also appeared on this
dining with the likes of nick fuentes. unbelievable. unbelievable. it s great to have you here. thank you very much. and you re right, you ve been correct about an alarming amount of things when it comes to trump. we will shift gears on the other side of the break to the tragic death of american sports journalist grant wahl who collapsed and died friday at the world cup. what we have learned and the questions that remain. after a quick break. i stand : i promise to be a careful steward of the things that matter to you most. i promise to bring you advice that fits your values. i promise our relationship will be one of trust and transparency. as a fiduciary, i promise to put your interests first, always. charles schwab is proud to support the independent financial advisors who are passionately dedicated to helping people achieve their financial goals. visit findyourindependentadvisor.com
about this next story at the moment and what we don t. what we do know is this. grant wahl, a beloved and highly regarded american sports journalist said to possess abundant kindness, generosity, humility and midwestern charm, tragically collapsed and died in a press box at the world cup in qatar on friday. we know he had visited a local medical clinic recently there, that he was told he might have bronchitis and that his body arrived back here in the united states this morning. on saturday fifa honored his death with white lilies at the work station to which he was assigned and a tribute on the stadium s big screen. here s where this tragic news of the loss of this brilliant young star reporter combines with questions about just what happened to him. because some, including his brother, had raised questions about the circumstances of grant s death. he was only 49. he was in great shape. in response to those questions the state department late today