FLYNN 3 bak bak

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Michael Flynn Is Excited To Link Up With ‘Domestic Terrorist’ Matt Shea

[Kyle Mantyla | April 1, 2024

Michael Flynn is releasing a documentary this month chronicling his career, which culminated with him serving briefly as national security adviser to former President Donald Trump. Flynn resigned early in the Trump administration for having misled the administration about discussions he had with Russian leaders prior to Trump assuming office. Flynn eventually pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about those discussions, but was ultimately pardoned by Trump, who has pledged to re-hire Flynn should he be reelected to the White House in 2024.

In the interim, Flynn has become a full-blown Christian nationalist and conspiracy theorist who has traveled the nation spreading his radical views to anyone who will listen.

The documentary, of course, appears to ignore all of that and seeks instead to paint Flynn as a courageous truth teller who was the target of a vindictive witch hunt, and Flynn will be on-hand to promote that narrative at screenings all over the country.

Later this month, Flynn will be hosting a showing of the film at On Fire Ministries in Spokane, Washington, a church run by radical right-wing pastor Matt Shea.

In 2019, Shea was a member of the Washington state House of Representatives until the chamber released a 108-page report detailing how he had “participated in an act of domestic terrorism” and “planned, engaged in and promoted a total of three armed conflicts of political violence against the United States Government in three states outside the state of Washington over a three-year period.”

The report exposed Shea’s deep ties to the far-right militia movement, as well as a document he authored laying out the “Biblical Basis for War,” in which he declared that the enemy must agree to accept bans on abortion, same-sex marriage, communism, and idolatry and agree to live under biblical law. If these demands were refused, Shea declared that the only solution was to “kill all males.”

In the wake of the report, the state’s House Republican Caucus stripped Shea of his committee assignments and booted him out of the party. Shea refused to resign his seat but did not run for reelection in 2020 and eventually took a position as a pastor of On Fire Ministries.

Shea and Flynn make a fitting pair, as last week Flynn appeared on Shea’s “Patriot Radio” program, where he declared that those who oppose their far-right political agenda are “soulless, dark people” who “have no conscience.”

“We are now led by a group of people who have no conscience,” Flynn said. “I’m talking specifically about [President Joe] Biden who says he’s a Catholic. That is so far from however he actually operates. But it’s not just him. These are soulless, dark people who believe in the idea of socialism and Marxism and communism. So it’s not like, ‘Well, these are just bad Democrats.’ No. These are people who want to take our country away from God, they want to take our country away from this system of government that we have called a constitutional republic, and they want to recreate a government; they want to fundamentally change America.”

IFrame Content

Flynn told Shea that he is “so excited” about appearing at his church and “linking up,” and Shea was likewise thrilled by Flynn’s planned visit, reporting that not only will Flynn be on had to a screening of the documentary, but will also be part of an America’s Future “training” event on how to combat child exploitation and human trafficking. America’s Future is an organization run by Flynn’s sister that is filled with QAnon conspiracy theorists like Liz Crokin and Lara Logan.

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no lnx an 8 23

Busted: Trump's fascist coup exposed again

Joe Conason August 19, 2023

Now that former President Donald Trump has been indicted not once but twice for attempting to steal the 2020 presidential election, his apologists say he was merely pursuing his constitutional right to contest the results. They insist that he truly believed his campaign was undone by massive voter fraud and that all the post-election machinations carried out by him and his cronies were innocent and sincere.

Unfortunately for them, evidence continues to emerge showing not only that their claims of fraud were fabricated -- and ruled to be false in 61 lawsuits -- but that Trump had planned to carry out a conspiracy against democracy well before the election results were even fully tabulated.

Nobody should be surprised to learn that the latest confirmation of the Trump's campaign's nefarious intent features Roger Stone, the veteran dirty trickster and pardoned felon, who must have coined his "Stop the Steal" slogan while peering into a mirror. If there was an attempted "steal," he was one of the perps.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

In his boundless vanity, Stone allowed himself to be videotaped by Danish documentarian Christoffer Gulbrandsen while dictating a memo that outlined a plan to substitute fake electors supporting Trump for legitimate electors supporting Joe Biden. That moment occurred on Nov. 5, 2020 -- two days after the election and two days before Biden was declared the election's winner

Speaking slowly as an aide typed on a laptop, Stone declared: "Any legislative body may decide on the basis of overwhelming evidence of fraud to send electors to the electoral college who accurately reflect the president's legitimate victory in their state, which was illegally denied him through fraud."

Stone is not a lawyer, and that notion of an "independent state legislature" acting to overturn the actual election result in any state was thoroughly discredited before the Supreme Court rejected it. John Eastman, the conservative Trump attorney who conceived the fake electors scheme, has confessed that he knew all along the theory was hollow and that even Republican-appointed judges would dismiss it.

But the validity of the theory was beside the point, as Stone himself suggested in another interview with Gulbrandsen. The coup plot formulated by Stone and the rest of Trump's team foresaw a sudden assertion of illegitimate authority to seize control and void the election. Michael Flynn,Trump's pardoned former national security adviser, even urged a plot that would conclude with the imposition of military dictatorship. They meant to force the country to accept the outcome they demanded, with a spasm of military violence wherever that proved necessary.

That was why Stone -- and Steve Bannon, the fascistic former White House strategist, also pardoned by Trump - both predicted, quite accurately, that Trump would declare himself the victor on Election Night regardless of the tabulated results. "I really do suspect that it'll still be up in the air," Stone said on November 1, 2020, anticipating the election a few days later. "When that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory. Possession is nine-tenths of the law."

Speaking in the voice of Trump, he enunciated what he thought his client should say: "No, we won." If those tabulated results showed Biden in the lead, Stone added, then Trump should say:

"Sorry, we're not accepting them. We're challenging them in court." And not just in court, where all but one of Trump's challenges were repudiated by judges of both parties. "If the (Biden) electors show up at the Electoral College, armed guards will throw them out," Stone warned. Speaking again in Trump's voice, he went on, "I'm challenging all of it, and the judges we're going to, are judges I appointed."

None of that worked out according to Stone's expectations, as even Trump's appointees and his own vice president, Mike Pence, resisted the fake fraud charges, the phony electors and the entire coup plot. As articulated repeatedly by Stone, Bannon, Flynn and others around Trump, the intent couldn't have been more brazenly authoritarian and illegal. In early September 2020,Stone echoed Flynn on Alex Jones'"Infowars" show that in the event of a contested election, Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act, and arrest Bill and Hillary Clinton, the late Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and "anybody else who can be proven to be involved in illegal activity." He also urged Trump to shut down any publication that could supposedly be shown to have engaged in "seditious and illegal activities," and with its entire staff "arrested and taken into custody."

In short, the extremists around didn't hide their vision of a violent fascist takeover. That they couldn't execute the plan does not in any way exonerate them or Trump, who followed that plotline until it led to the mob attack on the Capitol. The latest video of Stone, preening and pontificating, is simply further proof of the criminal intent -- what the law calls mens rea -- that drove their attempt to overturn American democracy.

To find out more about Joe Conason and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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rww --> https://www.azmirror.com/2023/06/05/janae-shamp-az-senator-proudly-flies-flag-adopted-by-fringe-far-right-extremists/

West Valley Republican state senator proudly displays a flag tied to Christian nationalism and other extremist movements on her desk on the floor of the Arizona Senate, though she says she has embraced the symbol for its historical meaning and doesn’t care that “fringe groups” have adopted it.

The white flag with a pine tree on it and the phrase “An Appeal to Heaven”was :{originally used by George Washington}: and the Continental Army. It was later adopted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as :{its naval and maritime flag}: from 1776 until 1971, when it was replaced by a similar flag that did not include the phrase “An Appeal to Heaven.”

In recent years, the flag has been adopted by evangelical Christians and :{Christian nationalists:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, who see the flag as a rallying call. Christian nationalists believe that the United States is Christian nation that should base its laws and practices around the teachings of Christianity. For :{followers of the movement:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, the flag symbolizes what they view as America’s Christian roots.

The flag has also been embraced by far-right extremist organizations :{like the Proud Boys:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: and some neo-Nazi groups.

Arizona Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, rejected the notion that her use of the flag indicates anything beyond her commitment to fighting to protect “our liberty and freedoms” from “the too many wanna be kings who inhabit elected office and (government) bureaucracies.”

“Something that has had a particular meaning for 250 years retains its original meaning, no matter which fringe group might seek to co-opt it,” Shamp said in an emailed response to questions about the flag. “I hope and pray that my fight enjoys a similarly favorable outcome as (George) Washington’s original struggle, and that I will succeed in restoring at least some small measure of liberty before I’m done.

“That’s why I fly the flag. I don’t know who else uses it or for what.”

Shamp did not respond to questions about whether she embraced the beliefs of Christian nationalism, and said she doesn’t know anything about Christian dominionism, a closely related belief system. She called the Arizona Mirror’s line of inquiry “lazy” and “an attempted hit.”

“I work everyday with people of all faiths and even some who hold no particular faith or even no faith at all. That’s how America works,” she wrote. “So anybody stupid enough to try to put me into some sort of discriminatory box deserves the public ridicule they’ll get for trying to convince people of something so obviously wrong.”

To investigative journalist, author and researcher :{David Neiwart:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, who has written extensively about the far-right and conspiracy theorists, the lines between many different groups have begun to blur as a “universe” of far-right groups from QAnon, militias, white supremacists and others have gained political influence, particularly among conservatives.

Most of them, however, share a few things in common, he said, including beliefs in “right-wing authoritarianism” and the alleged supremacy of Christianity.:{

And after looking at the :{various people:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}::{ and }:{ Shamp has supported over the years, including various extremist and Christian nationalist figures and causes, Neiwart said it’s clear to him that Shamp ascribes to those beliefs. }:

“She is definitely a Christian nationalist, she is :{definitely QAnon:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, and a fully enraptured Trumpite,” Neiwert said.

Christian nationalism and Christian dominionism

While a surge in Christian nationalism in recent years has garnered media attention — due in part to high-profile conservatives like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has :{explicitly declared herself a Christian nationalist:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}::{, and the backing of influential leaders like :(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:white nationalist Nick Fuentes — Christian dominionism has similarly been :{on the rise:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, though with much less fanfare.

WhileChristian nationalism centers on the idea that God intended America to be a Christian nation — one without religious pluralism — and that Christians should control all levels of government and society, Christian dominionism holds that Christians should take total control over most aspects of society.

One of the more popular Dominionist beliefs is in the so-called “:{Seven Mountain Mandate:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:,” which draws from the biblical book of Revelations and requires Christians to :{invade the “seven spheres” of society:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:: family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business, and government. In doing so, American life can be reshaped to hew to conservative Christian values.

The idea has been :{embraced and promoted by:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: people like Turning Point USA leader Charlie Kirk and Paula White, the televangelist who served as a “spiritual advisor” to Donald Trump while he was president.

According to Neiwart, the key difference between Christian dominionism and nationalism is that dominionists want everyone under Christian rule, while nationalists think everyone should convert to Christianity.

“Christian nationalists take it a step further than Christian Dominionists,” Neiwart said, adding that a dominionist wouldn’t care if a Muslim was present, “they just want them under the thumb of Christian leaders.”

One of the :{biggest promoters:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: of Christian nationalism and dominionism has been disgraced:{**Ret. Gen. Michael Flynn**:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, Trump’s first national security adviser, who has claimed that he is waging “spiritual warfare” and building an “army of God.” Flynn is also:{known to associate:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: with other known Dominionist groups.

Shamp is a fervent supporter of Flynn’s, and has posted praise of Flynn often on social media. The recent COVID-19 special committee she co-chaired was sponsored in part by an organization that :{Flynn co-founded:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:.

“I get goosebumps every time General Flynn talks about our great Nation!” Shamp said in a :{December 2021 post:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: accompanied by a video of Flynn.

At a Trump rally in Florence in January 2022, Shamp :{told Business Insider:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: that the “No. 1 person standing up for ‘we, the people’ is probably Gen. Michael Flynn.”

She explained that Flynn was helping fight for the “grassroots, for citizens to get involved, for us to take our country back” from the “political elite.” Flynn later endorsed Shamp in her bid for the Arizona Senate.

Shamp, a conservative from Surprise, has also been found to have shared a number of QAnon posts on her Facebook, including some linked to :{Neo-Nazis and antisemites:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:.

The flag and extremism

The flag, which Shamp displays on her desk and in :{her Twitter banner image:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, has also been connected to extremist groups and violent events. During the violent events of Jan. 6, the flag :{was seen:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: being carried by a number of individuals.

It has also been adopted by groups that support the likes of Fuentes, who during protests over mask mandates and COVID vaccines, flew the flag, as well as at their annual gatherings, according to Neiwart.

That is what in part makes it hard to know who exactly was flying the flag at the riots on Jan. 6, far-right extremists or Christian nationalist types, Neiwart said, but that doesn’t change one underlying thing.

“I would say Christian nationalism as a phenomenon is one of the real undergirding movements involved in the insurrection,” Neiwart said, adding that the militias and other groups such as the OathKeepers all had underlying Christian nationalist roots or beliefs. “All these Christian patriots that formed these militias are Christian nationalists as well.”

Shamp’s flag is not the first time the flag has appeared in the Arizona Senate, either.

Last year, the Secular Coalition of Arizona pointed out that a small version of the flag was being displayed on the security desk in the Arizona Senate; it was later removed. A spokeswoman for the Arizona Senate Republican caucus did not respond to multiple requests for comment about what policies, if any, the Senate has regarding the display of flags.

A larger version of the flag was :{displayed in the second-floor lobby of the Arizona House of Representatives:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: last year, as well. Again, after the Secular Coalition of Arizona :{inquired about the flag:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, it was quietly removed. The flag had previously been displayed in the chamber in 2017.

The Secular Coalition of Arizona sees the flag as a violation of the constitutional doctrine requiring a :{separation of church and state:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:.

For Neiwart, the appearance of the “An Appeal to Heaven” flag in Arizona, and statehouses :{across the country:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:, is troubling.

:{:{“It is a pretty clear sign that this stuff has been mainstreamed and that is not a good thing,” he said. “I don’t think Americans typically awake to an existential threat until it creates a disaster of monumental proportions.:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}::{”:(style="background-color:#ffffff;"):}::(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:

===

rww 5 23

**when the far-right ReAwaken America Tour stopped at one of former President Donald Trump’s properties recently, Trump**called in to the event and promised to bring former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn back into the White House if Trump is elected president. Let us count some of the many ways that pledge highlights the authoritarian threat represented by Trump and the MAGA movement:

Flynn called for martial law. Flynn backed Trump’s efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 presidential election. In December 2020, Flynn promoteda call for Trump to declare martial law and use the military to oversee a new election.
Flynn told far-right activists not to accept Trump’s defeat. On the eve of the Jan 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Flynn spoke at a rallyemceed by Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander, where speakers mingled Christian nationalism and threats of violence, where Flynn insisted, “We should not accept this.”
Flynn took the Fifth on Jan. 6 violence. When asked by the House Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol whether he thought the violence that day was justified, Flynn, citing the Fifth Amendment.
Flynn partners with far-right figures. He has teamed up with far-right activist John Guandolo, who praised the Jan. 6 insurrectionists for “restraint” and said “ it is amazing to me that patriots haven’t strung up these traitors already with the amount of evidence on the table of what they’re doing.” Guandolo trains right-wing citizens “to take over their towns, arrest, their mayors, and destroy the lives of anyone who objects by publicly humiliating them, getting them fired from their jobs, and forcing them to move away,” Right Wing Watch reportedin 2022.
Flynn is a close ally of Sidney Powell: Powell is a lawyer who notoriously promoted wild conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being stolen, undermining confidence in elections and helping to fuel the rage of Trump’s supporters. Powell, who filed lawsuits in an unsuccessful effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, also represented Flynn in his effort to overturn his convictions. In a prayer call with religious-right dominionists in Dec. 2020, Flynn calledPowell a “spiritual warrior” and his—and America’s—“guardian angel of justice.”
Flynn stars in the far-right ReAwaken America Tour.He has**partnered with**right-wing conspiracy theorist and podcaster Clay Clark in this traveling roadshow of conspiracy theories, disinformation and Christian nationalism. ReAwaken America events have consistently been filled with radical right-wing activists peddling wild conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, the COVID-19 pandemic, child sex-trafficking, and much more. Flynn has been one of the most popular speakers on the tour since its early days; he has told crowds to get engaged in America’s “spiritual war” and “political war.”
Flynn makes the Christian nationalist threat clear: “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God,” Flynn said at a ReAwaken America event in 2021.
Flynn is a warrior in the right’s dishonest and damaging war on “wokeness.”Right-wing activists have turned “woke” into a catch-all slam against efforts to promote diversity, respect, inclusion, and teaching about racism. Flynn has campaigned for right-wing school board members and said that some of the “WOKE SOB’s” serving on school boards “just need to be arrested.”
Flynn has promoted QAnon.Flynn posted an infamous videoof he and his family taking an oath that was linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, whose adherents believe that high-ranking Democratic officials, Hollywood elites, and business executives are part of a global, satanic child trafficking ring that takes part in ritual sexual abuse of children and cannibalization.
Flynn wants to be FBI Director.“General Flynn on social media has made quite a bit of noise about being Trump’s next FBI director,” noted prominent QAnon adherent Dave Hayes (aka The Praying Medic) during an appearance on the QAnon-promoting “prophetic” network Elijah Streams. Hayes said Flynn’s recent attempt to distance himself from QAnon is simply part of a public relations strategy to smooth the path for him to become FBI director.
Flynn owes Trump bigly. Flynn admitted to lying to FBI officials investigating contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, but was granted an extremely broad pardon by Trump after the 2020 election.
The world Flynn wants the power to build: “Flynn’s movement envisions Christianity as the basis of American life and institutions; where the right to bear arms is paramount; where abortion is illegal; where concepts such as systemic racism and gay or transgender rights have no place in the schools; and where people who disagree are called ‘Marxists,’ or perverts, and are excluded from American civic life,” AP and Frontlinereportedlast year.

Of course, Trump himself is a threat to democracy, having tried to subvert it to keep power after his defeat, and he has made it clear that in a future administration he would move to purge the civil service of those who do not demonstrate unquestioned loyalty. And Flynn is not the only unsavory character waiting to help Trump wield power against his enemies during a Trump 2.0 administration. Trump also has his eyes on Jeffrey Clark, who tried to get the Justice Department to assist in Trump’s overthrow attempt. Trump was prepared to make Clark acting Attorney General, and backed off only high-ranking DOJ officials warned there would be a mass resignation public relations disaster.

You can help People For the American Way protect your rights and freedoms from authoritarian MAGA Republicans like Trump and Flynn by pledging to vote against MAGA authoritarians in upcoming local, state, and national elections.

https://www.mediamatters.org/rupert-murdoch/according-court-filings-rupert-murdoch-banned-steve-bannon-being-fringe-embraced

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https://apnews.com/article/michael-flynn-christian-nationalism-investigation-50fa5dcff7f99cf93409fcd6c1357bee

no lnx

Michael Flynn: From government insider to holy warrior

By MICHELLE R. SMITH

September 7, 2022

https://apnews.com/article/michael-flynn-christian-nationalism-investigation-50fa5dcff7f99cf93409fcd6c1357bee

BATAVIA, N.Y. (AP) — The crowd swayed on its feet, arms pumping, the beat of Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” thumping in their chests. The people under the revival tent hooted as Michael Flynn strode across the stage, bopping and laughing, singing the refrain into his microphone and encouraging the audience to sing along to the transgressive rock anthem.

“We’ll fight the powers that be just/Don’t pick our destiny ’cause/You don’t know us, you don’t belong!”

The emcee introduced him as “America’s General,” but to those in the audience, Flynn is far more than that: martyr, hero, leader, patriot, warrior.

The retired lieutenant general, former national security adviser, onetime anti-terrorism fighter, is now focused on his next task: building a movement centered on Christian nationalist ideas, where Christianity is at the center of American life and institutions.

Flynn brought his fight — a struggle he calls both spiritual and political — last month to a church in Batavia, New York, where thousands of people paid anywhere from a few dollars to up to $500 to hear and absorb his message that the United States is facing an existential threat, and that to save the nation, his supporters must act.

Youtube video thumbnail]

An investigation by The Associated Press and Frontline finds that Michael Flynn, the retired Army general and former Trump national security adviser, has been building a political movement mixing conspiracy theory with Christian nationalist ideas. ( Video edited by Serginho Roosblad)

Flynn, 63, has used public appearances to energize voters, along with political endorsements to build alliances and a network of nonprofit groups — one of which has projected spending $50 million — to advance the movement, an investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline” has found. He has drawn together election deniers, mask and vaccine opponents, insurrectionists, Proud Boys, and elected officials and leaders in state and local Republican parties. Along the way, the AP and “Frontline” documented, Flynn and his companies have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for his efforts.

This story is part of an ongoing investigation from The Associated Press and “Frontline” that includes the upcoming documentary “Michael Flynn’s Holy War,” premiering Oct. 18 on PBS and online.

The AP and “Frontline” spoke with more than 60 people, including Flynn’s family, friends, opponents, and current and former colleagues, for this story. The news organizations also reviewed campaign finance records, corporate and charity filings, social media posts and similar open-source information, and attended several public events where Flynn appeared. Reporters examined dozens of Flynn’s speeches, interviews and public appearances. Flynn himself sat down for a rare on-camera interview with what he calls the mainstream media.

“I don’t even know why I’m talking to you, honestly,” Flynn said as the interview got underway.

Throughout 2021 and 2022, Flynn made more than 60 in-person speeches in 24 states, according to a count by the AP and “Frontline.” When he speaks, the former top adviser to then-President Donald Trump spreads baseless conspiracy theories, stoking fear and fueling anger and division and grievance.

Flynn is “one of the most dangerous individuals in America today,” said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian and expert on authoritarianism and fascism who wrote the book “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.”

“He is spearheading the attack on our democracy, which is coming from many quarters, and he is affiliated with many of these sectors, from the military to Christian nationalism to election denial to extremist groups,” she said. “All of this comes together to present a very live threat. And he’s at the center.”

Flynn has, with mixed success, supported like-minded candidates around the country, and has said his immediate goal is to influence this year’s elections. In Sarasota, Florida, where he lives, he has worked in concert with members of the extremist group the Proud Boys to influence local politics. Their favored candidates in August won control of the county school board.

“Local action has a national impact” is his mantra.

“We need to take this country back one town at a time, one county at a time, one state at a time, if that’s what it takes,” he told a crowd in Salt Lake City.

FILE - Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, left, introduces Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Sept. 29, 2016, in Bedford, N.H. Flynn became a chief promoter of the so-called “Stop the Steal” effort and championed bogus claims about foreign interference and ballot tampering that weren’t supported by credible evidence. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

THE ULTIMATE INSIDER lnx

Flynn’s advocacy of falsehoods and conspiracy theories hardly makes him unique in a fact-challenged America, but his pedigree, military career and high-powered Washington contacts set him apart. He’s a retired three-star general who less than two decades ago developed wartime strategies for countering insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His selection as Trump’s first national security adviser made him the ultimate insider, giving him nominal control — if only for a matter of weeks — of the administration’s national security strategy. When he later found himself in legal trouble on suspicion that he had lied to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States, he cooperated with the same government establishment he now crusades against.

no lnx

Michael Flynn: From Government Insider to Holy Warrior

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/michael-flynn-government-insider-holy-warrior/

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

Michelle R. Smith

BATAVIA, N.Y. — The crowd swayed on its feet, arms pumping, the beat of Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” thumping in their chests. The people under the revival tent hooted as Michael Flynn strode across the stage, bopping and laughing, singing the refrain into his microphone and encouraging the audience to sing along to the transgressive rock anthem.

“We’ll fight the powers that be just/Don’t pick our destiny ’cause/You don’t know us, you don’t belong!”

The emcee introduced him as “America’s General,” but to those in the audience, Flynn is far more than that: martyr, hero, leader, patriot, warrior.

Flynn, 63, has used public appearances to energize voters, along with political endorsements to build alliances and a network of nonprofit groups — one of which has projected spending $50 million — to advance the movement, an investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series FRONTLINE has found. He has drawn together election deniers, mask and vaccine opponents, insurrectionists, Proud Boys, and elected officials and leaders in state and local Republican parties. Along the way, the AP and FRONTLINE documented, Flynn and his companies have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for his efforts.

This story is part of an ongoing investigation from The Associated Press and FRONTLINE that includes the upcoming documentary Michael Flynn’s Holy War, premiering Oct. 18 on PBS and online.

The AP and FRONTLINE spoke with more than 60 people, including Flynn’s family, friends, opponents, and current and former colleagues, for this story. The news organizations also reviewed campaign finance records, corporate and charity filings, social media posts and similar open-source information, and attended several public events where Flynn appeared. Reporters examined dozens of Flynn’s speeches, interviews and public appearances. Flynn himself sat down for a rare on-camera interview with what he calls the mainstream media.

“I don’t even know why I’m talking to you, honestly,” Flynn said as the interview got underway.

Throughout 2021 and 2022, Flynn made more than 60 in-person speeches in 24 states, according to a count by the AP and FRONTLINE. When he speaks, the former top adviser to then-President Donald Trump spreads baseless conspiracy theories, stoking fear and fueling anger and division and grievance.

“Local action has a national impact” is his mantra.

“We need to take this country back one town at a time, one county at a time, one state at a time, if that’s what it takes,” he told a crowd in Salt Lake City.

The Ultimate Insider

Flynn’s advocacy of falsehoods and conspiracy theories hardly makes him unique in a fact-challenged America, but his pedigree, military career and high-powered Washington contacts set him apart. He’s retired a three-star general who less than two decades ago developed wartime strategies for countering insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

FILE - Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn testifies on Capitol Hill on Feb. 11, 2014, in Washington. Once a respected anti-terrorism warrior, the retired lieutenant general is now a fount of conspiracy theories, among them that Donald Trump was robbed of victory in 2020.

Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn testifies on Capitol Hill on Feb. 11, 2014, in Washington. Once a respected anti-terrorism warrior, the retired lieutenant general is now a fount of conspiracy theories, among them that Donald Trump was robbed of victory in 2020. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke, File)

In the weeks after the November 2020 presidential election, Flynn picked up a presidential pardon — granted to forgive his guilty plea to lying to the FBI. He immediately became a chief promoter of the “Stop the Steal” effort and championed bogus claims about foreign interference and ballot tampering that weren’t supported by credible evidence. But for some voters, Flynn’s status as a retired general and top intelligence officer gave weight to the empty theories.

He falsely said Trump won, called the election outcome part of “a coup in progress,” suggested Trump should seize voting machines and said Trump could order up the military in some states and rerun the election. In December 2020 he even made his way into the Oval Office to push his ideas directly to Trump.

Called before a congressional committee investigating the Capitol insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, Flynn refused to say whether he believed the violence was justified or even whether he believed in the peaceful transition of power. He invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.

Retired Brig. Gen. Steven M. Anderson, who served with Flynn in Iraq, called Flynn’s ideas antithetical to core values of the American military and the nation itself.

Anderson worries that Flynn is “a role model for thousands and thousands and thousands of soldiers and former soldiers,” and that his ideas can empower them to take actions that hurt the country.

“We’ve got a retired three-star, former NSA, who says we can overthrow the election, use our military,” Anderson said. The thinking goes, he said, “Well, then yes, sign me up for the Proud Boys.”

FILE - A exhibit showing a deposition with former national security adviser Michael Flynn is displayed, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 28, 2022. Flynn refused to say whether he believed the violence was justified, or even whether he believed in the peaceful transition of power. Instead, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.

Flynn uses the three stars he earned in the military as his symbol, a shorthand that reminds people he came from the highest levels of the nation’s power structure — and that suggests he has a special knowledge of how things work in the shadowy world of Washington and global affairs.

“It’s a crying shame that essentially he has evolved into the person he is now,” said Anderson, who described his former colleague as a “subservient buffoon that unfortunately has forsaken his oath of office.”

Doug Wise, a former CIA and military officer who knew Flynn for decades and briefly served as Flynn’s deputy at the Defense Intelligence Agency, said even in the military, Flynn often pushed the envelope of what was permissible and demonstrated “extreme thinking.” He believes Flynn hasn’t transformed, he’s just become more comfortable acting on the anger that burns inside him.

“I understand the reasons why he gravitated to the right wing because as his behavior and beliefs became more bizarre, I think they were very welcoming. Because who wouldn’t want a highly respected Army three-star to join your group?” Wise said.

“I think he believed, post-government, and he was right in this … that he was too well-connected to fail,” Wise said. “And he got pardoned.”

Flynn sees conspiracies in just about every corner of American life.

He’s repeated falsehoods about Black Lives Matter and said that so-called globalists created COVID-19. He tells the tens of thousands of people who have paid to see him speak that there are 75 members of the Socialist Party in Congress, and has said the left and Democrats are trying to destroy the country. He asserts, above all else, that the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian values. The bedrock, he warns, is crumbling.

The country, Flynn often says in speeches and interviews, is in the midst of a “spiritual war,” and he goes after many of the institutions and ideas that stand as pillars of American democracy.

He has told audiences he doesn’t trust the U.S. government or government institutions that oversee the rule of law. He called the media “the No. 1 enemy” and said it has done a “horrible, horrible disservice to the country by just constantly lying and trying to deceive us.” He says elementary schools are teaching “filth” and “pornography.” He continues to assert, ignoring all evidence to the contrary, that elections can’t be trusted. He says, over and over, that some of his fellow Americans are “evil.”

“They dress like us and they talk like us, but they don’t think and act like us,” he told a podcaster recently. “And they definitely do not want what it is that we want.”

Heavy Armaments

Survey data shows many Americans believe what Flynn says — that the 2020 election was stolen — and have bought into COVID-19 misinformation and other conspiracy theories that he spreads, said Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a professor of history at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who studies the evangelical movement.

“Any of these factors alone could be considered dangerous. But all of them together and the distrust it is sowing in our democracy,” Du Mez said. “I think it’s extremely dangerous in this moment.”

She points to Flynn’s role as headliner of a multicity roadshow known as the ReAwaken America tour, an event that is a potent mix of politics, religion and commerce that has become a prime example of the Christian nationalist movement.

Flynn helped found the tour in 2021 with Clay Clark, an entrepreneur from Oklahoma who had been running business conferences before the pandemic. In his interview with the AP and FRONTLINE in February, Flynn said he considered himself a “senior leader” of the team that’s running it.

The thread of Christian nationalism runs through many of Flynn’s events. At one fundraiser, a preacher prayed over him saying that America would stay a Christian nation and that Flynn was “heavy armaments” in the Lord’s quiver. At the Christian Patriot’s Rally at a church in Northern California, Flynn was presented with an assault-style rifle on stage. In Virginia in July, he said pastors “need to be talking about the Constitution from the pulpit as much as the Bible.” In Texas last November, Flynn told a crowd “this is a moment in time where this is good versus evil.”

“If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God, right?” he said.

Christian nationalism seeks to merge the identity of Christians and Americans, so that to be a “true” American is to be Christian — and a certain type of Christian. The ideology pushes the idea that the United States was founded on biblical principles and has a favored relationship with a Christian God, said Samuel Perry, a sociologist at the University of Oklahoma who studies conservative Christianity and politics.

It is distinct from the practice of Christianity, and Perry’s research has found that many Americans who are inclined toward Christian nationalism don’t go to church.

“This has nothing to do with Christian orthodoxy. It has nothing to do with loving Jesus or wanting to be a good disciple or loving your neighbor or self-sacrifice or anything like that,” Perry said. “It has everything to do with Christian ethno-culture and specifically white Christian ethno-culture.”

Flynn casts himself as a victim of “the deep state” who paid a steep price for supporting Trump. Besides Trump, his supporters say, no one has been persecuted more than Flynn.

Flynn’s rhetoric — us versus them, good versus evil, the idea that God is on “our” side — has been a staple among conservative Christians for decades, and is mainstream in conservative evangelicalism, Du Mez said.

The thinking, she said, can fuel violence.

“They’re out to get us. Therefore, we need to strike first. And the threat is always dire,” Du Mez says the thinking goes. “And if the threat is dire, then the ends justify the means.”

“These values are not unconnected from the violence that we saw on Jan. 6,” she added.

(When the AP and FRONTLINE asked Flynn in February if he is ascribes to Christian nationalist views, he dodged. He first asked what the term meant, then said he was “an Irish Catholic” then a “follower of Jesus,” before criticizing the reporter: “That was a stupid question to ask me,” he said, “because that means that you really have not studied Mike Flynn.”) [lg blonde woman coaching him?]

Michael Flynn, former national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, speaks to attendees as he endorses New York City mayoral candidate Fernando Mateo during a campaign event on Thursday, June 3, 2021, in Staten Island, N.Y. He has, with mixed success, supported like-minded candidates around the country, and has said his immediate goal is to influence 2022’s elections.]

Last October, Flynn was the star attraction at the WeCANAct Liberty Conference, a gathering in Salt Lake City for Utah’s Platform Republicans PAC.

The program included dozens of speakers and exhibitors talking about a grab bag of ideas and causes that have seized and panicked the right — about vaccines, human trafficking, elections and the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Among the sponsors and exhibitors were the John Birch Society; businesses selling everything from texting services for political campaigns to food dehydrators; Ammon Bundy’s anti-government People’s Rights group; and America’s Frontline Doctors, which has spread false information about COVID-19 and promoted unproven treatments such as ivermectin, a drug used to treat parasitic infections. State lawmakers from Arizona and Utah spoke, and members of the Utah Republican Party’s governing committee were among the organizers.

The program kicked off with an invocation by a preacher who brought the crowd to its feet as he described a “prophecy” of a “Great Awakening” where “Americans are going to rise up and defeat the cabal.”

“We are in a spiritual war, and you can’t win a war without attacking,” he said.

The preacher ended by leading the crowd in what he called a “new version of the Lord’s Prayer that fits the Great Awakening.” The crowd repeated after him as he said: “Deliver us from the cabal, and from Satan’s influence. For yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory. Forever and ever and ever. Amen.”

Flynn appeared a few times throughout the day, at one point sitting in the audience. Across the Salt Palace Convention Center, people jostled their seatmates to point him out and craned their necks to see him.

That evening, he gave a meandering speech that he referred to as “an ass-chewing from a general.” He falsely declared once again that Trump had won the 2020 election, said “our government is corrupt,” and called for the FBI to be abolished, a surprising applause line in October 2021 that has now being taken up more broadly by some Republicans.

He called the left “our enemies” and said they are “godless” and “soulless.”

Attendees raise their hands as they worship inside the tent during the ReAwaken America tour at Cornerstone Church, in Batavia, N.Y., Friday, Aug. 12, 2022. Speaking at the event, Michael Flynn, former national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, is trying to build a movement centered on Christian nationalist ideas, where Christianity is at the center of American life and institutions.

One of Flynn’s companies, Resilient Patriot LLC, was paid $58,000 by the conference. An AP and FRONTLINE review of state and federal campaign finance filings documented nearly $300,000 in payments to Flynn and his businesses from candidates and political action committees since 2021, for things such as speaking fees, travel, book sales and campaign consulting. (Florida congressional candidate Laura Loomer reported paying his company $1,100 in May for public relations services.)

After Flynn’s keynote concluded, a podcaster helping to wrap things up for the evening came onstage and called him “one of the new founding fathers of this republic.”

99 Endorsements

As Flynn speaks and stumps to persuade people to join his movement, he has also been busy building a network of political candidates at the federal, state and local levels.

The AP and FRONTLINE found that Flynn has endorsed 99 candidates for the 2022 election cycle. (He subsequently withdrew a handful.)

The country’s most influential Republican is paying attention. Flynn’s brother Joseph told an interviewer in May that during a visit the Flynns made to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate this spring, Trump himself produced a list comparing the success of his endorsed candidates with Flynn’s.

At least 80% of Flynn’s chosen candidates have publicly spread lies or sown doubt about Trump’s 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden, or even participated in efforts to overthrow the election, the AP and FRONTLINE found. Several have suggested they would use their power if elected to change the way elections are run and how people are allowed to cast their vote.

About two dozen were at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 5-6, 2021.

One-third have served in the military.

At least 38 have used Christian nationalist rhetoric. Keith Self, a congressional candidate in Texas, has said he’s running for Congress “to defend the Judeo-Christian foundations of this nation.” Christine Villaverde, a congressional candidate in North Carolina, has vowed to fight to keep America “a Christian nation.” Anthony Sabatini, a Florida state lawmaker who just lost a bid for Congress, recently posted on Facebook, “Only when Christians stand up & get loud, will we take this country back.”

Michael Flynn, a retired three-star general who served as Trump's national security adviser, greets supporters near the stage during the ReAwaken America tour at Cornerstone Church, in Batavia, N.Y., Friday, Aug. 12, 2022.

Flynn’s support can be a sought-after prize. An AP and FRONTLINE analysis of Facebook and Instagram ad data found ads from more than 20 candidates promoting their endorsements. Jackson Lahmeyer, an Oklahoma pastor who was defeated in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate by Sen. James Lankford, mentioned Flynn in 48 Facebook and Instagram ads, more than one-quarter of his total buy on the platforms.

Pastor Leon Benjamin, a Republican candidate for Congress in Virginia who denounced homosexuality and called gay marriages illegal in an August speech, said in an interview that Flynn’s endorsement represents “that affirmation and that understanding that we’ve got to have the right candidates in, and it’s not always popular, not always goes along with the grain.”

“If we keep doing the same things over and over again, that’s the definition of insanity,” he added. “So we got to do some different things to get different results.”

More than 40 of Flynn’s endorsements were for candidates seeking state or even local posts, the AP and FRONTLINE found. Flynn endorsed two school board contenders in Camdenton, Missouri, candidates for sheriff in Florida, Nevada and Illinois and a city council candidate in North Carolina. He endorsed candidates for the state legislature in Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, Florida, Texas and Missouri. In Arizona, Michigan, California and Colorado, he gave his approval to candidates for secretary of state, a position that typically involves the administration of elections.

A dozen gubernatorial candidates won Flynn’s backing, including Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee, Doug Mastriano, a state lawmaker whom Flynn introduced at his campaign launch. Mastriano, a retired U.S. Army colonel, floated a plan to undo Biden’s victory in his state, organized buses to the U.S. Capitol for Jan. 6 and was filmed walking past barricades and police lines that day. Mastriano has denied breaking the law and has not been charged with any crimes. Another Flynn endorsee, Dan Cox, who also organized buses for Jan. 6, won the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Maryland.

Still, Flynn’s endorsement doesn’t guarantee a win. Josh Mandel, the Ohio U.S. Senate candidate, was defeated by JD Vance, who got a late endorsement from Trump. Some Flynn-backed candidates, including gubernatorial candidate Joey Gilbert in Nevada and Colorado secretary of state candidate Tina Peters, made baseless claims of election fraud after they lost.

Flynn and his allies have suggested he wants to get back into government, and the growing influence that flows from the network he’s building may help him get there, said Ron Filipkowski, a lawyer in Sarasota and longtime Republican activist who now tracks Flynn and other far-right figures online.

“He’s going to build this grassroots movement, local elected officials beholden to him, loyal to him,” Filipkowski said.

Financing Election Denial

Flynn has expanded his influence further through well-financed groups that advocate, among other things, changes to the way elections are run, based on the false premise that there is widespread voting fraud.

Flynn and Patrick Byrne, founder of Overstock.com, last year launched The America Project, with Flynn’s brother Joseph as president. The group said it planned to spend $50 million in the 2021 budget year, according to a filing with North Carolina charity regulators. But Joseph Flynn and Byrne separately told AP that it had spent tens of millions less, though each gave different totals.

While Flynn himself is not listed among its officers, he is the face of the group, and it’s described as “General Flynn and Patrick Byrne’s America Project.” Byrne says Flynn is his closest adviser, telling the AP and FRONTLINE that Flynn is his “Yoda” and “rabbi.”

In April 2021, Flynn was named chairman of America’s Future, one of the country’s oldest conservative nonprofit groups. The organization was founded in 1946 and was previously led by ultra-conservative stalwarts, including Phyllis Schlafly and retired Maj. Gen. John Singlaub. Since Flynn took over, the group hired his sister, Mary O’Neill, as executive director and appointed Joseph Flynn to its board of directors. The group had about $3 million in assets at the end of 2020, its most recent IRS filings show. Flynn told the AP and FRONTLINE in February that he had raised an estimated $1.7 million for America’s Future since becoming chairman.

The two groups worked in close coordination last year, together donating more than $4.2 million for a widely criticized and misinformation-driven review of the 2020 presidential election results commissioned by Arizona Republicans.

Michael Flynn, Jr., talks to people as he sits at the merchandise booth for his father, a retired three-star general who served as Trump's national security adviser, during the ReAwaken America tour at Cornerstone Church, in Batavia, N.Y., Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. The elder Michael Flynn has drawn together election deniers, mask and vaccine opponents, insurrectionists, Proud Boys, and elected officials and leaders in state and local Republican parties. Along the way, AP and Frontline documented, Flynn and his companies have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The America Project has given about $5 million to “grassroots organizations” around the country, Joseph Flynn said in a July appearance on an online show.

Many of the groups they support back what they call “election integrity,” a term often used by election deniers to justify making it more difficult to vote based on the falsehood that American elections are corrupt.

Campaign finance records show The America Project has given more than $150,000 to Conservatives for Election Integrity, a group that has supported several secretary of state candidates who have worked to undermine trust in 2020 election results.

The America Project gave $100,000 to a Colorado group, Citizens for Election Integrity, which used it for ads and text messages attacking a Republican candidate for secretary of state who ran against Flynn’s endorsed candidate. In Michigan, The America Project gave $100,000 in May to Secure MI Vote, which has reportedly pushed to roll back voter access.

In Georgia, they just announced they’re backing an effort to challenge voter registrations for tens of thousands of people.

Joseph Flynn said during a speech in May that The America Project also funded and advised many of what he termed “audits” of elections around the country, including in Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin, though he did not give specifics.

In February, Flynn stood in a burger joint in Orlando, Florida, to announce The America Project’s most public initiative, “Operation Eagles Wings,” the goal of which is to mobilize and train poll watchers and precinct captains, and to drive get-out-the-vote efforts.

“I think every single person in this country, every American citizen, now has to pay attention to politics. You know, when people go, ‘I don’t get involved. I don’t do that political stuff. That’s for the politicians.’ Well, that’s exactly why we are here. OK?” Flynn told the AP and FRONTLINE during a contentious interview. “So, it’s something else that you won’t write or speak about or it’ll be edited out.”

As part of Operation Eagles Wings, The America Project has created affiliate groups in at least nine states. Its Florida affiliate said in a Facebook post last month it’s seeking “America First Poll Watchers” and will train organizations for free. State affiliates in Illinois and Virginia advertised trainings in July and August on grassroots social activism, poll watching and how to get out the vote. The promotions also promise to teach attendees to “expose weaknesses,” “monitor and evaluate absentee voting” and conduct “investigative canvassing.”

The initiative has raised alarm bells with pro-democracy advocates.

“If people who tried to overturn the 2020 election, or who are fueled by election conspiracies, are trying to recruit their followers or allies to be election workers or volunteers as part of an election denial agenda, that poses real risks to fair and free elections,” said Jacek Pruski, of the nonpartisan group Protect Democracy.

‘Not Alone’

With his speeches, endorsements and outreach groups, Flynn has built a legion of acolytes who are listening closely to what he says and are ready to take action. They include Karen Ballash, 69, vice chair of the Summit County Republican Party in Utah, who heard Flynn speak in Salt Lake City.

“I totally believe in his message. We have to be the ones who make the change,” she said. “If we don’t do it, we won’t have a country.”

They include neophytes like Delainna Prettyman, who said she’s just become politically engaged in the past year. “That sent me deep down a rabbit hole. I don’t watch any news, any TV, anything. And I do a ton of research,” said Prettyman, who lives in the Salt Lake City suburbs.

She came to love Flynn, and believed “everything he says.”

Paintings of former President Donald Trump and Michael Flynn, a retired three-star general who served as Trump's national security adviser, are displayed in a vendor area during the ReAwaken America tour at Cornerstone Church, in Batavia, N.Y., Friday, Aug. 12, 2022.

“He’s got a lot of intel and insight about everything that’s going on. Of course, he can’t say everything,” she said. “We need more people like General Flynn.”

Under the tent in Batavia, the crowd thrilled to Flynn’s pronouncements from the stage. The general they claim as their own confirmed their feeling that the U.S. is changing, and not for the better. He validated the belief that the community they have built together is under attack.

They know many people — some of their very own friends and loved ones, and even Biden — say they are a destructive force. But inside the tent, Flynn assured them, they have found their tribe and they are in the right.

“We’re not alone in this is what I’m telling you. OK? We’re not alone in what it is that we are doing,” Flynn said. “We’re not alone. I want you to know that.”

Associated Press writers Richard Lardner, Eric Tucker, Helen Wieffering, and Aaron Kessler, photographer Carolyn Kaster, and FRONTLINE producers Richard Rowley and Paul Abowd contributed to this report.

Michelle R. Smith, Associated Press

links

frontline ap

...

Financing Election Denial

The America Project has given about $5 million to “grassroots organizations” around the country, Joseph Flynn said in a July appearance on an online show.

In Georgia, they just announced they’re backing an effort to challenge voter registrations for tens of thousands of people.

ref

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-elections-arizona-election-2020-a32da5fdf5bc8109d5fd39f1541fb296

ref AP no lnx

pHOENIX (AP) — Groups connected to prominent supporters of former President Donald Trump’s movement to cast doubt on the 2020 election results have raised $5.7 million for Arizona Republicans’ election audit.

Doug Logan, CEO of Cyber Ninjas, the little-known firm hired to lead the audit, ended months of silence about who was paying for it and how much it cost Wednesday night. The money from pro-Trump groups dwarfs the $150,000 contributed by the Arizona Senate, which commissioned the audit and hired Cyber Ninjas.

Among those leading the fundraising groups are Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor; Sydney Powell, his attorney who filed a number of baseless lawsuits challenging election results; Patrick Byrne, a former chief executive of Overstock.com; and correspondents from the pro-Trump One America News Network.

The confirmation that the audit is being overwhelmingly funded by groups promoting false narratives about the election will raise further questions about the validity of the final report. The audit has already been widely discredited by election experts who say Cyber Ninjas and other contractors are biased and using unusual procedures that won’t produce reliable results.

“When the sources of the money, and the activity that’s being paid for, and the people being paid are all putting forth falsehoods ... it’s incredibly troubling and problematic,” said Tammy Patrick, a senior adviser at the Democracy Fund and a former Maricopa County elections official.

Republican Senate President Karen Fann says the audit is only meant to see whether improvements are needed to state election laws. But the audit has long been associated with the “stop the steal” movement, and Trump has predicted it will uncover evidence to support his discredited theories of fraud.

Before he was hired to lead the audit, Logan promoted Trump’s false narrative that the election was stolen from him, and pro-Trump media has aggressively promoted the effort.

By far the largest funder is The America Project, led by Byrne, which Logan said has so far contributed $3.25 million. America’s Future, which lists Flynn as its chairman, contributed just over $976,000. Voices and Votes, led by OANN correspondents Christina Bobb and Chanel Rion, contributed $605,000; and Powell’s Defending the Republic gave $550,000. Election Integrity Funds for the American Republic, which Logan said is led by attorney Matthew DePerno, contributed $280,000. DePerno unsuccessfully sued Antrim County, Michigan, over the election.

Logan said several of the groups “have also provided operational support and advice pivotal in executing the audit.”

Still unclear is where those groups got their money. They are organized as nonprofits and do not have to disclose their donors.

Logan has fought to keep the funders secret, though he acknowledged at the beginning of the audit that his $150,000 contract with the Senate wouldn’t cover the cost of the work the Senate hired him to do. He released the figures on the deadline for him to voluntarily comply with a request for information, including donor information, from the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee. Several public records lawsuits also seek information from the Senate and Cyber Ninjas.

A news release from Cyber Ninjas said the audit received $5,711,514.43 in outside donations, but the itemized list of amounts contributed by each of the five groups adds up to $50,000 less. A spokesman for Cyber Ninjas, Rod Thomson, did not respond to an email seeking clarification on the discrepancy.

Thomson declined to say how much of the $5.7 million has been profit for Cyber Ninjas and other contractors, whether they expect to get more money and whether there are plans for what to do if the contributions far exceed the costs of the audit.

The auditors on Thursday began returning the 2.1 million ballots and election equipment to Maricopa County, three months after they were delivered to the state fairgrounds for a review that was originally expected to take 60 days.

The Senate got access to the materials after top senators issued a subpoena late last year, as Trump and his allies tried to convince members of Congress not to certify Joe Biden’s win on Jan. 6. Maricopa County turned them over after a judge ruled the subpoena was valid.

Fann and Judiciary Committee Chairman Warren Petersen this week issued new subpoenas demanding more information as well as materials they say the Senate withheld from the original demand. Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers, a Republican, said the board members are discussing their options with their lawyers and expect to say more within the next week.

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Michael Flynn's Holy War

WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY

How American Politics Reached This Fraught Moment: 12 Documentaries to Watch Ahead of the Midterms

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

A Glimpse Inside Michael Flynn’s Holy War

OCTOBER 18, 2022

How Michael Flynn Goes Local to Spread Christian Nationalism

OCTOBER 17, 2022

TOPICS

Election 2020,

joe

https://littlesis.org/person/334896-Joseph_Flynn

business Positions

Digital Soldiers Media, LLC AKA Manasota Shores Real Estate, LLC A Michael T. Flynn company. Right-wing media group between Flynn and UncoverDC.com, operated by QAnon fan, Tracy "Beanz" Diaz.

• Director/Officer

Advanstar Communications Inc. Is located in Santa Monica, CA, United States and is part of the Trade Show & Event Planning Services Industry.

• Vice President of Telecommunications Group ('98→'04)*

Auxilio, Inc Provides comprehensive managed print, data security, IT risk and process development services for health care enterprises

• Chief Executive Officer (past) [+2]

Board Memberships

America's Future, Inc. Is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Preserving the cherished liberties of American citizens since 1946. Currently (9/27/21) being led by Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, (USA Ret.), Chairman

• Board Member*

Michael T. Flynn Legal Defense Fund

• Trustee ('17→?)

Dougherty’s Pharmacy, Inc U.S based company focused on acquiring, managing and growing community-based pharmacies in the Southwest Region.

• Member, Board of Directors (Mar 28 '19→?)

Global Telehealth Services Inc GTS Virtual Health provides SaaS-based remote patient monitoring software that manages chronic diseases and conditions.

• Chief Executive Officer

CynergisTek, Inc A leading provider of Healthcare Cyber Security Services (CTEK)

• Chief Executive Officer (Apr '04→Oct 2 '17)*

Auxilio, Inc Provides comprehensive managed print, data security, IT risk and process development services for health care enterprises

• Founder ('04→?)

Positions

The America Project, Inc. A 501(c)4 group registered in Sarasota, FL, dedicated to election integrity, is expanding its staff to include a key Trump Administration political and policy veteran.

• co-founder

Holdings

Brisas Suaves, LLC A Joseph J. Flynn Company

• Owner (Oct 25 '19→?)

Gulf Shores Medical International, LLC A Joseph J. Flynn Company

• Owner (Apr 13 '20→?)*

Family

Matthew T Flynn Intelligence analyst at DIA

• nephew

Michael G. Flynn Jr. Son of Michael T. Flynn, former Chief of Staff of the Flynn Intel Group.

• nephew

Mary Flynn O'Neill Michael T. Flynn's sister. Executive Director and Registered Agent at America's Future, Inc.

• Sister

Barbara Redgate Trustee of Michael T Flynn Legal Defense Fund

• sister

Charles A Flynn Brother of Michael Flynn, a United States Army lieutenant general serves as commanding general US Army Pacific.

• brother

Michael T. Flynn Former National Security Adviser, Donald Trump | Former Intelligence Officer US Army | Chairman of the Board, America's Future, Inc.

• brother

Joseph J. Flynn

Basic Info

Types Person

Gender Male

Aliases Intelligence, Joseph Flynn

Region US and Canada

Source Links

10 documents :: see all

LinkedIn Profile Joe Flynn

Crunchbase

Boardroomalpha

Dallas citybizlist

Global Telehealth Services

Michael Flynn Legal Defense Fund

Flynn Legal Defense Fund

Flynn Family

Michael T Flynn wikipedia

CBS News - Michael Flynn's family starts legal defense fund for ongoing investigations

Network Maps

A project of the Public Accountability Initiative. More about LittleSis.

ggl 1122

Michael Flynn's journey from disgraced general to far-right herohttps://www.csmonitor.com › USA › Politics › Disgraced-...

Apr 28, 2022 — Lieutenant General Flynn, a former Army intelligence officer who served, briefly, as President Donald Trump's first national security adviser, ...

What Is Michael Flynn's Long Game? | The New Republichttps://newrepublic.com › article › michael-flynn-profil...

Nov 29, 2021 — Is the man who wanted Donald Trump to declare martial law prepping for some American Armageddon? Or is he doing something more subtle that ...

The Desecrations of Michael Flynn - The Atlantichttps://www.theatlantic.com › ideas › archive › 2022/10

Oct 25, 2022 — The former national security adviser is fusing deranged political ideas with a mangled version of the Christian faith.

1/22

see byne pjt with roger stone voter suppress

CNP? Ginni?

see 1s praetorian

what flavor of xian? islamophobe

https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/michael-flynn-bizarrely-predicts-that-governors-might-declare-war-soon/

jan 6 hearing #7

1/5 rally (wackos shunted to) flynn [blood &] soil fight; trump had dr open to hear; asked staffers how to fight dem win?; AA 1776 always an option" -->? JNZ chant; roger good god vs dark 1k yrs

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/michael-flynns-holy-war/

Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general and onetime national security adviser to President Donald Trump, has been systematically building a political movement based on Christian nationalist ideas.

Flynn was a leader of the “Stop the Steal” effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Flynn sat in the front row at a rally near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, when then-President Trump urged his supporters to march on the Capitol.

In the years since, Flynn has traversed the United States, trying to assemble his own political support.

An investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline” found that Flynn has used public appearances to energize voters, made political endorsements to build alliances and amassed a network of nonprofit groups to advance the movement. Along the way, Flynn and his companies have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for his efforts.

The AP and “Frontline” spoke with dozens of people, reviewed campaign finance records, corporate and charity filings, social media posts and similar open-source information, and attended several public events where Flynn appeared. Reporters examined dozens of Flynn’s speeches, interviews and public appearances.

Flynn himself sat down for a rare on-camera interview with what he calls the mainstream media.

Takeaways from the investigation:

A FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN NATIONALIST IDEAS

Flynn made more than 60 in-person speeches in 24 states, according to a count by the AP and “Frontline.” He often asserts that the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian values. The bedrock, he warns, is crumbling.

Flynn often says the country is in the midst of a “spiritual war” and that many of his fellow citizens are “evil.”

“They dress like us and they talk like us, but they don’t think and act like us,” he told a podcaster recently. “And they definitely do not want what it is that we want.”

Christian nationalism seeks to merge the identity of Christians and Americans, and pushes the idea that the United States was founded on biblical principles and has a favored relationship with a Christian God, said Samuel Perry, a sociologist at the University of Oklahoma, who studies conservative Christianity and politics.

The thread of Christian nationalism runs through many of Flynn's events.

At one fundraiser, a preacher prayed over Flynn, saying America would stay a Christian nation and that Flynn was “heavy armaments” in the Lord’s quiver. At the Christian Patriot’s Rally at a church in Northern California, Flynn was presented with an assault-style rifle on stage. In Virginia in July, he said pastors “need to be talking about the Constitution from the pulpit as much as the Bible.” In Texas last November, Flynn told a crowd “this is a moment in time where this is good versus evil.”

“If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God, right?” he said.

99 ENDORSEMENTS

The AP and “Frontline” found that Flynn has endorsed 99 candidates for the 2022 election cycle. At least 80% have publicly spread lies or sown doubt about Trump’s 2020 loss, or participated in efforts to overturn the election, the AP and “Frontline” found. About two dozen of the candidates were at the Capitol on Jan. 5-6, 2021. One-third have served in the military. At least 38 have used Christian nationalist rhetoric.

More than 40 of Flynn’s endorsements were for candidates seeking state or even local posts. He endorsed candidates for the state legislature in Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, Florida, Texas and Missouri. In Arizona, Michigan, California and Colorado, he gave his approval to candidates for secretary of state, a position that typically involves the administration of elections.

A dozen gubernatorial candidates won Flynn’s backing, including nominees Dan Cox in Maryland and Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania. Both organized buses to take people to Washington for what turned out to be the siege at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Some Flynn-backed candidates made baseless claims of election fraud after they lost in the primaries.

Flynn and his allies have suggested he wants to get back into government. Some Flynn critics worry the growing influence that flows from the network he’s building may help him get there.

FINANCING ELECTION DENIAL

Flynn has become involved in well-financed groups that advocate changes to the way elections are run, based on the false premise there is widespread voting fraud.

Flynn and Patrick Byrne, founder of Overstock.com, last year launched The America Project. The group said it planned to spend $50 million in the 2021 budget year, according to a filing with North Carolina charity regulators. Its leaders told AP that it had spent tens of millions less than that.

Flynn was named chairman of America’s Future Inc., one of the country’s oldest conservative nonprofit groups. It had about $3 million in assets at the end of 2020, and Flynn told the AP and “Frontline” in February that he had raised an estimated $1.7 million since becoming chairman.

The two groups have spent millions on election-related endeavors, including a misinformation-driven review of the 2020 presidential election results commissioned by Arizona Republicans.

The America Project’s leadership has said it has given millions more to “grassroots organizations” around the country. Campaign finance records show it has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to various political groups. It also launched an initiative in several states to mobilize and train poll watchers and precinct captains, and to drive get-out-the-vote efforts.

The initiative has raised alarm bells with pro-democracy advocates.

Associated Press writers Richard Lardner, Eric Tucker, Helen Wieffering and Aaron Kessler, photographer Carolyn Kaster and “Frontline” producers Richard Rowley and Paul Abowd contributed to this report.

To reach AP’s investigative team, email investigative@ap.org

For full coverage of the Capitol riot, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege

oct 7

y the time the red, white and blue-colored microphone had been switched off, the crowd of 3,000 had listened to hours of invective and grievance.

“We’re under warfare,” one speaker told them. Another said she would “take a bullet for my nation,” while a third insisted, “They hate you because they hate Jesus.” Attendees were told now is the time to “put on the whole armor of God.” Then retired three-star Army general Michael Flynn, the tour’s biggest draw, invited people to be baptized.

Scores of people walked out of the speakers’ tent to three large metal tubs filled with water. While praise music played in the background, one conference-goer after another stepped in. Pastors then lowered them under the surface, welcoming them into their movement in the name of Jesus Christ.

One woman wore a T-shirt that read “Army of God.”

[A woman prays as she faces an American flag on the perimeter fence at the ReAwaken America tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)]

Flynn warned the crowd that they were in the midst of a “spiritual war” and a “political war” and urged people to get involved.

ReAwaken America was launched by Flynn, a former White House national security adviser, and Oklahoma entrepreneur Clay Clark a few months after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol failed to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Attendees and speakers still insist — against all evidence and dozens of court rulings — that Donald Trump rightfully won.

Since early last year, the ReAwaken America Tour has carried its message of a country under siege to tens of thousands of people in 15 cities and towns. The tour serves as a traveling roadshow and recruiting tool for an ascendant Christian nationalist movement that’s wrapped itself in God, patriotism and politics and has grown in power and influence inside the Republican Party.

In the version of America laid out at the ReAwaken tour, Christianity should be at the center of American life and institutions. Instead, it’s under attack, and attendees need to fight to restore the nation’s Christian roots. It’s a message repeated over and over at ReAwaken — one that upends the constitutional ideal of a pluralist democracy. But it’s a message that is taking hold.

A poll by the University of Maryland conducted in May found that 61% of Republicans support declaring the U.S. to be a Christian nation.

“Christian nationalism really undermines and attacks foundational values in American democracy. And that is a promise of religious freedoms for all,” said Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee, which advocates for religious freedom.

She said the ReAwaken cause is “a partisan political cause, and the cause here is to spread misinformation, to perpetuate the big lie and to have a different result next time in the next election.”

https://www.alternet.org/2022/10/michael-flynn-associate-first-wave/

close associate of retired Lt. General Michael Flynn was among the first wave of rioters who breached the outer barricades at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Raw Story has confirmed.

Brian Gamble, a US Navy veteran and QAnon promoter who now serves as chief information officer of a nonprofit led by Flynn, showed up at the barricades erected at the entrance to the Northwest Walkway about 30 minutes before a crowd that included hundreds of Proud Boys massed there and eventually overwhelmed police lines. Gamble’s presence has been described in podcasts by Tim Hart, a fellow QAnon promoter who accompanied Gamble on Jan. 6 and is currently facing two felony charges related to his involvement in the attack on the Capitol.

Publicly available video shows Gamble, who was dressed in a black helmet inscribed with the words “Kill the Deep State”, a black tactical shirt and black gloves while carrying a bullhorn and chest-mounted GoPro camera, at the front of the line when three successive barriers were breached, allowing rioters to stream onto the Capitol lawn. Gamble and Hart made their way to the Lower West Plaza, where rioters battled police in riot gear, and eventually rushed up a staircase in the scaffolding erected for Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Patrick Byrne, the former Overstock.com CEO who has financed a string of election-denier efforts while working alongside Flynn since 2020, told Raw Story that Gamble disclosed his presence at the Capitol when he hired him at the America Project in May 2021. The America Project was founded by Byrne, along with Michael Flynn and his younger brother, Joe Flynn.

“On the morning of January 6, Brian decided on this approach: He would walk towards the Capitol until someone told him to stop,” Byrne said in a text to Raw Story. “When someone told him to leave, he would leave. And in between the two, he would do to [sic] keep everyone calm, assist anyone who needed it. And if an opportunity arose to assist the police in keeping things peaceful, he would do so. He followed that plan.”

Hart said in an interview with the QAnon program Bards Logic earlier this year that the sound was bad at the Ellipse, where President Trump was speaking, and he suggested to Gamble, whom he referred to as “my buddy,” that they should “just walk down to the Capitol” so they could “be the first in line.”

Hart has described his movements with Gamble on Jan. 6 on different podcasts, along with an interview for Patriot Soap Box, a QAnon-friendly program, that he joined live after he and Gamble returned to their hotel room following the attack on the Capitol.

“There was three gates; this is the first one that — basically, me and Brian stayed there for half an hour and just chilled and talked,” Hart explained on the program while showing video footage he recorded. “And then a lot of people got up in there. And then they basically just pushed from behind and we were, uh, I mean, like literally bowling pins and just kind of pushing the gates down. And it wasn’t like I was trying. I was talking to the people, the guards there, and they knew we weren’t the ones pushing.”

Hart was playing Trump’s speech on a portable radio, and the timing of Trump’s remarks confirms that Hart and Gamble were at the barrier at 12:28 p.m. — roughly 30 minutes before the initial breach.

During the interview, Hart suggested that he and Gamble assessed the barricades at the Northwest Walkway for vulnerabilities.

Gamble can be seen in the background of the video as Hart turns to him and says, “They weren’t very prepared, were they? We were like, ‘Man, that looks like a weak spot there.’ We would say it to ourselves, and then it wasn’t two minutes later that they’re — I don’t know."

gamble told Raw Story he was not familiar with the video, and declined to directly address Hart’s statement.

“It’s a shame that people like you are more about division and not unity, and so that’s all I’ve got to say,” he said before hanging up the phone.

While falsely claiming that nothing was destroyed in the Capitol building, Hart said in the Patriot Soapbox interview: “After the results I seen that the bastards did tonight I’m thinking maybe they should have burned it down. Then they could have at least held the vote off.”

Gamble can be seen in the video directly behind Hart as he made the statement.

In another segment of Hart’s interview, an unidentified woman said she wanted to get someone to read from the Book of Esther, a text embraced by Christian nationalists.

“Esther’s a really good book to read for things in times like this,” the woman said. “Remember, Haman was hung on his own gallows.”

“I’m thinking what they do in times like this is — I’m thinking them patriots that got pepper-sprayed in the face are going back and being like, ‘Damn, I need to clean my guns,’” Hart responded. “I mean, I don’t understand what the other options are after this. We’ll sit back and wait a little bit longer. But this whole Q thing was to keep patriots from storming the freaking White House.”

Byrne said Gamble disclosed to him during his job interview that he had been interviewed by federal investigators, adding that “they let him know that the videos of his behavior had all been examined and it had been broadly noted that he had acted as a good citizen.”

Online researchers who began poring over video footage of the Jan. 6 attack identified Gamble as early as April 2021. Hart was charged with obstruction of justice/Congress and obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, along with four additional charges connected to his actions inside the Capitol building, in June 2021, but Gamble has not been arrested. The FBI did not respond to an inquiry about Gamble from Raw Story.

In an interview with the Firearms of America YouTube channel shortly after he joined the America Project, Gamble disclosed that he had been fired from his job because of the FBI investigation.

“You know, the FBI contacted my employer,” Gamble told host Frank Valentine. “What do you do? They contact your employer, and say, ‘Although he’s not under investigation or being charged with anything — yet… we just want to let you know, be aware of this person’s extracurricular activities. Which, technically, is code for saying he hangs out with General Flynn. I mean, General Flynn is the most crucified politician.”

After briefly serving as Trump’s national security advisor, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. The Department of Justice later moved to drop its prosecution of the case, and in November 2020 — during the interim period between the 2020 election and Biden’s inauguration — President Trump issued a pardon to Flynn.

Flynn emerged as one of the most visible champions of Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen, simultaneously leveraging his past military service and martyr status as a supposed target of the “Deep State.”

On the eve of the attack on the Capitol, Flynn addressed supporters at Freedom Plaza, using language that invoked struggle and suggested a historic inflection point was at hand.

“Tomorrow, tomorrow — trust me — the American people that are standing on the soil that we are standing on tonight, and they’re going to be standing on this soil tomorrow — this is soil that we have fought over, fought for, and that we will fight for in the future,” Flynn said. “The members of Congress, the members of the House of Representatives, the members of the United States Senate, those of you who are feeling weak tonight, those of you who don’t have the moral fiber in your body, get some tonight because tomorrow we the people are going to be here and we want you to know that we will not stand for a lie.”

Gamble is not the only associate of Michael Flynn who has been identified as being at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Publicly available video shows Geoffrey Flohr, a former Michigan State Police officer who previously served in Flynn’s security detail during a rally on Dec. 12, moving around the east side of the Capitol less than 20 minutes before rioters broke through a barricade there. Flohr was a member of 1st Amendment Praetorian, a volunteer security group that provided protected details to Flynn, Ali Alexander, Brandon Straka and other leaders in the effort to overturn the election. No member of 1st Amendment Praetorian, including Flohr, has been arrested in connection with the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6. But a lawyer for the group has disclosed that Joshua James, a member of the Oath Keepers who has pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, had been a member of 1st Amendment Praetorian prior to Jan. 6.

During his appearance before the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Flynn asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege to not give testimony that could be used against him a criminal proceeding when asked by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.): “Do you believe the violence on January 6th was justified?”

In a public statement released earlier this year in response to the committee, Flynn said it was "a flat-out lie that I had anything to do with any person or organization who intended to act, or who acted, unlawfully on January 6."

During a pro-Trump event in Fort Myers, Fla. in July 2021, Gamble said he received a phone call from “Flynn” shortly after he was fired from his job. Gamble did not specify whether the call was from Michael Flynn or Joe Flynn, but said the caller put him in touch with Byrne, who interviewed him for the position and ultimately hired him.

Gamble appears to have come to the Flynn family’s attention after organizing the first Red Pill Roadshow event with his wife at the Washington Monument in September 2019. Gamble said his wife asked him to help her put together the event to create a forum QAnon supporters to meet in person after some of her favorite influencers were “censored.” Afterwards, they celebrated the success of the event at the Trump International Hotel, and Gamble said he ran into Brad Parscale, the digital media director for the Trump campaign.

Gamble told Valentine that he attended at a book-signing event for Sidney Powell, who represented Flynn in his effort to get his federal charge dismissed. Gamble said he handed a “Magic Q-ball” — a novelty item he marketed to defray costs for Red Pill Roadshow — to Powell and asked her to pass it on to Michael Flynn.

Suddenly, Gamble recounted, he felt two hands on his shoulders and turned around to find a man saying, “Red Pill Roadshow? The Flynn family are huge fans of yours.”

During an Aug. 20, 2020 interview with QAnon influencer Dustin Nemos to promote an upcoming event in Jacksonville, Fla. that was timed to coincide with the Republican National Convention, Gamble said that he had spoken with a member of the Flynn family earlier that day. Gamble said the topic of the call was about Michael Flynn potentially joining the event remotely or the family providing a pre-recorded statement.

Despite providing a platform for QAnon influencers and marketing QAnon-themed merchandise, Gamble tends to downplay his association with the conspiracy theory. He told Valentine that his wife “was following” the QAnon movement at the time of the first event in 2019, adding, “I don’t agree with what their beliefs are, but I know that they’re Americans and what they’re saying is protected by our First Amendment.”

Many of Gamble’s statements in response to coverage of his Red Pill Roadshow events follow a three-part pattern of denying and deflecting attention from his association with QAnon, emphasizing free speech, and attacking the news media.

Responding to coverage by a local NBC affiliate about Michael Flynn’s appearance at an event in southwest Florida in March 2021, Gamble told a conservative outlet: “To say we’re a QAnon event or anything like that — nothing could be further from the truth. We’re free speech event.” He went on to condemn media coverage of the event as “the typical scare tactic used against our events to try and suppress opposing political views in the public domain.”

Gamble’s criticism dovetails with Flynn’s efforts to discredit the news media.

Flynn ended an interview with an Associated Press reporter in February 2022 after she asked him if he communicated with his brother, Gen. Charles Flynn, on Jan. 6.

“Because of this interview, I will never talk to AP again,” Flynn said. He added, “I’m so sick of this because it’s all so fake and it’s so targeted. It’s all about, ‘We’re gonna get this guy.’”

Gamble told Nemos that he developed a disdain for the news media while serving in the US Navy in the Balkans in the late 1990s.

As a 19-year-old service member with Cosmic Top Secret clearance — giving him access to sensitive information held by NATO allies — Gamble said he would review “message traffic,” and then “come out of my tent” and “see a CNN correspondent saying something that has absolutely nothing to do with the truth.

“My field is information, so yeah, I’ve been a digital soldier — I’ve been a thorn in their side since the nineties, so a digital soldier for some time,” Gamble added. “So, yeah, that’s how I got into this.”

It was in the US Navy, Gamble told an audience in Fort Myers in July 2021, that he received training in psychological operations.

“And I was rushed into this program to where I started learning about information warfare, psychological operations and information analysis and stuff like that,” he said. “So, I had a unique perspective about how the United States military processes information.”

In another interview with Michael Thompson at the Florida Conservative, Gamble said he was discharged from the military under a reduction of forces program during the Clinton administration. After leaving the military, he said he created Yahoo online chat rooms.

“Like, we were Alex Jones in the late nineties on the internet, before it was cool, I guess you could say,” Gamble said.

Gamble’s training in psychological operations mirrors his boss, Michael Flynn’s background in military intelligence. Flynn served as director of intelligence in the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan prior to heading the US Defense Intelligence Agency from 2012 to 2014.

“America Project — we are information experts,” Gamble told Thompson. “That is one of the reasons I landed there with my background.”

The America Project is described on its website as “the largest support network of America First, pro-freedom organizations, businesses and individuals,” with six focus areas in “election integrity, medical freedom, border security, parental rights, Second Amendment rights and freedom of religion.”

Discussing the nonprofits’ work with Thompson, Gamble described it as a “counterbalance” to liberal financier and philanthropist George Soros, a bogeyman of the far right.

“We’re developing the systems, the platforms, the networks,” Gamble said. “Now, when a bus shows up, we got two buses showing up — and the information and organization and the funding that takes to really counter what they’re doing.”

Gamble has cultivated ties with two extremist groups that featured prominently in the attack on the Capitol. His name is listed on a membership roster of the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers that was leaked through the group Distributed Denial of Secrets last year. The entry for Gamble indicates that he paid an annual membership, but does not include a date for the transaction. Raw Story was able to reach Gamble by calling the phone number listed in the Oath Keepers membership roster.

Five members of the Oath Keepers, including founder Stewart Rhodes, are currently on trial in Washington, DC for seditious conspiracy in connection with their actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

More recently, in July 2021, Gamble disclosed that he had met with Enrique Tarrio, at one time the national chairman of the Proud Boys. Tarrio was arrested seven months later, in March 2022, and is also charged with seditious conspiracy, along with four other Proud Boys leaders. In July, Gamble posted a photo on Facebook of himself and Tarrio giving the middle finger to the camera. The text accompanying the photo reads, “Dear Christopher Wray,” apparently addressing the FBI director

after Gamble and Hart joined the group of rioters that pushed through the barricades at the Northwest Walkway entrance on Jan. 6, they followed them to the Lower West Plaza. Video posted on Parler on Jan. 6 shows Gamble and Hart standing on a small staircase surveying the plaza as at least a half-dozen Proud Boys and known associates move in and out of a crowd massed against a line of Capitol police in riot gear.

At 1:10 p.m., Gamble can be seen speaking to a police officer at the top of the stairs as Hart uses a telescoping rod to obtain crowd footage. Gamble can also be seen using his GoPro camera to film the crowd. Meanwhile, a Proud Boy from southwest Florida named James Hoel can be seen coming up the staircase, eventually moving past Hart and Gamble, and speaking with the same officer.

It is unclear whether Gamble and Hoel — both residents of southwest Florida — knew each other at the time, but Hoel has subsequently become infamous as the Proud Boy who was elected alongside Michael Flynn to serve on the Sarasota County Republican Executive Committee.

Roughly around the same time that Hoel was speaking with the officer another man can be seen in the video and wedged himself between Hart and Gamble.

“What are you waiting for?” he yells, becoming increasingly incensed. “We already voted, and what have they done? They stole it. We want our f***ing country back.”

At the same time, Gamble can be seen speaking to Hart, and Hart soon turns towards the crowd on the plaza and starts motioning with his hand.

“Let’s go!” yells the man on the staircase and others. “Come on.”

“We gotta go lawfully, man,” and unidentified man can be heard arguing. “Legally and lawfully.”

But the video shows others prevailing over the man who counseled respect for the law. The video shows a handful of rioters, including Ronald Loehrke, a man who marched with the Proud Boys, pointing towards the scaffolding where the rioters had found a lightly guarded staircase. The rioters began pointing towards the staircase and yelling, “We gotta go,” within 20 seconds of Hart’s hand gesture. They would soon rush up the staircase, eventually allowing them to reach a window that Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola broke out with a stolen police riot shield.

Although there is no evidence Gamble went inside the Capitol, images captured by professional photographers and videographers show that he donned a gas mask and went up on the scaffolding.

Byrne told Raw Story that Gamble assisted the police on the Lower West Plaza and on a couple other occasions.

“They did not have enough men to cover an area they were trying to cover,” Byrne said. “He offered the policeman in front of them that if they wanted him to, he would step up and block this one space that they did not have blocked. They agreed to his cooperation, and he actually stood up at one point at the end of the police line for the police, making sure that no one could squeeze through this crack that was open on the side of the planter. The police thanked him.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/michael-flynn/event-don-bolduc-mike-flynn-says-were-being-marched-nazi-death-camps

during an event for Republican Senate nominee Don Bolduc last year, right-wing commentator Mike Flynn claimed that “we're being marched” to Nazi death camps and said that unlike Holocaust victims, he “would never get on that train.”

Flynn said at the event with Bolduc: “Jesus, how could somebody stand there and just allow these people to do that to them? And then knowing what they knew, how could they get on that train? I would have rather attacked that machine gun nest. Knowing what I know today, I would never get on that train.”

Bolduc won the September 13 New Hampshire Republican primary and is challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan. He is a retired United States Army brigadier general who has repeatedly appeared on Fox News. Bolduc has a history of extremism, including falsely claiming that the 2020 election was stolen.

Bolduc has relied on right-wing media personalities, including Steve Bannon and John Fredericks, for support. He also recruited Flynn, the disgraced retired U.S. Army lieutenant general who worked as Trump’s national security adviser. In November 2020, Trump pardoned him after he twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation.

Flynn has been a right-wing commentator, Republican official, and speaker for far-right causes. The Associated Press and Frontline recently investigated Flynn’s activities and found that he has been trying to build “a movement centered on Christian nationalist ideas“ and “has drawn together election deniers, mask and vaccine opponents, insurrectionists, Proud Boys, and elected officials and leaders in state and local Republican parties.”

Flynn has a history of making incendiary remarks, including calling for a Myanmar-style coup in the United States (he denied pushing for one); encouraging Trump to call for martial law to redo the 2020 election; and tweeting that “Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL.” He has also supported the QAnon movement by, among other things, taking the QAnon oath; speaking at a QAnon conference; and associating with QAnon influencers.

He has also promoted antisemitism: In 2016, he shared a tweet that read “Not anymore, Jews. Not anymore.” (He later apologized.)

On October 6, 2021, Bolduc hosted Flynn for a campaign “meet and greet” where he told the audience that “the presidency of the United States of America was stolen. This nation, our nation, experienced a coup."

flynn compared Republicans to Holocaust victims being marched to Nazi death camps, stating: “We're being marched onto that train.”

He then told a story about visiting Nazi death camps and seeing a machine gun at the end of the station and criticized prisoners: “Jesus, how could somebody stand there and just allow these people to do that to them? And then knowing what they knew, how could they get on that train? I would have rather attacked that machine gun nest. Knowing what I know today, I would never get on that train.”

MIKE FLYNN: On one end of the train station is a machine gun. And on the other end is a machine gun. And they got guards all along these points. Most of those people over time knew that they were going to their death after a while. Some just thought that they were going to labor camps or, you know, prisoner of war camps at the beginning. But over time, they knew they were going to get on that train and they were probably going to go to their death. They didn't really know, you know, they just heard all the rumors, right? Because this went on for a number of years. Well, we now know. We now know. I know, because I walked that line just to get a feel for — you know, each station you did this. I'm like, Jesus, how could somebody stand there and just allow these people to do that to them? And then knowing what they knew, how could they get on that train? I would have rather attacked that machine gun nest. Knowing what I know today, I would never get on that train. I will never get on that train. I will attack that machine gun nest before I get on that train because I know I'm not going to go — I'm not going to go to my death that way, their way. I’ll go to my death my way. So —

[APPLAUSE]

Well, I mean, I tell you that, I give you that as a metaphor, because we're all on this train right now, or we're about to get on it, because we're doing nothing. We're doing nothing. Now I say that maybe some of you are involved. I'm just saying most Americans are doing nothing. Three percent of this country fought in the Revolutionary War, 3% or 4 million people. Three percent. So don't don't sit around and do nothing, because I don't know the answer. Well, I don't know. But I do know that the solution is for people to stand up and speak up and get involved in their communities. That's what I — I firmly believe that. Firmly believe it.

Bolduc did not refute or distance himself from Flynn’s remarks at the event. The conservative Right America Media posted video of the event.

Bolduc apparently paid Flynn for the campaign support. The Daily Beast reported in February of this year that “last October, Flynn endorsed GOP New Hampshire Senate aspirant Don Bolduc while headlining a Bolduc fundraiser. Federal filings show that a week later, the campaign paid Flynn’s company, Resilient Patriot LLC, a $5,209 ‘event speaking fee.’”

Numerous Republicans in competitive races have embraced Flynn’s endorsement, including Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt; Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake; and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.

https://www.alternet.org/

an raw 822

Congressional investigators hoped that volumes of phone texts that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones accidentally turned over to opposing counsel in civil litigation would yield answers about his involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol, but the texts reportedly only cover a period through mid-2020.

Mark Bankston, who represents the parents of the children murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, has reportedly said the cache includes texts with political operative Roger Stone, a longtime friend of former President Donald Trump who, alongside Jones, became a major tribune of the campaign to overturn the 2020 election. The effort by the House select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to obtain the texts highlights the panel’s sustained interest in Jones’ role.

To date, Jones has not been charged in the attack, but he has played prominent roles in amplifying the messaging of the campaign to overturn the election and building the infrastructure of the protests in the run-up to the attack, culminating in his presence on the ground at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The committee’s interest in Jones was on display during a hearing on July 12 through recorded testimony of Kellye SoRelle, general counsel for the Oath Keepers. Nine members of the far-right militia face seditious conspiracy charges. SoRelle confirmed that Jones’ name was among three prominent figureheads during the series of protests leading up to Jan. 6.

“You mentioned that Mr. Stone wanted to start the Stop the Steal rallies,” the investigator said. “Who do you consider the leader of those rallies? It sounds like, from what you just said, it was Mr. Stone, Mr. Jones and Mr. Ali Alexander. Is that correct?”

“Those are the ones that became like the center point for everything,” SoRelle responded.

Alex Jones could not be reached for comment for this story.

Through his show on the InfoWars platform, Jones provided a venue for two of the most inspirational figures involved in rallying Trump’s supporters — Stone and retired Lt. General Michael Flynn. But Jones also leveraged his celebrity and following to do his own part in mobilizing Trump’s supporters, and in spreading wild and unfounded claims about election fraud.

In a letter to Jones accompanying a subpoena compelling him to testify and turn over records, the committee took note of a Dec. 20, 2020 broadcast of “The Alex Jones Show,” one day after Trump issued a tweet summoning his supporters to DC for a “wild” rally on Jan. 6.

“He’s calling on you now,” Jones told his audience. “He needs your help. We need your help. America needs to stand up.” Jones said he wanted to see 10 million people in Washington, DC on Jan. 6, adding, “We’re going to descend on the swamp January 6th. The president is going to be attending the rallies. He’s announcing he’s going to be there. This is going to be massive.”

On Dec. 29, Jones homed in on an objective for the Jan. 6 rally, scheduled to coincide with Congress’ session to certify the electoral votes.

“Well, let’s just say you’re going to want to go to DC on the 6th,” Jones said. “It will show the globalists we know Trump really won. And it will begin the process one way or another of removing the globalist puppet Joe Biden. And I mean by impeachment or keeping him from getting in on the 20th.”

Filling in for Jones on New Year’s Eve, guest host Matt Bracken added tactical specificity to the mission.

“We’re only going to be saved by millions of Americans by moving to Washington, occupying the entire area, if necessary, storming right into the Capitol,” Bracken said. “We know the rules of engagement. If you have enough people, you can push down any kind of fence or a wall.”

Amplifying the false claims of election fraud during an InfoWars broadcast on Christmas day, Jones offered his audience a fantastical and nightmarish description of the election that was unsupported by any evidence.

“They close everything out, kick everyone out, pull out briefcases,” he said. “Chinese men and vans come in in Michigan and start just shoving it in the machine. We get the footage showing it all. They’re death-threating witnesses. They’re arresting witnesses.”

Weeks before the 2020 election was held, Stone appeared as a guest on Jones’ show on Sept. 10, 2020. There, Stone previewed an election-fraud narrative and called for martial law that would become familiar during the interregnum between the election and Jan. 6.

“The ballots on election night in Nevada should be seized by federal marshals and taken from the state,” Stone said. “They are completely corrupted. No votes should be counted from the state of Nevada if it turns out to be the provable case. We can prove voter fraud in the absentees right now. Send federal marshals to the Clark County Board of Elections, Mr. President. It’s all there.”

Prompted by Jones’ insistence that “it’s clear they think they can steal it,” Stone recommended that Trump appoint a special counsel “with a specific task of forming an election-day operation using the FBI, federal marshals and Republican state officials across the country to be prepared to file legal objections and, if necessary, physically stand in the way of criminal activity.”

On the eve of the attack on the Capitol, Stone interviewed Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor, at the Willard hotel.

Declaring that “there’s a DNA in the American psyche” that “goes all the way back to 1776” — referring to the Revolutionary War — Flynn reeled off a string of baseless claims of election fraud.

“Everybody in this country, everybody in the world knows that this election on the third of November was a total rip-off,” Flynn said. “It was a fraudulent election. We have had foreign interference from multiple countries — I’ll rattle ’em off if you want to get into that — and Donald Trump was the clear winner. For the next four days after the third of November — from about the 4th through the 7th, 8th of November — they just started stuffing the ballot boxes. And everybody knows it, and they got caught.”

The January 6th Committee has also signaled its awareness of Jones’ involvement in organizing the rallies surrounding the mobilization on Jan. 6. Citing press reports and Jones’ own statements, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the committee chairman, mentioned in his public letter that Jones worked with two women, Cindy Chafian and Caroline Wren to organize the Jan. 6 rally at the Ellipse, and helped line up a funder, Publix heiress Julie Fancelli, to cover “eighty percent” of the cost.

Jones reportedly said after his testimony earlier this year that the January 6th Committee has already obtained text messages between him and Wren, a former campaign fundraiser who Jones identified as his “White House connection.”

Through Jones’ testimony in January, the committee also confirmed that Jones was on at least familiar terms with the leaders of the neo-fascist street brawling group the Proud Boys, who, like the Oath Keepers, face charges of seditious conspiracy. Jones disclosed that after a rally at the Georgia state capitol in Atlanta in November 2020, he saw Proud Boys at Hooters who were “drinking beer and ate cheeseburgers.” A photo posted on Telegram by Jeremy Bertino, a high-profile Proud Boy who has not been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, shows Jones seated between Bertino and national chairman Enrique Tarrio.

While Jones has so far avoided criminal charges for his role in the events of Jan. 6, two InfoWars personnel — host Owen Shroyer and correspondent Samuel Montoya — have been arrested. Shroyer is charged with knowingly entering or remaining on restricted grounds and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, while Montoya is charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building and disorderly and disruptive conduct, among other offenses.

Erika Wulff Jones, Alex Jones’ wife, went to the Capitol separately from her husband on Jan. 6, riding on the back of a golf cart with Cindy Chafian.

Alex Jones traveled with another contingent to the Capitol, as the January 6th Committee noted in its letter to him. Jones has said that the “White House” told him that after the rally at the Ellipse ended, he was tasked to lead a march to the Capitol where Trump would meet them. While Trump never made it, Jones, Shroyer and Ali Alexander marched to the Capitol.

“Go to the other side of the Capitol,” Jones said, leading the marchers to the east side of the Capitol. “That’s where Trump’s going to be.”

https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/russia-nuclear-reactors-michael-flynn/

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/mike-flynn/

kloster, klukowski

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https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/michael-flynn-teams-up-with-radical-far-right-activist-john-guandolo/

michael Flynn Teams Up With Radical Far-Right Activist John Guandolo

By Kyle Mantyla | July 21, 2022

John Guandolo is right-wing conspiracy theorist and anti-Islam activist so radical that in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, he praised insurrectionists for showing restraint by not publicly executing lawmakers, most of whom he claimed are “traitors” who should be “swinging from a rope.”

After leaving the FBI in disgrace in 2009, Guandolo founded an organization called Understanding The Threat, through which he trains law enforcement agencies around the country to identify seemingly anyone with dark skin and a beard as an Islamic terrorist. In recent months, Guandolo’s organization has begun offering training sessions for right-wing citizens on how to take over their towns, arrest their mayors, and destroy the lives of anyone who objects by publicly humiliating them, getting them fired from their jobs, and forcing them to move away.

Guandolo and his team are leading just such a training session at an undisclosed location this week. According to an email Guandolo sent to Understanding The Threat subscribers, right-wing conspiracy theorist and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn is participating in the July 19-21 session:

[poster, clare lopez, some slut]

The training promises to “organize communities into operational forces to identify roots of corruption & dismantle the hostile networks behind it, and re-establish a Republican form of government at the local level.”

Flynn has been a subject of scrutiny for the House Jan. 6 committee, which last week revealed Flynn’s participation in a December 2020 meeting with former President Donald Trump in which he spewed voter fraud conspiracy theories and urged Trump to seize voting machines. That same month, Flynn also urged the former president to declare martial law. When questioned by the committee whether he believed the violence on January 6, 2021, was justified, Flynn pleaded the Fifth Amendment.

Tags: John Guandolo Michael Flynn Understanding The Threat

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/three-men-linked-russian-spies/

one of America's top counterintelligence experts revealed his thoughts on Saturday on the three men linked to sanctioned Russian spies who were present for a key White House meeting plotting Donald Trump's coup attempt.

"Four days after the electors met across the country and made Joe Biden the president-elect, Donald Trump was still trying to find a way to hang on to the presidency," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said in Tuesday's public hearing of the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"On Friday, December 18th, his team of outside advisers paid him a surprise visit in the White House that would quickly become the stuff of legend," Raskin explained. "The meeting has been called unhinged, not normal and the craziest meeting of the Trump presidency. The outside lawyers who'd been involved in dozens of failed lawsuits had lots of theories supporting the big lie, but no evidence to support it."

At the meeting, the idea of using the U.S. military to seize voting machines.

"In the wee hours of December 19th, dissatisfied with his options, Donald Trump decided to call for a large and wild crowd on Wednesday, January 6th, the day when Congress would meet to certify the electoral votes," Raskin explained. "Never before in American history had a president called for a crowd to come contest the counting of electoral votes by Congress or engaged in any effort designed to influence, delay, or obstruct the joint session of Congress in doing its work required by our Constitution and the Electoral Count Act. As we'll see, Donald Trump's 1:42 AM tweet electrified and galvanized his supporters, especially the dangerous extremists in the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, and other racist and white nationalist groups spoiling for a fight against the government."

In a thread posted to Twitter, former FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Peter Strzok noticed a pattern among some of the participants. Strzok had also headed the FBI's counterespionage section.

Strzok said the meeting had 'staggering counterintelligence issues' presented the three of those in attendance.

"Mike Flynn, who was paid by an organ of Russian state media to travel to Moscow to attend a dinner where he was seated next to Putin. Flynn later plead guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations he had with the Russian Ambassador about election interference," he noted.

"Patrick Byrne, one of several men once in an intimate relationship with convicted Russian agent Marina Butina. Byrne gave money to Butina after her return to Russia, where she ran for the Duma, hounded Navalny, and supported the invasion of Ukraine," Strzok continued. "Rudy Giuliani, who repeatedly met with and took info from sanctioned Russian agents like Andrii Derkach, despite USIC warnings to the White House in 2019 that Trump’s personal lawyer 'was the target of an influence operation by Russian intelligence.'"

"So in this tiny meeting in the Oval Office where options to upend US democracy were advanced to the President of the United States, there were not one, not two, but three people directly linked to sanctioned and convicted agents of the Russian government," Strzok noted. "While I doubt Russia planned it, their efforts to gain access to Trump’s inner sanctum succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. And it demonstrates just how successful seemingly amateurish intelligence activity can be."

He included a Russian Foreign Ministry photo from inside the Oval Office of Trump meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

The meeting occurred in May of 2017, one day after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey for investigating Russia's successful efforts to help Trump win the 2016 election.

"President Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State," The Washington Post reported a few days later. "A Russian photographer took photos of part of the session that were released by the Russian state-owned Tass news agency. No U.S. news organization was allowed to attend any part of the meeting."

Here is the thread Strzok posted to Twitter:...[twt]

https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/one-loud-voice-capitol-riot/

raw story

one of the most crucial questions for both the FBI investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol and the House Select Committee inquiry is the connection between President Trump and the militant groups that carried out the attack.

The next hearing of the January 6th Committee, scheduled for July 12 and led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), reportedly “plans to detail known links and conversations between political actors close to Trump and extremists,” according to the New York Times.

While it is not clear what evidence the committee will present, a network of operatives surrounding retired Lt. General Michael Flynn — an inspirational figure for rank-and-file Trump supporters protesting the outcome of the election — helped build an infrastructure for months in advance that stoked anger, called on the president to invoke the Insurrection Act, and amplified his call to supporters to be in Washington for a “wild rally” on Jan. 6.

One of the initiatives that sprung up around Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor who was seeking a pardon after the US Department of Justice dismissed charges for lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, was called Operation Voter Integrity.

Felisa Blazek, a New Hampshire-based event planner with ties to the QAnon community, outlined plans for the initiative in an interview with Tamara Leigh, a podcaster active in the campaign to vindicate Flynn, and Brent Hamachek, the executive editor of the right-wing publication Human Events. As Blazek described it, the project would deploy GOP activists to monitor polling places for voter fraud, with pro-Trump groups standing by to escalate complaints up through a network that she said would ultimately reach the White House.

Two of the groups mentioned by Blazek, Veterans for Trump and Bikers for Trump, would later show up at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Blazek described a phone tree in which one activist “would just call the head of your state for Bikers for Trump.” She continued: “One phone call. They dispatch 20 to 30 people to that precinct. Second phone call, you call in Veterans for Trump. They dispatch 20 to 30 people. They just show there and they just stand up, and they just let you know you’re not alone. The police will come. If the police don’t come, they’re all trained. We’re just standing by and letting you know that we know.”

Blazek could not be reached for comment for this story.

Two days after the election, Veterans for Trump co-founder Joshua Macias and an associate, Antonio LaMotta, were arrested on weapons charges outside the Philadelphia Convention Center, where election officials were tabulating votes. Local police made the arrests after receiving an FBI alert about a possible attempt to interfere with the vote count, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office. The police reportedly recovered a semi-automatic AR-15-syle assault rifle, samurai sword and hundreds of firearms cartridges from the Hummer that the two men drove from Virginia.

Macias and LaMotta could not be reached for comment for this story.

At the time, some Democratic officials and voting rights groups condemned President Trump’s instruction to supporters to “go into the polls and watch very carefully,” saying it amounted to voter intimidation, and the Department of Homeland Security warned that polling places could be “flash points for potential violence.”

Both Macias and Blazek were avid supporters of Flynn.

Two years earlier, Macias had organized a rally to support Flynn outside the DC federal courthouse at the former general’s sentencing hearing, where he stood alongside Tamara Leigh, according to a report in Mother Jones. Chris Cox, the founder of Bikers for Trump, also attended the protest to support Flynn.

Blazek had recently organized a two-day QAnon-friendly gathering called the Patriot Party in Scottsdale, Ariz. that featured Barbara Redgate, Flynn’s sister.

During an interview to promote the event, Blazek had said, “We’re hoping to host General Flynn and his family as our honored guests. If they would choose to speak, that would be great. But really, we just want them to come there, and support them.” Blazek added that the Flynn family was like “the tip of the spear in our movement.”

David Sumrall, a Dallas-based organizer who founded the right-wing group Stop Hate, similarly extolled the Flynn family in an interview with Redgate to promote the Patriot Party.

“We want to make sure that General Flynn’s getting a message of support and love and encouragement because we have his back,” Sumrall said. “We understand what happened to him, and the whole fact that he’s willing to take one for the team.”

Soon after Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, Blazek and Sumrall, alongside Ali Alexander and Tomi Collins, began organizing rallies across the country to protest the electoral outcome.

Pasquali “Pat” Scopelliti, a business coach based in Charlottesville, Va. and frequent contributor on the PardonFlynnNow.com website, praised Blazek and Macias together in a post-election thread on Twitter. Referring to the two by their Twitter handles and using hashtags associated with Blazek’s election mobilization effort and a parallel campaign led by Alexander, Scopelliti tweeted: “Both @PatriotAssembly and @JoshuaMacias are on the Field of Fight, right now. I choose to support them, as should you./ #1LoudVoice/ #StopTheSteal.”

The following day, Scopelliti issued another Twitter thread, declaring that America was at “war,” with “voter fraud” being the “ultimate weapon,” while speculating that “$1,000 bottles of rice wine” were “being uncorked in Beijing.”

“There are three people I must mention,” Scopelliti continued, recognizing Sumrall, alongside Blazek and Macias. “They are: @HelpStopHate, @PatriotAssembly, @JoshuaMacias. These three patriots have known in their bones, the nature of this war. And they have joined forces to lead the ground game of its fight.”

Scopelliti attached a digital flier to the tweet with the heading “All 50 State Capitol Buildings, #1LoudVoice, Truth Rally, 12:00 PM across the nation.” The flier included URLs for nearly a dozen pro-Trump groups, including Sumrall’s Stop Hate; Blazek’s Patriot Party; PardonFlynnNow.com; and Cowboys for Trump, led by Couy Griffin, who had attended the Patriot Party event in Scottsdale. Griffin would later be arrested for his role in the attack on the Capitol, and found guilty of entering and remaining in a restricted building.

Veterans for America First, the successor organization to Veterans for Trump, currently lists Scopelliti as its community engagement advisor on the organization’s website.

Despite being out on a $750,000 bail with pending firearms charges in Philadelphia, Macias and LaMotta traveled to Washington, DC in early January for a cluster of rallies culminating with President Trump’s speech at the Ellipse. Macias was present during a brief meeting between Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes in an underground parking garage on Jan. 5, the eve of the attack on the Capitol. Tarrio and Rhodes both face seditious conspiracy charges in separate cases related to the attack on the Capitol.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner noted the meeting during a press conference last month to announce a motion to have Macias held for contempt of court due to his actions at the Capitol.

“When people are planning a bank robbery, when they are planning a mob hit, they do not let uninvolved people come to that small private meeting,” Krasner said. “When people are planning serious crimes, the only people that are going to be there, especially when they’re trying to be secretive, are people that are seriously involved.”

Also present at the parking garage meeting were Kelly SoRelle, who now serves as general counsel for the Oath Keepers, and Latinos for Trump President Bianca Gracia.

On Jan. 6, Blazek, Macias, LaMotta, Rhodes, SoRelle, Gracia and members of a Bikers for Trump faction known as Boots on the Ground gathered at the MAGA Freedom Rally in front of the Russell Senate Office Building, a block away from the Capitol.

In an interview with Sumrall last fall, SoRelle said she went back to a hotel room to eat and get warm, while Rhodes went to the Capitol. Rhodes took up a position outside the Capitol, while more than a dozen Oath Keepers members outfitted in tactical gear pushed through the crowd in a stack and followed a mob into the building. SoRelle said in that interview in September that there was no plan to attack the Capitol. In January, Rhodes and 10 other members of the Oath Keepers were charged with seditious conspiracy — a charge that amounts to attempting to overthrow the government by force. Two of those charged have pleaded guilty.

“Stewart had guys that were protecting different speakers at different events, namely Ali Alexander, who was supposed to have been literally on the Capitol grounds,” SoRelle told Sumrall last September. “Then everybody’s like, ‘Well, we don’t know where everybody’s at. This is chaos. Like, what the heck?’ So, that’s why we ended up at the Capitol. We went down there just to see if we could locate his people. You know? And then next thing you take it straight to crazy la-la land, as in everybody’s the mastermind, and whatever.”

Sumrall, who used social media to raise money to take a “team” to Washington, DC, concurred with SoRelle’s account.

Sumrall said he told FBI agents: “Guys, listen: The plan was to get to DC. That’s where it stopped. That’s where it stopped. You’re never going to find anything where anybody says, ‘We’re going in the Capitol.’”

Sumrall’s voice can be heard in a video posted on Stop Hate’s Instagram account that was taken from the west side of the Capitol. The post is accompanied by a text comment from the account owner: “We’ve broken down the gates and made it onto the Capitol grounds.”

Another video on the Stop Hate Instagram account shows police in riot gear lined up on the inauguration review stand and the terrace facing rioters, with the caption, “#StormTheCapitol.”

Macias and LaMotta also went to the Capitol. Footage recently obtained by NBC News shows LaMotta inside the Capitol. He has not been arrested to date.

With LaMotta standing nearby, Macias addressed the crowd on the east side of the Capitol, according to video archived by the @capitolhunters Twitter account.

“Mike Pence is a Benedict Arnold,” Macias roared. “We believed in you, Vice President. We had hope that you would do what’s right for our Constitution. I stood with you onstage, sir. We believed in you.

“President Trump, you have the ability to pass — if you have the strength, sir — the Insurrection Act is now,” Macias continued. “You have the power, sir, and we support you 110 percent. Do what’s right, sir…. Defend the Constitution against foreign and domestic enemies. Those domestic enemies are here. If you’re not awake, America, be awoke. The enemy is not at the gates; the enemy is already here.”

Another person could be heard answering Macias with the QAnon slogan: “Where we go one, we go all!”

“That’s right!” Macias said. “One loud voice! We are one. We are united. I am Josh Macias, Vets for Trump. We will never quit.”

an ah 7 22

Co-founded by multimillionaire conspiracy theorist Patrick M. Byrne — the former Overstock.com CEO who aggressively promoted the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump — the America Project is a far-right MAGA group that describes its mission as “election integrity.” But critics of Byrne and America Project advisers like Roger Stone and Michael Flynn have been stressing that their real goal is voter suppression and voter intimidation. And Byrne is obviously willing to spent a lot of his money to suppress votes: Byrne, according to The Guardian, says he has donated almost $3 million to the America Project’s Operation Eagles Wings drive.guk

The Guardian’s Peter Stone reports that the America Project “has begun a self-styled ‘election integrity’ drive to train activists in election canvassing and poll-watching, sparking fears from voting rights watchdogs about voter intimidation.” According to Peter Stone, the American Project’s Operation Eagles Wings drive is focusing on “eight states,” including Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which Trump lost, plus Texas and Florida, which he won.”

Byrne is among the MAGA Republicans who has been the target of a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems. In late 2020, Byrne promoted the false claim and bogus conspiracy theory that Dominion’s voting equipment was used to steal votes from Trump and give them to now-President Joe Biden.

The events that followed the 2020 presidential election were unprecedented in U.S. history. Trump was first U.S. president to lose an election by over 7 million votes, falsely claim that he didn’t, and try to overthrow the democratic election results — and he did all that with the help of Byrne, veteran GOP operative Roger Stone, former National Security Adviser Flynn and others who have promoted the Big Lie. Flynn is so nakedly authoritarian that after Trump lost the election, he urged him to declare martial law in order to stay in the White House.

“Voting rights advocates have voiced sharp criticism of Operation Eagles Wings, calling it a ‘sham,’ given the roles of Stone, Flynn, Byrne and others, and warning that it could lead to voter harassment at the polls and suppress legitimate votes,” Peter Stone reports in a Guardian article published on July 7. “To lead the fledgling operation, the America Project recruited Tim Meisburger, an ex-Trump official in the U.S. Agency for International Development. Meisburger left the agency abruptly under a cloud in mid-January 2021 after a video surfaced of him falsely informing staffers that the Capitol attack was mostly peaceful except for ‘a few violent people’ and that ‘several million’ people were demonstrating peacefully for election reforms.”

The Guardian reporter adds, “Overall, the America Project has boasted that its total funding is greater than $8m, including donations from Byrne, the ex-chief executive of Overstock.”

Sean Morales-Doyle, acting director of the voting rights program at New York University Law School’s Brennan Center for Justice, is vehemently critical of the America Project and its Operation Eagles Wings drive.

Morales-Doyle told The Guardian, “Michael Flynn and Roger Stone have repeatedly proven themselves to be enemies of democracy…. While it is not clear what exactly they will ask their election reform activists to do, their claimed pursuit of ‘election integrity’ is a sham, aimed instead at undermining public faith in our elections and setting the stage for future attempts to subvert the will of the people. The conspiracy theories they espouse would be laughable if they weren’t so dangerous.”

Peter Stone notes that Flynn and Roger Stone “were in the vanguard of Trump loyalists promoting falsehoods about Joe Biden’s 2020 win.”

“In mid-December 2020, for instance, Flynn suggested on the conservative network Newsmax that Trump could use the military to ‘rerun the elections’ in several key states that Trump falsely claimed were rigged — and a few days later, he attended a White House meeting with Trump, Byrne and other allies, where more wild schemes were discussed,” Peter Stone notes. “(Roger) Stone spoke at a pro-Trump rally on 5 January, and the next morning, was at the Willard Hotel, which Trump loyalists had used as a base for plotting ways to overturn the election, accompanied by several Oath Keeper bodyguards — some of whom participated in the Capitol assault and now face criminal charges.”

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https://www.grid.news/story/politics/2022/07/28/former-overstock-ceo-patrick-byrne-was-one-of-trumps-wealthiest-election-deniers-he-has-some-big-plans-for-the-2022-midterms/

no lnx some

pOLITICS

Former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne was one of Trump’s wealthiest election deniers. He has some big plans for the 2022 midterms.

Byrne is fast becoming one of the most important donors in conservative politics.

Maggie Severns

Domestic Policy Reporter

July 28, 2022

Hours before then-President Donald Trump sent his infamous late-night tweet on Dec. 19, 2020, encouraging supporters to come to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, where it would “be wild,” he met privately in the Oval Office with three key supporters: Attorney Sidney Powell, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and — somewhat improbably — Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock.com.

This was Byrne’s first meeting with the president, but theories he professed about the 2020 election being stolen had caught the attention of Trump allies like Powell. In an hourslong meeting marked by shouting and insults, according to testimony later provided to Congress, Byrne and his allies urged the president to seize voting machines, which he has argued publicly were “hacked” by the company Dominion using fraudulent software developed for former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. (This claim has been widely debunked by fact checkers.)

Hear more from Maggie Severns about this story:

Until recently, Byrne has flown under the radar in national politics despite his ties with Trump, a large following on social media and spending big on the Arizona election audit. Today, he is focused not just on the 2020 election but on those ahead: Byrne funded a major poll-watching effort last year for the Virginia gubernatorial race, which was a success for Republicans and has launched a campaign to monitor the upcoming midterms in swing states.

“If I’m correct about the hackability of this election — if, in fact, what I say is true — then the insurrection was November 3rd,” said Byrne, who spoke with Grid on the phone and via text message. “We’re just trying to expose it.”

While not well known among the general population, the Jan. 6 congressional hearings raised Byrne’s profile and documented him as part of the pivotal Dec. 18 meeting. Former Trump aides testified they were shocked the meeting, which lasted for hours, was happening at all.

“First of all, the Overstock person, I didn’t know who this guy was. Actually, the first thing I did, I walked in, I looked at him and I said, ‘Who are you?’ And he told me,” former White House counsel Pat Cipollone recalled during a taped deposition. “I don’t think any of these people were providing the president with good advice, and I didn’t understand how they had gotten in.”

Via text message, Byrne did not deny the meeting was contentious but maintained the actions he requested would have been a “very quick” investigation. “Not commando SEAL teams breaking through walls,” Byrne added.

Despite former Trump advisers rejecting Byrne’s beliefs, he is emerging as one of the most influential donors in conservative politics and a folk hero among Trump supporters.

Elected leaders appear to be hearing Byrne’s message. According to a text message exchange obtained via public records request by the group American Oversight, Byrne had offered to stop to meet with Texas Secretary of State John Scott when he was crossing the country in his private jet the following day.

“I would be honored to land wherever you are in Texas and come see you and share a pot of tea,” wrote Byrne.

“I would love to visit with you tomorrow afternoon or another day if more convenient,” Scott texted back.

A contentious meeting at the White House

It’s unclear why the 59-year-old ex-CEO has chosen to insert himself into the heart of Trump’s Republican Party. He told New York Magazine he’s spent $20 million into efforts to question the outcome of the 2020 election, including more than $3 million on the Arizona election audit alone, according to the leader of the Arizona Senate’s election review. Byrne insists he has taken up the cause of “election integrity” because he is convinced America’s election system is in peril, and he has spent months and millions of dollars bankrolling investigations in various states and even producing his own documentary on the subject. Critics say he is promoting fake ideas that undermine democracy and do little for elections except continue to motivate the MAGA base.

“This is a message that some parts of the GOP like to just keep sending out to fire up their base,” said Paul Smith, senior vice president at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “Talk about a new ‘election integrity’ project is as much a way of keeping everybody involved, and interested, and upset, and angry as it is maybe a practical effort.”

The Dec. 18 meeting was what one lawmaker described as the “craziest” of the administration. White House aides pleaded with Trump to accept that there was no evidence of election fraud, regardless of his friends’ claims about Venezuelan meddling and other unfounded ideas.

“What they were proposing, I thought, was nuts,” testified former White House senior adviser Eric Herschmann.

Byrne maintains parts of the meeting are different from what has been previously reported. He said he laid out a strategy in which Trump would use past executive orders to instigate an investigation into the election that could have involved seizing voting machines but could also have been significantly less intrusive. “I am the one who spoke up and laid out the options,” Byrne said. Trump expressed interest in a less intrusive investigation that did not involve seizing voting machines or utilizing military personnel, he added. Powell did not respond to a request for comment for this story, nor did a lawyer representing Flynn.

When the meeting adjourned after midnight, Trump chose his side. “Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election,” he tweeted. “Big protest in D.C. on Jan. 6. Be there, will be wild.”

It’s one of several moments during the weeks that immediately followed the election that Byrne surrounded himself with people who would be crucial to efforts to overturn the election results.

Byrne, who began raising the idea that the election could be stolen well before Nov. 3, spent time analyzing the results in South Carolina with Powell, Flynn and Trump ally and lawyer Lin Wood, who owned the property where they met and unsuccessfully tried to bring a lawsuit challenging the election results in Georgia. The group set up camp in Wood’s living room with whiteboards and laptops, Wood said.

According to a recent interview he gave with the far-right Epoch Times, Byrne helped fly a group of people from Texas to Washington, D.C., in December for a pro-Trump rally timed with the Electoral College’s certification of the election. Unbeknown to him, Byrne said, three people on the flight were affiliated with the Proud Boys.

In the weeks following the election, Byrne paid for flights for people to travel to Georgia and to Antrim County, Michigan, to investigate potential fraud brought on by Dominion voting machines. A report from the investigation — which was debunked by the state of Michigan — helped spread the notion that Dominion voting machines caused false election results. Dominion later sued Byrne, along with Powell and entities such as the conservative site Newsmax, for defamation; in court Byrne has denied any wrongdoing or violation of the law. (“I am confident in my position,” Byrne said of the lawsuit. “One of which is that their claims are rather fuzzy.”)

Patrick Byrne has dedicated himself to MAGA causes

Along with My Pillow founder Mike Lindell, Byrne is one of few business executives who has openly embraced the movement to deny the 2020 election results.

Byrne led Overstock for 20 years before resigning in 2019 after disclosing he’d had a romantic relationship with Russian spy Maria Butina, who tried to infiltrate Republican circles in the lead-up to the 2016 election. Byrne claimed, and continues to maintain, that he was working on behalf of the FBI to stymie Butina, but outside evidence hasn’t emerged to show whether that’s the case.

By Byrne’s own account, he has become involved with a range of pro-Trump causes beyond his initial push to investigate the 2020 election.

He helped fund the ReAwaken America Tour, which has drawn crowds of thousands of people skeptical about covid-19 and the 2020 election to hear speakers including Charlie Kirk, Eric Trump, and often Byrne and the Flynn brothers. He has claimed to support various groups in Florida that have fought against critical race theory. And he has said he is helping fund lawsuits brought by John Paul Mac Isaac, the Delaware laptop store owner who allegedly stumbled on a laptop left behind at the shop by Hunter Biden.

Byrne has also donated at least $88,000 to the Conservatives for Election Integrity PAC, a group allied with the America First Secretary of State Coalition, which supports pro-Trump candidates who, if elected, would have crucial influence over how state elections are administered.

Scaling the Virginia model

Last year, Byrne poured money into Virginia’s off-year gubernatorial election — and believes he honed a valuable model for volunteer election poll-watching and oversight that he can use in the months ahead.

Fairfax County, Virginia, was at the center of the effort, steered by people including Byrne, former Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell and Leon Benjamin, a conservative politician now running for Congress. Byrne declined to say how much money he put into backing a group started by Benjamin, Virginians for America First.

Byrne and others believe they are improving elections — but election workers warn their work to monitor elections sows confusion and weighs down election workers. Republican efforts to monitor the Virginia election last year funded by Byrne created a “hostile environment” for workers, said Scott Konopasek, a longtime election administrator who served as director of elections in Fairfax County.

“I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years and in four states. I did eight presidential elections. There is nothing like this,” Konopasek told Grid.

Konopasek said the number of people and requests coming into his office made it more difficult to administer the election, even with one employee working full time to respond to public records requests. Starting in July 2021, he said he had numerous requests from people to “observe” parts of the election process and an observer was in his office nearly every day.

It’s not unusual for people to observe parts of the election process, and Konopasek said that in the past he’d seen it as an opportunity to teach about democracy. But the goodwill he’d seen from observers in past elections “has not been exhibited” by the new poll watchers, who appeared convinced Fairfax County was doing something wrong.

“They just overwhelmed us. It was almost like a DNS attack,” Konopasek said.

Byrne maintains his work is not malevolent. “Our research shows 83 percent of Americans consider ‘election integrity’ a high priority issue. The American people think something, they understand it if only latently, and they are absolutely correct,” he said.

Byrne plans to replicate last year’s work in Virginia across the country.

Along with the Flynn brothers, Byrne launched a project he calls “Operation Eagles Wings” earlier this year during a CPAC conference in Florida. The effort will target nine swing states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Byrne has hired Mark Loyd, a former Virginia elections worker and longtime Tea Party activist, and Tim Meisburger, who along with Loyd served in the Trump administration at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Expanding the “Virginia Model,” Byrne said, entails training volunteers who will work reaching out to low-propensity voters, serving as election poll watchers, observing the elections process and monitoring absentee ballots.

“2022 offers us the opportunity to repeat a Virginia-type victory all around the nation,” Byrne told Grid in a text message.

What’s next …

What happened in Virginia and Arizona may be just a preview for 2022 and 2024.

https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/rudy-giuliani-bogus-evidence-antifa/

raw story

after filming the fatal shooting of Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, an activist disavowed by Black Lives Matter and other leftist organizations before Jan. 6 became the public face of the right-wing hoax that “antifa" was responsible for attacking the US Capitol.

The film also reveals how the 27-year-old from Provo, John Sullivan, urged rioters to "break that shit" as they pressed towards the doors to the Speaker's Lobby, as lawmakers hurried to safety on the other side.

It now appears Sullivan learned about the planned assault on the US Capitol through his access to a far-right network that included Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. Individuals in this network then turned around and fed Sullivan's information to Rudy Giuliani. Trump’s personal attorney then exploited this information in a propaganda effort to deflect blame for the attack from the former president and his supporters.

Foremost among those attempting to frame "antifa" by spotlighting John Sullivan's involvement was his brother, James Sullivan. A conservative activist with links to the Proud Boys, James Sullivan wrote in a text to an unknown recipient shortly after the attack: "I'm currently working with the FBI to expose and place total blame on John and the 226 members of antifa that instigated the Capitol' riot.'”

A screenshot of this text was obtained by Millie Weaver, part of a team of pro-Trump operatives drafted to review and analyze video of the Jan. 6 attack for Giuliani. Weaver shared the screenshot with Giuliani, her partner Gavin Wince told Raw Story, and Giuliani appears to have tweeted it out by accident nine days after the Jan. 6 attack. However,

To date, no "members of antifa" nor other left-wing activists have been publicly identified as taking part in the breach. The only known associate of John Sullivan who went inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 is Jade Lee Sacker, a photographer working on a documentary about the two brothers.

In a conversation recorded by Thad Cisneros, a former Proud Boy from Utah, John Sullivan explained, "Because I know we were going to storm the Capitol. I'm on chats. I'm on underground chats like — I have my resources, I have my resources. That is not me, but I have people, right?"

Cisneros told Raw Story that he "had zero knowledge" of John Sullivan's plans for Jan. 6 before the attack.

This recording was published in PsyOp the Steal, a pro-Trump documentary made by Weaver, with Cisneros' voice altered to protect his identity. Cisneros recently disclosed to Raw Story that he is the person asking questions in the recording. He also told Raw Story he provided the FBI with a copy of the recording.

Cisneros confirmed that on the night after the Jan. 6 attack, he called Sullivan and spoke to him outside the Hamilton Hotel. Shortly after Cisneros and Sullivan's meeting, Sullivan was detained by the DC Metropolitan Police and FBI for questioning about his involvement in the attack on the Capitol. Later, Cisneros said, the FBI contacted him. Agents wanted to talk to him about Joe Biggs, a national Proud Boys leader, and Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers.

"They asked me questions I knew I couldn't lie about," Cisneros told Raw Story. "They asked me: 'Do you know who this person is?' Of course. This is Joe Biggs. I called Joe Biggs and told him. I'm now regarded as a security threat by the Proud Boys. I understand."

The FBI also wanted information about Rhodes and other members of the Oath Keepers, but Cisneros told Raw Story he could not provide anything relevant to Jan. 6. He acknowledged that he and Rhodes "had been on several chats together," albeit only to discuss "organizing communities."

Cisneros said he was part of a council of national Proud Boys leaders known as the "War Boys," predating the MOSD Leaders Group, a private message group set up on Dec. 20, 2020 to serve as a "national rally planning committee." Biggs, Ethan Nordean (aka Rufio Panman) and former national chairman Enrique Tarriol are all in jail awaiting trial on charges of seditious conspiracy.

"Enrique represented the strategy," Cisneros said. "Rufio represented the brawn. Biggs brought the military chutzpah. I unofficially brought a sense of reason and logic. When I hear things like, 'Storm the capitol,' it sends red flags."

Federal court documents indicate that the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers privately discussed plans to assault the Capitol in separate chats.

On Jan. 4, Tarrio reportedly posted to the MOSD Leaders Group stating, "I didn't see this voice note until now, you want to storm the Capitol." Tarrio's message was in response to a voice note posted the previous evening by John Charles Stewart, a member MOSD's "upper tier leadership," recommending that the Proud Boys "plan the operations based around the front entrance to the Capitol building."

Meanwhile, on Christmas day, according to federal court documents, Florida Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs messaged in the OKFL Hangout Chat when Congress convened for a joint session to certify the electoral vote.

"We need to make those senators very uncomfortable with us being a few hundred feet away," Meggs said.

"I think Congress will screw [President Trump] over," Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes reportedly responded. "The only chance we/he has is if we scare the s*** out of them and convince them it will be torches and pitchforks time is [sic] they don't do the right thing."

In bombshell testimony before the January 6th Committee on Tuesday, former aide Cassidy Hutchinson revealed that word of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers' plans reached the White House in the days before the Jan. 6 attack, even as Trump himself was planning to go to the Capitol when Congress met to certify the electoral vote.

"As Mr. Giuliani and I were walking to his vehicle that evening, he looked at me and said something to the effect of, 'Cass, are you excited for the 6th? It's going to be a great day,'" Hutchinson testified. "I remember looking at him and saying, 'Rudy, could you explain what's happening on the 6th?' He responded something to the effect of, 'We're going to the Capitol. It's going to be great. The president's going to be there. He's going to look powerful. He's going to be with the [House] members, he's going to be with the senators. Talk to the chief about it. Talk to the chief about it. He knows about it.'"

When Hutchison recounted that conversation with Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff reportedly told her, "There's a lot going on, Cass. But I don't know. Things might get real, real bad on Jan. 6."

"I recall hearing the word 'Oath Keeper' and hearing the word 'Proud Boys' closer to the planning of the January 6th rally when Mr. Giuliani would be around," Hutchinson later testified.

Robert Costello, Giuliani's lawyer, did not return an email and voicemail for this story.

The Sullivan Brothers

James Sullivan, whose information about his brother John made it to Giuliani shortly after the Jan. 6 attack, was actively involved in a far-right movement that gave him direct access to the Proud Boys leadership.

Joe Biggs, a national organizer for the Proud Boys, introduced James Sullivan at a rally organized by the far-right group in Portland, Ore., in late September 2020.

"I'm part of a patriot group that came up from Utah, the Proud Boys chapter," James Sullivan said at the rally. "The group that I'm part of is called Civilized Awakening I founded back when my brother, John Sullivan — he's antifa; he organized a protest where a shooting occurred in Provo — and that's when we started organizing the patriot movement in Utah.

"My brother, John Sullivan… he was a speed skater," James said later in the speech. "He started two third-party logistics companies. He was conservative. And they manipulated him when Black Lives Matter came to Utah. Now, he was at the DC capitol saying he was gonna pull the president out of office. That Black man, that was my brother. He was raised by Lt. Col. John Sullivan."

Cisneros, another Proud Boy, had also interacted with John Sullivan before Jan. 6, having spoken at a Jul. 2, 2020 rally in Provo that Sullivan organized. Pushing back against the perception that John Sullivan allowed him to speak at the rally, Cisneros recently posted a photo of himself speaking through a megaphone with Sullivan in the background on Instagram, accompanied by the text, "When I took over a #blm event in Provo, UT with #jaydenx in the background. #slutchapter #proudboy #disavowed for working with #blm. I don't take orders I give 'em."

Cisneros told Raw Story that he met the Sullivan brothers' adoptive father. He claimed his was the anonymized voice in the PsyOp the Steal documentary referencing a meeting with the father and two sons.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

On the eve of the attack on the Capitol, Rudy Giuliani and others set up what became known as a "war room" at the Willard Hotel, Cassidy Hutchinson testified to the January 6th Committee on Tuesday.

After law enforcement regained control of the Capitol and Congress reconvened with Vice President Mike Pence to complete the certification of the election on Jan. 6, Giuliani regrouped. His new task was helping to absolve Trump of responsibility for the attack, as the president faced a second impeachment trial.

Michael Trimarco, a New York businessman with a background in tech and finance, recommended Millie Weaver and Gavin Wince to Giuliani. Weaver, a former correspondent for the conspiracy theorist hub InfoWars, and her partner Wince had been staying at the Westin Arlington Gateway in rooms paid for by former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne since mid-November. They were part of a team that included Terpsehore "Tore" Maras and Patrick Bergy.

"When they finally met Rudy was Jan. 7," Trimarco told Raw Story. "The reason was because I felt the need to organize and collate… all the videos that were coming in from crowd sources. Millie and Gavin worked together. Tore has a lot of followers. They were sending stuff in. I said, 'These people would be good to pull all the video together."

Jason Funes, who worked on the Trump campaign in 2016 and 2020 — and worked in the US Department of the Interior from 2017 to 2019 — also contributed to the effort.

"Rudy Giuliani was being briefed by me in a group of people at the Willard Hotel on Jan. 8, and afterwards," Funes told the right-wing podcast Liberty Report podcast in November 2021. "I'm an expert witness, bro. I was the one at the Capitol building on video at sunset watching all these so-called Trump supporters. Listen, if antifa puts on a Trump hate, are they a Trump supporter?"

Following the attack on the Capitol, Funes texted photos of the driver's licenses of the Sullivan brothers' adoptive parents to a New Mexico man named Shawn Bradley Witzemann. In his text to Witzemann, Funes wrote, "Found these on the sidewalk."

Witzemann told Raw Story he doesn't believe that Funes actually found the photo IDs lying on the ground. "That was bogus," Witzemann said. "That's him being a smartass."

Witzemann hosted the Proud Boys-friendly podcast, "Armenian Council for Truth in Journalism." In it, he chronicled pro-Trump events in Washington, DC, Phoenix and Atlanta as a videographer.

One of Witzemann's clips captures an encounter with Funes, who is seen wearing a "Team Trump" shirt, on the evening of Nov. 14, 2020 in downtown Washington, DC, where the Proud Boys and other Trump supporters clashed with left-wing counter-protesters.

Witzemann was arrested in April 2021, and currently faces misdemeanor charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and other charges related to the Jan. 6 attack.

Witzemann said he interviewed Sullivan, alongside their fellow Jan. 6 arrestee Jesus Rivera, for a podcast, but did not expend much effort looking into Sullivan's father.

"I thought it was interesting for a minute," Witzemann said. "A lot of times you get led into a dead-end. What are you going to do?"

Asked how he obtained images of the driver's licenses belonging to the Sullivan brothers' parents and why he sent the pictures to Witzemann, Funes did not respond directly. In a prepared statement provided to Raw Story, Funes said, "Rudy Giuliani had DC hotels full of cohorts that were withholding vital information from President Trump and the entire federal government regarding Jan. 6 (including the IDs). In fact, Rudy, Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, Roger Stone, Ali Alexander and others were culpable of spreading lies about foreign election interference to a sitting president and the entire world."

Flynn, Powell, Stone and Alexander could not be reached for comment about Funes' assertion.

Funes confirmed to Raw Story that he possesses a video interview with Cisneros that references the John Sullivan saga.

After helping Giuliani, Funes met with Kellye SoRelle, a former Texas prosecutor who eventually became the general counsel for the Oath Keepers. SoRelle was representing the president of Latinos for Trump, Bianca Gracia in a lawsuit when Gracia introduced her to Funes.

In an affidavit she shared on Twitter last November, SoRelle included a startling claim about the Cisneros video.

"I was contacted by a guy named Jason Funes," she wrote. "He came to visit me from Florida and brought me a video of a male by the name of xxxxx. Xxxxxx was explaining that he was in Utah and was associated with Jason and John Sullivan (Jayden X). John Sullivan is the individual who was with Ashli Babbitt when she was shot. Thad was being recorded stating that he flew to Washington, DC with Patrick Byrne and the Sullivan brothers, and that Patrick Byrne paid for the provocateurs to be at the capitol."

In an interview with Raw Story, Cisneros disputed SoRelle's claim, saying that Byrne "would have nothing to do with John." Cisneros added, "Patrick Byrne is someone I never had any involvement with. That guy had nothing to do with any of the flights that I took."

Funes also disputed SoRelle's account.

"Kellye SoRelle has taken a video out of context," he told Raw Story. "She didn't watch it in full, and is misrepresenting what Thad said, because that is not what Thad said in that video."

Raw Story has asked Funes to release the video. Funes indicated he was willing to consider the request but would need Cisneros' permission first.

Byrne told Raw Story he doesn't remember flying the Sullivan brothers or Cisneros to Washington, DC before Jan. 6, although he did not entirely rule it out as a possibility.

"Nope, never heard of the guys nor had anything to do with them and their projects," Byrne wrote in an email. "If that turns out to be incorrect, then it is because they were among many dozens whom in November and December who I was bringing to DC mostly for debriefing. The names of very few of those people have reached me. But neither of them ring a bell. And I do not recall helping anyone in around the J6 time. Just a month earlier."

In a text to Patrick Bergy, who was part of the team assisting Giuliani at the Willard Hotel, SoRelle suggested Funes had walked back his statement.

"So, the weird part is Jason changes his story," SoRelle said in the Jun. 1 text, which Bergy provided to Raw Story. "Originally, there was the Byrne flight stuff, which others still say… including another on the flight. But now Jason denies he said it."

In a follow-up text to Bergy, SoRelle said that Bianca Gracia, the president of Latinos for Trump, "told me the same."

SoRelle and Gracia were both present during a Jan. 5, 2021 meeting between Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes in an underground parking garage in Washington, DC. Tarrio and Rhodes are both in jail awaiting trial on charges of seditious conspiracy.

Byrne told Raw Story that he recalled agreeing to a request to fly 15 "pro-freedom Latinos from Texas" to DC for a rally in December 2020, although at that time, he said he did not know Gracia. He added that an unidentified reporter informed him that Tarrio and two to three other people on the flight were Proud Boys.

Byrne said he recently asked Gracia, with whom he is now acquainted, about the parking garage meeting.

"She told me that she knew Enrique for a long time, that he had worked for her before working for Proud Boys and before there even was a Proud Boys, as her state organizer and on her board of directors for Latinos for America," Byrne told Raw Story. (Since Jan. 6, Latinos for Trump has changed its name to Latinos for America First.)

In a Signal thread that included Byrne and Joe Flynn, the brother of retired Lt. General Michael Flynn, Gracia said she hadn't communicated with Cisneros since February 2021.

"He was a Proud Boy but got kicked out of Proud Boys 'cause he tried to make peace w Black Lives Matter people," Gracia wrote. "He also got involved with the Sullivan guy mentioned somehow. And rumor has it he was an informant. At this point, everyone is either an informant or domestic terrorist. I did not pick up Thad's call. I made him text me."

Responding to Gracia's statement, Joe Flynn wrote: "Kellye is crazy, likes to make s*** up."

SoRelle could not be reached for this story.

In the conversation recorded by Cisneros, Sullivan risibly claimed that his brother, James told him "the Italian mafia paid for everybody to fly out there." Steven Kiersh, Sullivan's lawyer, told RawStory that his client "is not under any circumstances to speak with any person other than myself about the case."

Gavin Wince, who was part of the team that assisted Giuliani's effort to collect video and analyze the Jan. 6 attack, told Raw Story that he knows who flew John and James Sullivan to DC, but won't say.

"I can't comment because that is witness tampering," Wince said. "A lot of this is executive privilege. We were working with Rudy Giuliani and the White House on this stuff.

"The information was gathered under an NDA on behalf of Rudy Giuliani for the benefit of Donald Trump," he added. "That was the only reason we were doing that… for the benefit of Donald Trump, because in our mind he's the president of the United States being framed."

Daniel Goldman, the former lead counsel for the House prosecution of Trump's first impeachment, told Raw Story that there's no such protection. Goldman's comment was provided in response to an inquiry for a previous story looking into a claim by Weaver that she could not comment because her work was covered by executive privilege and an NDA.

"There is no such thing as an NDA covered by executive privilege since executive privilege is not contractual," Goldman told Raw Story. "This person would not fall under executive privilege under any circumstance, and I can't imagine what NDA a 'journalist' signed with Trump. The fact of such an NDA would lead me to believe they are trying to cover up misconduct through a sham contract."

Robert Costello, Giuliani's attorney, has previously told Raw Story that his client did not issue any non-disclosure agreements to Weaver and her team and was unaware that any had been given. After looking into the matter, he reported that Giuliani's secretary sent the NDAs to one of Giuliani's security people, who distributed them to the team. Costello said he located Weaver's NDA and observed that it was not signed by Giuliani, adding that without two signatures, a contract has no legal force.

Informed that executive privilege wouldn't cover their work for Giuliani and that the NDAs are likely not legally binding, Wince still declined to elaborate on the Sullivan brothers' flights to DC, saying that his information came from sources who, if disclosed, would face retribution.

"The last thing we want to do is compromise that information if it's evidence," Wince said.

Wince told Raw Story that he and Weaver did not receive any compensation for their work from Giuliani.

"The only gift or benefit we received was being allowed to stay in hotel rooms that had already been pre-booked," he said. "I believe it was Patrick Byrne and Mike Trimarco that had booked whole floors." Wince added that some of their meals were paid for. He also acknowledged that Byrne covered the cost of airfare so that he and Weaver could fly to California to interview a "whistleblower" for a pro-Trump media project.

After receiving information from Weaver, Wince, Funes and others, Giuliani recorded his "Common Sense" podcast for Jan. 13, 2021, promising, "This episode is going to concern itself with what really happened on Jan. 6, 2021."

Giuliani presented John Sullivan as the poster child for his thesis that "antifa" was responsible for the attack on the Capitol, making a case that was only loosely based on fact.

"I guess I'll repeat the word 'antifa' so we can see the organization for which Sullivan is operating," Giuliani told his audience in a video posted on the Rumble platform that has received almost half a million views to date. "Now, just a brief background on Sullivan: Sullivan is a Black Lives Matter/antifa partisan person involved with them. Involved in riots before. If not the most prominent, the most recent was in July 2020. He was arrested for rioting in Provo, Utah, where a person was killed during that riot."

In addition to omitting the critical fact that Sullivan had been shunned by Black Lives Matter organizers, Giuliani's statement included another egregious error. The SUV driver shot during the protest in Provo did not die and launched a bid for Provo's mayor.

"Let's start with the fact that long before Donald Trump or anyone else gave a speech on Jan. 6, this violent protest reaction was being created by other than Donald Trump or Donald Trump partisans, but by antifa and an antifa representative and a professional at creating riots, including riots that resulted in death," Giuliani said. "John Sullivan."

Speaking to Raw Story just before the January 6th Committee hearing on Tuesday, Weaver rejected the claim that Trump and Giuliani planned the attack on the Capitol.

"I've seen the J6 Committee making wild accusations that Trump and Giuliani had premeditated Jan. 6," Weaver said. "To me, that seems so foreign. You get a feel for things when you're in the middle of it. The feeling for me is there wasn't a chance in hell they pre-planned and orchestrated anything of the sort. Really, it seems like afterwards everyone is just trying to figure out what the heck happened. It's alien or way out there to say Trump and his people around him pre-planned an event such as J6, which only served to hurt him. In no way did he benefit. The opposing side benefited greatly from that."

An hour later, under questioning from Vice-Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Cassidy Hutchinson would describe three "camps of thought" in the White House, telling the committee that her former boss, Mark Meadows, straddled the moderate and extreme camps. Although Hutchinson didn't mention Weaver — an outsider working to assist Giuliani after the fact — by name, her position could easily be described as aligning with the third view inside the White House.

"And there was the last group, which was 'deflect and blame,'" Hutchinson testified. "Let's blame antifa. These aren't our people."

https://www.alreporter.com/2021/01/26/trump-appointee-says-tuberville-raga-director-met-with-trump-family-top-advisors-on-eve-of-capitol-attack/

no lnx

lAST UPDATED ON JANUARY 27, 2021,

Update: Sen. Tommy Tuberville, through a spokeswoman, denied attending the Jan. 5 meeting. Facebook and Instagram posts appear to tell a different story.

The night before the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville and the then-director of the Republican Attorneys General Association met with then-President Donald Trump’s sons and close advisers, according to a social media post by a Nebraska Republican who at the time was a Trump administration appointee.

Charles W. Herbster, who was then the national chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Advisory Committee in Trump’s administration, in a Facebook post at 8:33 p.m. on Jan. 5 said that he was standing “in the private residence of the President at Trump International with the following patriots who are joining me in a battle for justice and truth.”

Tuberville, through a spokeswoman Tuesday, told APR that he did not attend a Jan. 5 meeting at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.

Among the attendees, according to Herbster’s post, were Tuberville, former RAGA director Adam Piper, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Trump’s former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, adviser Peter Navarro, Trump’s 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and 2016 deputy campaign manager David Bossie.

RAGA’s dark-money fundraising arm, the Rule of Law Defense Fund, led by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, paid for robocalls directing people to the March to Save America and rally, which took place just before the Capitol attack.

Herbster attended the Jan. 6 rally, but said he left before the riot, according to the Omaha World-Herald. The newspaper also reported that Herbster “also met Tuesday in Trump’s private residence in his Washington, D.C., hotel with Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, and other campaign advisers.”

“They discussed how to pressure more members of Congress to object to the Electoral College results that made Joe Biden the winner,” The Omaha World-Herald reported.

Flynn earlier on Jan. 5 spoke at a rally of pro-Trump supporters in support of Trump’s baseless claims of widespread election fraud.

“We stand at a crucible moment in United States history. This country is awake now,” Flynn told the crowd, according to numerous news outlets.

Congressman Mo Brooks, R-Alabama, spoke at the rally prior to the Capitol attack, telling the crowd: “Today is the day that American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.” Right-wing political activist and an organizer of the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally, Ali Alexander, in videos posted on social media claimed that Brooks was involved in the planning of the rally that day, meant to pressure lawmakers inside the Capitol as they prepared to vote on certifying the Electoral College votes.

The Jan. 5 meeting, as discussed in the Facebook post, was first reported by journalist Seth Abramson on Tuesday. Abramson in his article states that it’s unclear if Trump himself attended the Jan. 5 meeting at his hotel.

“I’ve dedicated my life to promoting and preserving the American Dream. Tonight, as I look at our nation’s flag, I’m reminded of the battles and blood spilled to protect our way of life,” Herbster wrote in his post:

In numerous photos posted to his Facebook page in the months prior to the Jan. 5 meeting, Herbster can be seen posing with Trump and Trump’s sons and close advisors.

APR sent questions to a Tuberville spokesperson asking whether the senator had attended a Jan. 5 meeting with Trump, Piper and others at his hotel, and if so, why was he called to the meeting and what was discussed. The Tuberville spokeswoman replied in an email: “the answers to your questions are No and Not Applicable.” Attempts to contact Herbster on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

As pro-Trump supporters, far-right groups and militia members were breaking into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani both mistakenly called Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah while trying to call Tuberville, according to multiple news accounts, a recording of a voicemail message by Giuliani left for Tuberville and statements by Lee.

In the recorded voicemail message mistakenly left on Lee’s phone, first reported by The Dispatch, Giuliani asks Tuberville to stall the counting of electoral votes.

“I want to discuss with you how they’re trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you,” Giuliani said in a voicemail.

Piper resigned as director of RAGA on Jan. 12 following much public scrutiny over robocalls paid for by the Rule of Law Defense Fund.

“Every decision Adam made on behalf of RLDF was with the best of intentions and with the organization’s best interests in mind,” Marshall said in a statement at the time. “Adam leaves a void that will be difficult to replace, but we wish Adam well as he pursues other opportunities that will allow him to spend more time with his family.”

Marshall has not publicly said why Piper resigned. Attempts to reach Piper for comment Tuesday were not successful.

RLDF was listed as a participating organization for the Jan. 6 “March to Save America” on the march’s website. The website is now down, but archived versions show RLDF as a participating group. Prior to the protest, RLDF sent out robocalls detailing when and where citizens should meet for the Jan. 6 rally, which was first reported by the watchdog investigative journalism group Documented.

“I’m calling for the Rule of Law Defense Fund with an important message,” the robocall stated, according to Documented. “The march to save America is tomorrow in Washington D.C. at the Ellipse in President’s Park between E St. and Constitution Avenue on the south side of the White House, with doors opening at 7:00 a.m. At 1:00 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal. We are hoping patriots like you will join us to continue to fight to protect the integrity of our elections. For more information, visit MarchtoSaveAmerica.com. This call is paid for and authorized by the Rule of Law Defense Fund, 202-796-5838.”

“Serving Republican attorneys general has been the honor of a lifetime and honestly a dream job,” Piper said in a statement on his resignation, according to the Associated Press.

In a statement to APR on Jan. 7, after APR’s story on the matter had published earlier that day, Piper said neither RAGA nor RLDF was involved with the planning of the rally and seemed to place the blame on staff.

“The Republican Attorneys General Association and Rule of Law Defense Fund had no involvement in the planning, sponsoring, or the organization of yesterday’s rally,” Piper said in the statement at the time. “No Republican AG authorized the staff’s decision to amplify a colleague speaking at the rally. Organizationally and individually, we strongly condemn and disavow the events which occurred. Yesterday was a dark day in American history and those involved in the violence and destruction of property must be prosecuted and held accountable.”

Marshall, in a statement to APR on Jan. 8, blamed unnamed RLDF staff and said he was not aware of his organization’s involvement:

“I was unaware of unauthorized decisions made by RLDF staff with regard to this week’s rally. Despite currently transitioning into my role as the newly elected chairman of RLDF, it is unacceptable that I was neither consulted about nor informed of those decisions. I have directed an internal review of this matter. As I said yesterday, I condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the actions of those who attempted to storm the U.S. Capitol, a place where passionate but peaceful protestors had gathered and lawmakers debated inside. Our country is built upon the foundation of the rule of law. American democracy guarantees the right of peaceful protest. Those who chose to engage in violence and anarchy should and will be held accountable under the law.”

Marshall, speaking to The Montgomery Advertiser on Jan. 12, after a press conference on human trafficking and before Piper’s resignation was announced, said the internal review was ongoing. Asked by the Advertiser whether he felt Trump bore any responsibility for the violence at the Capitol on Wednesday, and for comment on Trump’s potential impeachment, Marshall declined to comment.

“I didn’t see anything about the rally,” Marshall said, according to the newspaper. “I don’t know anything about his remarks.”

APR’s questions to Marshall’s office Tuesday about the status of Marshall’s investigation into the matter, and whether he has learned of Piper’s possible attendance at that Jan. 5 meeting, weren’t immediately answered.

Have a question or a scoop? Send us a tip. We'll track it down.

In this article: Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Featured, Former President Donald Trump, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, U.S. Capitol attack

WRITTEN BY

Eddie Burkhalter is a reporter at the Alabama Political Reporter. You can email him at eburkhalter@alreporter.com or reach him via Twitter.

Another anti-Muslim figurehead involved with CNP is Frank Gaffney. A former Ronald Reagan administration staffer, Gaffney has since become one of the most prolific anti-Muslim propagandists in the country. He is gripped by paranoid fantasies of foreign entities such as the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrating and supplanting the U.S. from within. Gaffney founded the anti-Muslim hate group Center for Security Policy and now serves in an executive chairmanship role at the group.

[pix Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the Center for Security Policy, testifies during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2013 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Hatewatch first reported on Gaffney’s CNP membership in the publication of the group’s 2014 roster. He is listed as a “Gold Circle Member” in CNP’s September 2020 membership roster. Gold Circle Members pay a yearly fee of $10,000, as shown by nomination documents. Like Gabriel, Gaffney’s listed interests at CNP include “Radical Islam.”

Gaffney and the Center for Security Policy did not respond to a request for comment.

In 2016, candidate Trump used data from a shoddy survey commissioned by the Center for Security Policy to justify his call for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” The survey was done by The Polling Company, Kellyanne Conway’s company. Conway served as Trump’s senior counselor and was a member of CNP’s executive committee from 2014 to 2015, tax records show.

Like other anti-Muslim and far-right actors, CNP has begun to frame China as a new Cold War-style adversary. Gaffney and his group are active in stoking alarmism about the supposed threat from China. At a CNP conference in August 2020 in Arlington, Virginia, the coalition’s sister lobbying arm CNP Action, Inc., hosted a panel titled “Reckoning with China: Action Steps,” according to a leaked copy of the agenda obtained by the watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy. The panel featured Gaffney as a participant.

Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a right-wing activist who is married to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is also a CNP member and counts “Radical Islam” among her interests. In 2013, Mother Jones reported Ginni Thomas and Gaffney were part of another right-wing strategy group known as Groundswell.

CNP has also included Islamophobic figures in its orbit and network. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s former National Security Adviser who was later pardoned by the former president after lying to the FBI, has ties to CNP, though he is not listed as a member. Flynn spoke at a CNP Policy Counsel event in July 2016. His name is also associated with a CNP Zoominfo account, as uncovered by investigative researcher Brent Allpress, suggesting Flynn might be involved more formally with the coalition. Flynn has a history of expressing anti-Islam sentiment, once calling the religion “a cancer.” In 2016, ACT for America advertised Flynn serving on its board of advisers. He was also a keynote speaker at ACT’s 2016 conference in Washington, D.C.

In September 2017, longtime anti-Muslim figurehead David Horowitz (who is not listed as a member) spoke at a CNP conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The theme of the event and Horowitz’s presentation was “Mapping the Left.” Horowitz heads the eponymously named David Horowitz Freedom Center, a hate group known for spreading anti-Muslim sentiment and helping fund other Islamophobic projects such as Jihad Watch and FrontPage Magazine. Once a leftist in the 1960s, Horowitz now tries to smear his former political affiliation as being totalitarian.

Dr. Mark Christian is listed as a member of CNP’s Board of Governors, which carries an annual fee of $6,000. Christian runs the anti-Muslim hate group Global Faith Institute, a group that peddles Islamophobic conspiracy theories while claiming to advocate for “the victims of Islam.” Christian is a former Muslim who converted to Christianity. He joins a cottage industry of former Muslims now disparaging their former faith. Christian is willing to associate with extreme figures in the anti-Muslim network, such as the former FBI agent turned anti-Muslim hate figure John Guandolo. Christian subscribes to the conspiracy theory that Islamic Sharia law is slowly “creeping” into American society.

“Islam has infiltrated all aspects of our life: our schools, churches, media, courts, military and our government,” reads a 2017 Global Faith Institute email to supporters. “Every day we are losing more of our freedom because of creeping sharia law.”

Christian did not answer a request for comment.

CNP’s rosters reveal the membership of other figures known for spreading Islamophobic rhetoric. One is far-right historian William “Bill” Federer, who treads in Islamophobic and anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theories. According to the watchdog and research group Right Wing Watch, Federer once claimed that an “atheist homosexual gay agenda movement” will “open up” the U.S. “to move into an Islamic future.” Federer has been featured at events such as the Values Voter Summit, an annual conference put on by the Family Research Council. Brigitte Gabriel has also spoken at the Values Voter Summit in recent years, including 2018 and 2019. Family Research Council’s executive vice president Jerry G. Boykin is also a member of CNP.

Boykin has a track record of making anti-Muslim remarks, once claiming Islam should not be protected by the First Amendment. Boykin used similar rhetoric in a 2014 news briefing for Policy Counsel, a CNP publication and speaker series to inform the public on a “wide range of topics” and “variety of opinions.” Boykin goes heavy on the anti-Islam rhetoric in the article, which touches on the rise and activities of the terrorist group ISIS at the time. Boykin took issue with former President Barack Obama’s attempts to not conflate the terrorist group with a religion of around 1.8 billion people.

“I think most Americans have figured this out,” Boykin said. “When you say Isis [sic] is not Islam the rest doesn’t really matter because if you are laying out a strategy that doesn’t start with an understanding of your enemy and who you are up against and what motivates him to do what he does the rest doesn’t matter.”

Boykin adds elsewhere: “One of the mistakes that we make about Islam is that only 16% of Islam is actually a religion.” He claims the rest is a legal, geopolitical and military system. Claiming Islam is not a religion – or only part one – is a well-tread trope deployed by Islamophobic figures. “But only 16% is an actual religion,” he said. “And we make the mistake of thinking that it’s exactly like Christianity. It is not.”

CNP’s Policy Counsel includes a disclaimer that views expressed in the articles are not always representative of the coalition. “These views should not be construed as the views of the Council for National Policy, as an attempt to aid or hinder the enactment of any legislation, or as an intervention in any political campaign for public office,” the disclaimer reads.

However, as CNP papers brought to light by Documented reveal, the coalition has advocated for policies steeped in Islamophobia.

Turning interest into action

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Michael Flynn busted showing a fake Statue of Liberty in video asking for donations to sketchy charity

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn (screengrab/@RonFilipkowski/Twitter).

Brandon Gage June 17, 2022

Retired United States Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who briefly served as former President Donald Trump's national security adviser and twice pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation over his foreign contacts during the 2016 election, released a video this week begging Trump followers for money to "help change the course of history."

In the half-minute-long spot, Flynn, an outspoken right-wing conspiracy theorist to whom Trump granted clemency for his crimes after losing the White House to President Joe Biden 2020, said that "by supporting the Save Freedom in America campaign, you are helping change the course of history, and I mean it."

Flynn warned that "if we don't, our liberties and freedoms may be lost forever, and that is no joke. It's serious, and we, as I always say, local action equals a national impact. So get involved in your communities like you've never been involved before."

Flynn added that "if you feel as passionately about saving the freedoms we enjoy as many Americans do, as much as I do, I would like to ask you to join our nationwide effort and donate today."

Watch below via Ron Filipkowski:

The "Save Freedom in America" effort that Flynn referenced does not appear to have a website, and Flynn failed to specify where individuals who want to give their money to Trump-backed causes can go to do so. Instead, users are directed to a FundFreely drive, where they can pledge financial solidarity with "defending the following freedoms:"

Election integrity

Medical tyranny

Border security

Defend yourself [guns]

Parental freedom

Freedom of religion

Freedom to work [unions?]

The absence of any additional information led to suspicions on social media that Flynn's charity may be yet another scam....

flynn unmask BS durham

https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/michael-flynn/

https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/these-christians-are-pushing-back-against-roger-stone-and-michael-flynns-toxic-maga-fundamentalism/

rww random 5 22

clay Clark excitedly announced that Donald Trump Jr. will be joining Michael Flynn and the cavalcade of COVID-19, election, and QAnon conspiracy theorists at an upcoming “ReAwaken America” event in Virginia.

Speaking of QAnon conspiracy theorists, Johnny Enlow is not sure if the Earth is round or flat.

The leader of the group “protecting” a Catholic church from pro-choice protesters last weekend appeared on “The Stew Peters Show” Tuesday night, where he claimed that the protesters were following “literal direct orders from the devil himself.” The individual was identified as “Chad McDowell” on the show, but his real name appears to be Max Bernegger.

Last weekend, Jaden McNeil and Simon Dickerman, two former associates of white nationalist Nick Fuentes, spent more than 4 hours dishing dirt about Fuentes, who subsequently responded with a nearly 5-hour livestream defending himself and attacking his critics.

Finally, a message from white nationalist Vincent James: “We’re going to ban abortion and contraceptives. We’re going to ban gay marriage. We’re going to ban gender studies, and bring JESUS CHRIST back into public schools. You can cry all you want, but there’s literally nothing you can do about it. And you don’t like it, you can move back to the shithole states you destroyed.”

Tags: Clay Clark Donald Trump Jr. Jaden McNeil Johnny Enlow Max Bernegger Nick Fuentes Simon Dickerman Stew Peters Vincent James Leftovers ReAwaken America

ukraine fail

https://www.alternet.org/2022/04/michael-flynn-russia-overtake-ukraine/

https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/michael-flynn/

vax --> zombies

https://www.rawstory.com/1st-amendment-praetorian-2654817031/

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in his letter to the National Archives on behalf of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol on Wednesday, Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), signaled that the committee is interested in learning more about a man named Robert Patrick Lewis.

The letter requests "all documents and communications concerning the 2020 election and relating to Lewis and others as part of a probe into "recruitment, planning, coordination, and other preparations for the rallies leading up to and including January 6th and the violence on January 6th."

A Special Forces veteran and author with combat experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, Lewis founded a group called 1st Amendment Praetorian in September 2020 that provided security for three Washington DC rallies that helped build momentum over the two-month period building to Jan. 6. Lewis has described 1st Amendment Praetorian in an Oct. 11 Facebook post as a "group of military, law enforcement and intelligence community veterans" who "provide pro bono intelligence and security services to patriotic and religious events."

Beyond 1st Amendment Praetorian's role as "demonstration marshals" for the DC rallies that built momentum for Jan. 6, Lewis was also tapped to provide security for retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn during the "Jericho March" from the National Mall to the Supreme Court. A former intelligence director for US forces in Afghanistan who briefly served as national security director under President Trump and was later pardoned after lying about his contact with the Russian ambassador, Flynn emerged in December as a major figure in the campaign to thwart the transfer of power. He endorsed a public call on Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and order the military to conduct a new election.

Flynn's name is also on the list of Trump allies whose communications are sought by the January 6th committee.

"Being on the Personal Security Detail today for many of our personal hero and motivation in this fight — @GenFlynn — takes the cake," Lewis tweeted on Dec. 12. "This man & his family have given so much for this Republic and it's an honor to even share the air he breathes as he keeps us driving the 2nd American Revolution forward."

Lewis voiced similarly militaristic rhetoric elsewhere that day in an interview with Epoch Times affiliate New Tang Dynasty. Commenting on conservatives who felt that their ability to voice support for Trump, express religious feelings and watch an election process that was supposedly rigged, Lewis said, "A lot of people are angry. And so, we've been tracking this on the intelligence side for quite a while as a low-level conflict."

The event permit for the Nov. 14 Million MAGA March at Freedom Plaza, which was secured by Cindy Chafian on behalf of Women for America First, notes that 25 1st Amendment Praetorian members wearing black T-shirts would act as "demonstration marshals."

The group won the praise of Tracy Diaz, an early QAnon promoter who spoke at the event.

"There aren't any words to explain how absolutely life saving the guys of @1st_praetorian are," Diaz tweeted. "They protected us during the March. These are absolute heroes." Diaz's Twitter account has since been suspended.

1st Amendment Praetorian's performance on Nov. 14 appears to have caught the attention of Flynn, who retweeted Diaz, writing, "Thank you @tracybeanz for all you do & @RobertPLewis for your team of professionals." Flynn went on to make a fundraising appeal on 1st Amendment Praetorian's behalf, tagging conservative media personalities Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin.

Lewis returned the compliment to Diaz in a late-night YouTube video filmed from his hotel room, in which he also mentioned providing security for Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander.

"I get to hang out with Tracy Beanz often, which is pretty cool," Lewis said. "We got Ali Alexander — we were tight at the hip with him all day today — and a lot of different conservative influencers."

1st Amendment Praetorian also provided security at the Jan. 5 "Rally to Revival" — likewise listed as 25 "demonstration marshals" wearing black T-shirts in the permit application. The event was organized by Cindy Chafian, apart from Women for America First, which is headed by Amy Kremer. Chafian obtained the permit for the Jan. 5 event, but partnered with Alexander and Brian Gibson, a Kentucky pastor. The eight-hour event was divided into three blocs emceed by the three partners.

Chafian, Alexander, Gibson and Diaz are all on the list of Trump allies, alongside Lewis and Flynn, whose communications members of the January 6th committee want to examine in their effort to understand preparations for the rallies that set the stage for the violence at the Capitol. Others include Trump confidant Roger Stone; InfoWars host Alex Jones; Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio; and Tom Van Flein, chief of staff for Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.). Two individuals on the list — InfoWars host Owen Schroyer and #WalkAway organizer Brandon Straka — face federal charges related to the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol.

Although Lewis had cultivated a prolific social media presence across multiple platforms, Jan. 5 was his first time stepping into the spotlight as a speaker during the series of rallies that mobilized Trump supporters behind the false claim that the election was stolen.

Chafian mentioned 1st Amendment Praetorian as an "organization [that] is near and dear to my heart" in her introduction of Lewis, also giving shoutouts to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, at the Jan. 5 rally on the eve of the storming of the Capitol.

Lewis told the crowd that he was "willing to get up here and walk into danger if we need it, if we need to be there, to make sure that we don't cede this country, and I have my kids grow up in a communist hellhole. And I need each of you to fight as hard as you can to ensure that that does not happen."

Following his public appearance alongside Chafian, Lewis' public profile receded considerably on Jan. 6. But at 2:18 p.m. that day, the 1st Amendment Praetorian leader tweeted: "Today is the day the true battles begin."

Whether Lewis was aware of it or not, only five minutes earlier, Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola had used a stolen police riot shield to bash out a window, breaching the Capitol to allow the first wave of rioters to stream into the building. The incident was live-streamed on Twitter and widely shared.

Lewis told the Daily Beast that he was at the Willard Hotel, which is several blocks away from the Capitol, at the time he made the tweet.

By 5:32 p.m., Lewis had joined a brace of far-right influencers, including Rep. Gosar, in promoting a conspiratorial view that the mayhem at the Capitol was not the work of unnamed bad actors rather than Trump supporters.

"Getting a lot of reports that the Capitol bum rush was staged & not MAGA," Lewis tweeted. "Fits the color revolution play book to a T. Going to look at the @1st_praetorian intel shed, but seems pretty likely — we've already IDd some people we've been tracking."

Lewis could not be reached for this story.

While distancing himself from the assault on the Capitol, Lewis' rhetoric before and after Jan. 6 has remained consistent, reflecting a view that "patriots" need to be prepared to fight against sinister foreign actors that have supposedly infiltrated the US government and civil society.

"Americans are standing up," Lewis announced in an Oct. 11, 2020 Facebook post. "We're taking our country back. We've activated the counter-insurgency."

In a Fox News interview a couple weeks later, Lewis specified a logical adversary in his promised domestic "counter-insurgency."

"Our intelligence shows that no matter who wins the election, they are planning a massive 'Antifa Tet Offensive,' bent on destroying the global order; they are not beholden to any one party," Lewis said. "Their sole purpose is to create havoc, fear and intimidation."

In his Dec. 12 interview with New Tang Dynasty, Lewis vaguely alluded to foreign interference in the 2020 election while warning about potential violence.

"China, Iran, Pakistan — we saw some other outside adversaries that had a part in this — that's my biggest fear is that if they try to do that , if we do come to a point where there's violence in this country, our adversaries will start to come in, and it will be a battleground — the United States," he said. "That's what really worries me the most, because that's when chaos — I was in the Army, I was a Green Beret, so I've been in warzones. I don't want to see that here. I've got a family. I've got kids. I hope we can stop it before it comes to that point. But if we don't, there's a lot of people, they're not gonna go back to sleep, they're not gonna sit down, and they're not gonna allow it to happen."

Lewis' articulated fear in his interview with New Tang Dynasty echoes the central theme of his fiction writing in his 2019 book The Pact II: Battle Hymn of the Republic, described on Amazon.com as following "Rob and the men of ODA 022 from their battles against the invaders (China, Russia, Iran & Hezbollah) in Colorado to joining the resistance to take back the nation."

Meanwhile, Lewis has remained in contact with Flynn.

1st Amendment Praetorian provided security at the QAnon-organized "For God & Country Patriot Roundup" in Dallas on Memorial Day weekend, in which Flynn appeared to endorse a Myanmar-style coup in the United States.

Lewis commemorated the event by tweeting a photo of himself flanked by Flynn and former congressman Allen West holding an "Appeal to Heaven" flag.

1st Amendment Praetorian is actively recruiting military veterans and former law enforcement on its website. The site also includes an "Intel" page that cites "corruption as one of the greatest threats to our Republic," while directing visitors to visit the group's Telegram channel and inviting them to "stay tuned if you want to see the dirty underbelly of the current war for our Republic." But the group's Telegram channel mainly reshares content from QAnon accounts ("TheStormHasArrived17" and "They Praying Medic"), one that promotes Invermectin ("The Library"), and Flynn. A recent Telegram post by "The Library," meanwhile, praises Diaz for "doing groundbreaking reporting on Covid, Invermectin, vaccines & more."

On his personal Twitter account, many of Lewis' posts address the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Reacting to the Kabul Airport bombing on Thursday, Lewis reflected on the advance evacuation from Bagram Airfield, hinting darkly at betrayal by the US military command. If the decision was the result of malfeasance, Lewis tweeted, "get the engineers working on the gallows immediately."

In another tweet in late June, Lewis invoked the idea that an elite force must be willing to deploy "wrath" and "destruction" to "take back" the republic.

"Do you really want to take back and keep this Republic?" Lewis tweeted. "Truly? Because the answer is relatively simple…. But it will require Sunday school, turn the other cheek American Christians & Patriots to turn into Old Testament, full wrath of God, destruction of their house and salt the earth beneath them Christians.

"And it won't take that many of us," he added. "Just the ones who understand & have the temerity to do what needs to be done."

Jordan Green covers right-wing extremism for Raw Story. A Kentucky native, he now lives in North Carolina, where he spent 16 years writing for alt-weeklies and freelancing for the Washington Post and other publications.

Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/4avnxn/qanon-militia-of-ex-cops-and-soldiers-is-training-patriots-for-revolution

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after 15 hours on his feet protecting the attendees at a QAnon conference in Dallas, Robert Patrick Lewis was tired.

But then the former Army sergeant, who did two tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, heard disgraced former national security advisor Michael Flynn speak. Flynn, who himself took the QAnon pledge and has become part celebrity and part spiritual leader to the QAnon faithful, called for a military coup in the U.S., and suddenly he felt invigorated.

So he fired up a YouTube livestream and spoke straight to camera: “We need to talk about a revolution.”

Lewis is a full-fledged QAnon believer and founder of the 1st Amendment Praetorians, named after the elite Roman soldiers who protected the emperor. The group consists of former military, law enforcement, and intelligence personnel whose stated mission is to provide pro bono security for “patriotic and religious events across the country.”

The group was founded last September and has since acted as security for more than a dozen events, as well as providing security for Flynn himself. The QAnon conference—called “For God & Country: Patriot Roundup”—was a perfect fit.

The Praetorians are a new paramilitary organization that Lewis says has grown to “hundreds” of members in just nine months, in almost complete secrecy. It is part of a growing network of right-wing extremists groups who are pushing baseless conspiracies about election fraud, and has direct links to violent militias, notably the Oath Keepers. Now Lewis, a QAnon believer, is helping establish a nationwide network of survivalist training camps to prepare patriots for the coming revolution.

In Dallas on Memorial Day weekend, Lewis’ crew of a few dozen Praetorians didn’t have any threats to deal with other than a couple of journalists—including one from VICE News—who were ejected from the event. But the conference helped boost the Praetorians’ profile, and it helped Lewis make some new friends.

During the event, he posted a picture of himself with Flynn and then-Texas GOP chair Allen West, holding a Pine Tree flag, a Revolutionary War-era emblem that has been appropriated by the far right.

While Flynn called for a military coup, what Lewis says he wants is not bloodshed but a grassroots revolution.

“I feel that we are going through a revolutionary country right now. It doesn't always have to be a kinetic revolution, it doesn't always mean bloodshed in the streets. Revolution can mean a completely different emerging viewpoint for a way of doing or a way of acting, I think that's what we're at,” Lewis told VICE News from his home near Los Angeles this week.

But Lewis’ so-called peaceful revolution is at odds with his rhetoric on social media posts, in online articles, and in interviews on right-wing news stations. His vision of a new American revolution is also infused with conspiratorial thinking and linked to known violent extremists.

In addition to his QAnon activism, Lewis is a COVID-denier who believes that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. He also believes that critical race theory is bogus, and that the mainstream media is in league with the deep state. He believes that Antifa is the greatest threat to U.S. democracy and firmly believes they were behind the Capitol riot on January 6. Lewis says he was in D.C. on the day of the Capitol riot, but there’s no evidence he was part of the group that attacked the Capitol.

Most worrying of all is that Lewis and the Praetorians are coordinating resources and information with more violent groups, far-right militias, and extremists. Lewis says he’s been in contact with Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, a far-right, anti-government militia who provide personal security to Roger Stone and whose members have been charged with conspiring to storm the Capitol.

His contact with Rhodes has stopped since Jan. 6, which is when Lewis claims “the FBI started to frame the Oath Keepers and they went to ground.” While Rhodes has yet to be charged in relation to the Capitol insurrection, he has been named in documents filed by prosecutors, who have charged several other Oath Keepers with conspiring to attack the Capitol.

Lewis says he is in contact with several groups similar to the Oath Keepers, not to coordinate actions but to "share information amongst each other: ‘What are you seeing? Are you seeing what we're seeing ramping up? What are you guys doing?’ It's not coordinating together; it's more like sharing information.”

[News

The Militia That Allegedly Plotted to Kidnap Gov. Whitmer Had a Massive Stockpile of Weapons

TESS OWEN

04.01.21]

The Praetorians also work with a veritable who’s-who of conspiracy theorists, including renowned anti-vaxxer Sheri Tenpenny, who made headlines last week when she claimed COVID-19 vaccines made people magnetic.

And now Lewis is using that network to launch survivalist training for “patriots” across the country, to prepare them for when the revolution finally arrives.

"The people that came to this continent, and were able to form what became the United States of America had to be extremely resilient,” Lewis said. “They came here with what they had, and then everything else to survive had to be created. I feel like we've lost that in our country. My big worry is that if things ever do get really bad, it will be compounded by the fact that people don't know how to take care of themselves.”

Lewis said that as well as working with sheriffs across the country on this project, he is coordinating with Scott Kesterson, a prominent QAnon promoter and podcaster who stole $12,000 from a cancer charity campaign for his dying friend.

Tenpenny and Lee Merritt, an osteopath who is a member of the conspiracy-driven group America’s Frontline Doctors, are also part of this network, which Lewis said would teach people skills like basic medical training and farming.

Lewis’ conspiracy-infused “revolution” is being echoed by conservative groups across the country, including QAnon and the Republican Party, who are using the lie that last November’s election was fraudulent to rally people to action.

As QAnon conspiracies become subsumed as mainstream talking points by the GOP, right-wing figures have begun to amplify calls for followers to leave their computer screens and get involved by infiltrating school boards, joining local Republican parties, and even running for Congress.

[The FBI’s New QAnon Report Is Scary as Hell

DAVID GILBERT

06.14.21]

“It seems like we are going through a great awakening in this country.” Lewis said, echoing one of QAnon best-known phrases.

After Lewis finished his military service in 2009, he tried his hand at writing, publishing a trilogy of titles called “The Pact,” a fictional account of a joint Chinese-Russian-Hezbollah attack on the U.S.

Over the next decade, he also held a number of corporate roles, including working for UCLA Healthcare, and several marketing roles, including with several veteran-owned companies, according to Lewis’ LinkedIn profile.

During this time he was not in the public eye, but in 2019 he said he felt compelled to do something after seeing Vietnam veterans attacked for holding Trump signs.

Lewis couldn’t provide specifics for the incident, but in June 2020, an 82-year-old veteran was pushed to the ground at a Trump supporters’ rally in Fall River, Massachusetts. He was kicked in the ribs and legs by a man who had ripped the sign from his hands, according to the Herald News, a local newspaper.

Lewis initially planned to attend Trump rallies and provide additional support to the private security inside the events by focusing on protecting the people outside the rallies who camped out for days ahead of Trump’s arrival.

Lewis claimed people were being attacked going to and from their vehicles at these events or while they were waiting in line outside, but there are very few reports of incidents like this, and Lewis didn’t provide specifics.

[News

QAnon Follower Who Tried to Steal Arizona for Trump Is Running For Senate

DAVID GILBERT

06.15.21]

But as the pandemic hit, and the rallies were cancelled, Lewis pivoted and launched the Praetorians.

In September, he published his first video talking about the Praetorians, describing them as “a group of military, law enforcement and intelligence veterans who refuse to stand on the sidelines and watch as your countrymen and women are intimidated from expressing their First Amendment rights.”

In the nine months since that video was published, the group has recruited “hundreds” of volunteers to provide security at events, though Lewis would not say what the exact figure is. He also refuses to name any of the individuals who’ve signed up, citing privacy reasons.

While he’s recruited a number of civilians, Lewis says he wants to focus almost exclusively on people from military, law enforcement, and intelligence backgrounds.

“Each of these people have kind of an inculcated foundation of professionalism, and we can depend on them to do the right thing if the pressure ratchets up,” Lewis said. The vetting process is rigorous, according to Lewis, and conducted by a group of private investigators—or “digital ninjas,” as Lewis calls them—who he says thoroughly review people’s backgrounds, including their military records, looking for histories of violence and brushes with law enforcement.

“We don't want people in our group that could possibly cause trouble or be prone to violence or anything like that,” Lewis said.

Lewis says the group is entirely crowdfunded and covers the cost of flights, food, and accommodation for all the volunteers, as well as the purchasing of equipment such as radios, surveillance cameras, and the uniform: black shirts with the white Praetorian logo on them.

The group’s first event, in October 2020, was organized by the Walkaway Campaign, an activist group led by Brandon Straka, a MAGA activist who was once a curtain-raiser at Trump rallies and was arrested for allegedly breaching the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Including that initial event in Washington, Lewis says they provided support for 15 more events before the end of the year, while the Dallas conference was the group’s first of this year.

And at pretty much every event, Lewis had one enemy in mind: antifa, whom he sees as the biggest threat to the U.S.—together with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Lewis has a wild origin story for the anti-facist group. He believes it operated first in Germany before many its way to the U.S. in the last decade, where it has been funded by money from the U.S. government as well as directly from countries like Cuba and China.

Lewis believes there’s a “cadre” of powerful people directing the movement, such as prominent 1970s feminist activist Susan Rosenberg, while the front lines of antifa are often populated with “useful idiots,” such as students or the children of wealthy families.

Like many conspiracy theorists—and many within the Republican Party—Lewis is fully convinced that the attack on the Capitol was conducted not by pro-Trump groups but by antifa.

“We saw at the Capitol on January 6 where they were trying to push people to do violence,” before citing a video he claims shows antifa activists “being led by Capitol Police magically to a door where the magnetic locks were unlocked at the right time.”

Lewis’ entire worldview appears suffused with conspiratorial thinking and he has long expressed support for the QAnon movement, dating back to at least 2018 when he wrote an article called “What is QAnon, Q, and the Great Awakening are Real?” for the Heroes Media Group.

And despite none of Q’s predictions coming true, Lewis’ outlook has not changed. “I think there's more to it, so people are willing to consider,” he said, calling QAnon “profound” and ”enormous.”

[Over 30 Million Americans Believe in QAnon’s Most Outrageous Conspiracy

DAVID GILBERT

05.27.21]

Piling conspiracy on top of conspiracy, Lewis also believes that FBI agents are infiltrating the QAnon movement to spread extreme conspiracies that were not based on Q drops, as part of a plan to discredit the movement—and this, of course, is all being aided by the mainstream media.

Lewis believes QAnon could be a U.S. government-funded operation, but he leaves open the possibility that it’s a disinformation campaign being run by a foreign state—though that, too, has a silver lining.

“If it was a disinformation campaign, it was an abject failure, because you have up to 20% of the population [who have] learned to research on their own and they learned not to believe anything they hear from the media at face value, which is proven very valuable given the large-scale lies we’ve seen from the media.”

TAGGED:

MILITIA DR. SHERRI TENPENNY PARAMILITARY MICHAEL FLYNN SCOTT KESTERSON DISINFO DISPATCH LEE MERRITT PRAETORIANS ROBERT PATRI

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Newly released text messages show Oath Keepers discussing Jan. 6 security for Trump allies: report

An Oath Keepers billboard in Pine River, Minnesota in July 2015, Wikimedia Commons] 10 in logo? bill of r?]

Alex Henderson April 21, 2022

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes is among the 11 members of that far-right militia group that is facing federal seditious conspiracy charges because of their January 6, 2021-related activities. According to Politico reporter Kyle Cheney, a “newly released trove of text messages” shows that “top members” of the Oath Keepers who have been indicted “chatted for days about providing security for some of the highest-profile figures associated with Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the election.”

Rhodes and Florida-based Oath Keeper Kelly Meggs, Cheney reports, “discussed plans to provide security for figures like Roger Stone, Alex Jones, Ali Alexander and Michael Flynn on January 5 and January 6, (2021), describing potential partnerships with other groups and security details.”

“While several members of the group now facing charges notably flanked Stone on January 5 — including Joshua James, who has since pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy — the extent of the Oath Keepers’ work for other figures has been murky,” Cheney explains. “For example, Alexander indicated, in a recent statement, that the Oath Keepers never ended up providing security for him because his own January 6 event was canceled amid the chaos on Capitol grounds. But the group’s conversations reveal an easy relationship among several of the groups and entities now under scrutiny by federal prosecutors and the January 6 select committee.”

Cheney adds, “In one exchange, Meggs — identified by his handle ‘Gator 1’ — indicates he attempted to call Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, after hearing reports he had been arrested on January 4, 2021.”

The text messages, according to Cheney, were “posted” by Ed Vallejo, one of the Oath Keepers facing seditious conspiracy charges.

“Vallejo was stationed at a Comfort Inn in Arlington, VA, where prosecutors say he oversaw the group’s cache of weapons and was prepared to drive it to the Capitol if the fighting grew more intense,” Cheney reports. “Vallejo is seeking release from pretrial detention. Evidence that Meggs had a direct line to Tarrio — whose phone was confiscated by law enforcement and has now been accessed by federal prosecutors — adds new heft to the evidence of coordination among the groups. Prosecutors recently highlighted their interest in a January 5 meeting between Rhodes and Tarrio in a parking garage in Washington, D.C., shortly after Tarrio was released following his January 4 arrest.”

Federal prosecutors, Cheney notes, had “previously disclosed” text messages from Meggs that described “efforts to forge an ‘alliance’ between Oath Keepers, Proud Boys and other groups like the Three Percenters.”

“In the newly released cache of messages,” Cheney reports, “Oath Keepers discuss the possibility of joining Flynn’s security detail. Rhodes noted that he had previously worked with First Amendment Praetorian, a group linked to Flynn, to protect Flynn, as well as with a group assigned to protect pro-Trump broadcaster Alex Jones, who has described relying on a group of retired police officers for his protection on January 6.”

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-military/

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after Donald Trump lost the White House, ex-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and three other current and former U.S. Army officers challenged the vote’s legitimacy and pushed baseless conspiracy claims. Military ethicists say their actions threaten to weaken the public’s faith in democracy.

By ARAM ROSTON, BRAD HEATH, JOHN SHIFFMAN and PETER EISLER in DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas Filed Dec. 15, 2021

During the Afghan and Iraq wars, the careers of two military officers often intersected. Army General Michael Flynn and an Army Reserve colonel named Phil Waldron worked together on secret projects in both countries, Waldron said. When Flynn was appointed to run the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012, Waldron said he worked at the DIA’s clandestine service.

Flynn was an intel expert. Waldron’s specialty was psychological operations, or PSYOPs – targeting foreign adversaries, as an Army field manual describes, “to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately, the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals.”

Now the two military veterans, along with at least two other retired and reserve officers, are engaged in a new mission, this time with a domestic target: They are central to the far-right effort to persuade Americans that the 2020 election was stolen from then-President Donald Trump.

For the past year, Flynn, Waldron and other intelligence veterans have helped propagate some of the outlandish theories undercutting Americans’ faith in democracy. They pitched false accusations to lawmakers and the public about how the election had been compromised, pushed spurious lawsuits to challenge its outcome, and bankrolled efforts to conduct partisan audits of the results. They provided briefings to members of Congress on methods for overturning the election, and worked aside some of the leading actors in Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement.

“I think we’re doing a huge service,” Waldron told Reuters in an interview.

In these efforts, Flynn, Waldron and their colleagues publicly touted their military-intelligence training, arguing that their expertise on the battlefield provided them special insight into alleged election fraud at home in America.

“When retired members of the military, especially senior officers, broadcast wild conspiracies, America’s trust in its military is somewhat eroded.”

Roger Herbert, recently retired ethics professor at the U.S. Naval Academy

The military men’s false assertions are dangerous, said Roger Herbert, a former Navy SEAL captain and recently retired ethics professor at the U.S. Naval Academy.

“When retired members of the military, especially senior officers, broadcast wild conspiracies, America’s trust in its military is somewhat eroded,” said Herbert. “But when those conspiracies contend that the current government of the United States is illegitimate, those primal fears of a standing army ready to turn its guns inward and topple our government are justifiably awakened. In short, these people are doing great harm to the legitimacy and efficacy of our military.”

Flynn did not respond to requests for comment for this article. A Trump spokeswoman did not respond to an interview request about the role military figures have played in his quest to overturn the election.

One Army Reserve officer working with Flynn, Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Raiklin, is now facing an internal Army Reserve investigation over whether he violated Reserve rules against partisan political activity, a military official told Reuters. In an election forum last month in New Hampshire, Raiklin touted his military experience – Special Forces commander, deployments battling the Taliban and the MS-13 gang – to say he has the intelligence wherewithal to find fraud. “So I have a little bit of experience looking at threats, right?” he said.

Raiklin declined to be interviewed.

Waldron says he and the Flynn circle are not using military techniques on Americans. He maintains the actions they are undertaking for Trump don’t undercut American democracy because he’s convinced they are ferreting out voter fraud.

The veterans’ false claims shifted over time. They have pinned Trump’s loss on actions by the Chinese government and voting technology companies, alleged misconduct by U.S. state and local election officials and said hackers had used the internet to change votes after they were cast. They have blamed old-school ballot stuffing, perhaps involving dead voters or Venezuelan interests.

Though bogus, their claims and similar ones propagated by others have had major impact, inspiring Trump followers who participated in the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and providing rhetorical fuel for continued efforts to discredit Joe Biden’s victory. Despite no evidence to support the claims, nearly 6 in 10 Republicans believe the election was stolen, a Reuters/Ipsos poll in October found.

The military-intelligence officers’ battle is part of a larger Republican movement that has led disgruntled Trump voters to endorse threats of violence as a means to regaining power. As Reuters has documented, Trump supporters are waging a campaign of intimidation against election workers around the country. In a review of more than 800 emails, calls and online posts made by backers of the ex-president, Reuters found that some of the military veterans’ theories have been referenced in hostile messages to local election officials and featured in public campaigns attacking the vote’s integrity.

A false claim pushed by Flynn and his cohorts that voting machines were hacked to steal votes from Trump is a common theme in many angry messages. The machines “are rigged to elect only those who care nothing for the people,” said an email accusing election officials in Yavapai County, Arizona, of complicity. Invoking General Flynn by name, the writer added, “every lie will be revealed, every traitor will be punished.”

Efforts by Flynn to help Trump overturn Biden’s victory have been the subject of extensive reporting by a number of U.S. media outlets. The Reuters examination of Flynn and his colleagues provides new details about the origins of the former intelligence officials’ collaboration and the extent to which they worked together in a bid to undo the 2020 election.

The reporting, based on interviews with participants, military ethicists and others, plus an examination of Reuters’ database of threats against election officials, reveals how Flynn drafted Waldron and others to actively contest the 2020 vote. Flynn and his small circle were distinctive because their military credentials provided a patina of respectability to even the most far-fetched claims.

Among the military veterans to play a role in “Stop the Steal” were:

Flynn, Trump’s first National Security Advisor in 2017, who was involved in pushing the most dramatic of conspiracy claims. He urged the president to deploy the military to overturn the election in December 2020, then went on a public speaking campaign sowing doubts about the vote and urging states to conduct their own reviews.

Waldron, who insists Trump won. He gained attention last week when the House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6 riot revealed it was in possession of a PowerPoint presentation he’d shown to U.S. lawmakers outlining methods for overturning the election. Earlier, he lobbied state officials and spoke on rightwing media about his stolen-election theories. Waldron said Flynn drafted him to go public, saying, “No one else can do it. It needs to be done, so go ahead and do it!”

Raiklin, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve who has known Flynn since 2014, when he said they both worked on military intelligence matters. Raiklin is an attorney and a leading promoter of the “Pence card” theory – in which Vice President Mike Pence purportedly could have blocked the January 6 certification by Congress of Biden’s victory.

Seth Keshel, a former Army captain who worked in intelligence and who claimed to have developed statistical models that prove the 2020 election results were fraudulent. After the election, Keshel told Reuters he contacted Flynn on LinkedIn and they began collaborating. Keshel in August released an analysis which he claimed showed Trump won seven states that went to Biden. Trump embraced the claim, saying the report came from a “highly respected Army intelligence captain.”

Keshel told Reuters he stands by that assessment but never called for violence. “Personally, I believe the election was compromised,” he said, adding, “I can’t control anybody else.”

Though they haven’t worked together on every particular, the four have intersected in their efforts, with Flynn the common denominator. Raiklin has said he worked with Flynn. Keshel said he reached out to the general to share his concerns, and the two worked together in the weeks after the election. Waldron said Flynn pushed him to go public with his research.

‘CORRUPTION CURTAIN:’

Keshel’s work helped fuel calls by Trump followers in many states for audits of the election results. His analysis, which provided no documented evidence of fraud, was discredited by political scientists, statistical experts and Republican and Democratic election officials. In a post on Telegram, Keshel himself described his study as “lenient.”

His work nonetheless spurred a torrent of emails to election officials in areas where his analysis suggested fraud. In Pasco County, Florida, a Republican county Trump won, officials were deluged with emails demanding an audit after Keshel’s report. Keshel’s analysis “is literally devoid of statistical validity,” said Brian Corley, the Republican county supervisor of elections. “People just took it as fact.”

The Department of Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the Flynn circle’s activities.

Pauline Shanks Kaurin, a professor of military ethics at the U.S. Naval War College, said a key issue is whether Flynn’s associates are publicly citing their military training to lend legitimacy to a partisan political cause.

“If you’re talking to an audience that cares what General Flynn thinks, and you tell the audience, ‘I did this in this military,’ then they’re more likely to be impressed,” said Shanks Kaurin. She said she was speaking in her personal capacity, not on behalf of her government employer.

Waldron disputes such criticism. “I took an oath to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and I believe that our republic is under attack from foreign and domestic enemies,” he said. “They want to undermine the republic through the election process.”

Earlier this month, a Reuters reporter met with Waldron at One Shot Distillery and Brewing, which he runs on Texas Hill Country’s “Whiskey Trail.” Silver-labeled bottles of rum, vodka and whiskey were on display as Waldron descended the stairs wearing a gray One Shot Distillery t-shirt, with a Glock-19 in a holster fastened to his belt.

Waldron, with an affable bearing and a beard dappled with gray, retired as an Army Reserve colonel in 2016. He said he’s fighting powerful forces in a quest for the truth.

“You talk about PSYOPS,” he said. “The election (voting machine) companies and the media have done the biggest PSYOP on the American people.”

In a series of interviews this year, Waldron vowed he was on the cusp of breakthrough proof the election was stolen. “We are decrypting the satellite packets right now,” he said in January. In October, he cited a “37 terabyte” tranche of data he believed could unmask fraud.

A new mission

Four days after the election, as ballot counts continued in a handful of swing states, the U.S. media projected Biden had won, establishing an insurmountable lead.

Trump refused to concede. That day, November 7, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, then Trump’s lawyer, held a press conference in Philadelphia in which he claimed the result had been swayed by suspect mail-in ballots and votes cast in the names of dead people.

The next day, Waldron said he was on the phone with Representative Louie Gohmert, a Republican from Texas. Waldron, who ran a cyber security company after leaving the military, said he had been researching vote hacking since August; Biden’s victory accelerated his efforts. Waldron said he told Gohmert he had tracked internet traffic routed through a server in Frankfurt, Germany. Votes could be rerouted, too, he told Gohmert. Election officials say this assertion is false, and no evidence for it exists.

Gohmert immediately called Trump, Waldron said. A spokesman for Gohmert declined to comment.

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Two days later, Waldron said, he was on a plane to Washington. “It started getting sporty about then,” he said, with his theories gaining traction.

First he met with Sidney Powell, the lawyer for his old commander, Flynn. Waldron said he met Powell in a hotel conference room that functioned as her headquarters, briefing her in the early morning hours. A lawyer who worked with Powell, Howard Kleinhendler, confirms Waldron was part of the group. Powell declined to comment.

Then Waldron huddled with Giuliani. “We were supposed to have a 10 minute briefing but it went 45 minutes,” Waldron said. When Giuliani said he wanted to discuss voter fraud, Waldron said he pressed upon the former mayor that the fraud was on a larger, and global, scale. “We kept going over it and going over it. He finally came aboard,” he said.

Giuliani did not respond to interview requests. He confirmed in a legal deposition that Waldron shared fraud allegations with him.

“Colonel in the military, great war record,” Giuliani testified. “I’ve had substantial dealings with him and he’s very, very thorough and very experienced in this kind of work.”

By the second week of November, Waldron said he began working closely with Flynn.

After a stellar military career, Flynn was appointed chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency by President Barack Obama, but was fired in 2014, in part because the two clashed over the general’s hardline views on countering Islamic extremism. Flynn became a key 2016 Trump campaign advisor and was installed by the new president as national security advisor. He resigned weeks later after it was disclosed that he had held secret talks with Russia’s ambassador about U.S. sanctions before Trump took office. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about those talks. Trump would eventually pardon him.

In the days after Biden won the 2020 election, Flynn had set up camp at the sprawling South Carolina estate of lawyer L. Lin Wood, another supporter of Trump’s effort to overturn the election.

Wood told Reuters that Flynn and Powell arrived shortly after the election. So did Keshel, then working as a technology salesman. Flynn and Keshel stayed through Thanksgiving, where Flynn carved the turkey.

The group, operating from a sitting room on Wood’s estate, created something of a clearinghouse for election fraud claims. “They all appeared to be working together,” Wood said.

In an interview, Keshel said he spent his time “scanning the numbers and helping write affidavits” for lawsuits Powell was preparing. “There wasn’t a lot of sleep going on there,” Keshel said.

Powell’s lawsuits helped fuel some of the hostility encountered by local officials. Georgia’s Republican governor and secretary of state debunked Powell’s allegations of election fraud, citing audits and recounts affirming the state’s tallies. In response, one angry emailer accused them of resisting further investigation “because of the Sidney Powell lawsuits and vengeance and no other reason. … We know China interfered with this election by remote and shipped mail in ballots.”

A clandestine operative goes public

Three weeks after the election, Giuliani and his associates pushed a new strategy: attempting to persuade conservative state legislatures to simply disregard the election results and declare Trump the winner of their states’ Electoral College votes. The Constitution, Trump’s team argued, granted this power.

With Pennsylvania a focus, Flynn dispatched Waldron to a state Senate hearing held by Republican lawmakers there.

For decades, Waldron had operated behind the scenes. So, he told Reuters, in November 2020 he initially resisted going public with his findings. But he said Flynn and Giuliani pressed him to testify about stolen votes. “Rudy’s team had asked me three times.”

On November 25, wearing a blue jacket, blue shirt, striped tie and blue COVID mask, Waldron appeared in person at the Pennsylvania Senate hearing to air his fraud claims. He cited his military credentials. “I’m a retired Army colonel, 30 years,” he said. Then he claimed all the voting machine technology in the United States could be hacked.

“I took an oath to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and I believe that our republic is under attack.”

Phil Waldron, 30-year military veteran

“Our experts and other academics,” Waldron continued, “believe that up to 1.2 million Pennsylvania votes could have been altered or fraudulent.” Only a “detailed forensic analysis of the actual machines and software will truly show how many Pennsylvania citizens have had their civil rights violated.”

At the end of the hearing, President Trump joined in on the speaker phone. “I’ve been watching the hearing on OAN,” the far-right television news channel, Trump said. “I’m in the Oval Office right now, and it’s very interesting to see what’s going on.”

Waldron said he visited the White House later that day with Giuliani and others. “That was great!” he said Trump told them.

The White House focus turned to pushing Republican-led legislatures in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia to replace Biden electors with those for Trump. “That whole strategy started from that Pennsylvania hearing,” Waldron said.

That same day, Trump pardoned Flynn in the Russia inquiry case.

In the end, no state legislatures swapped out their electors. Now Flynn helped pitch a new plan to Trump.

Election by military might

MILITARY INTEL: Click to hear audio of Army Reserve Lt. Col. Ivan Raiklin introducing himself by citing his military intelligence and legal background to a crowd gathered in Manchester, New Hampshire, last month to hear his claims that the 2020 election result should be reversed.]

On December 17, Flynn told the rightwing cable network Newsmax that the president could use the armed forces to conduct a do-over election in several swing states he lost. Trump, he said, “could take military capabilities and place them in those states and basically re-run an election in those states.”

A day later, Flynn, Powell and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne met with Trump at the White House. They urged the president to deploy the U.S. government to make digital copies of the hard drives in some voting equipment to investigate the machines and conduct recounts in at least six counties, Byrne told Reuters. Trump was receptive to the idea, said Kleinhendler, the lawyer working with Powell, but the government never took those steps. It is unclear why.

At the same time, Army reserve officer Raiklin, a Flynn ally and former Green Beret, was pushing election fraud theories on social media and on rightwing websites. Raiklin describes himself as a constitutional lawyer, but he doesn’t appear to practice that area of law. A Reuters review found he has not argued such a case or written scholarly articles on the topic.

SCREEN TIME: Ivan Raiklin, at right, sharing his vote fraud conspiracies last month.]

On a December 7 podcast and in tweets, Raiklin laid out a plan to reverse the vote, alleging conspiracies involving Pence, intelligence agencies, big tech, China and the postal service. He urged Trump to “activate the emergency broadcast system” and used the hashtag #FightLikeAFlynn. “We the people are going to force this plan on them,” he said.

Raiklin’s efforts drew attention on Twitter. On December 22, Raiklin tweeted a copy of a two-page open memo to Trump, detailing “Operation Pence Card.” The pitch: Pence, acting as “the Representative of the Federal Seat of Government,” would reject votes from states where Trump alleged fraud, flipping the election. The memo was retweeted 23,700 times.

“We the people are going to force this plan on them.”

Army reserve officer Ivan Raiklin]

Raiklin’s conduct is now under government scrutiny. The Army Reserve’s chief spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Simon Flake, said Raiklin’s superiors are “aware of the situation and investigating,” but that privacy rules restrict him from providing details.

Flake added: “The U.S. Army Reserve follows the Department of Defense’s long standing policy in regards to forbidding service member involvement in partisan political campaigns to avoid the perception of DOD sponsorship, approval, or endorsement of any partisan political candidate, campaign, or cause.” Raiklin did not answer questions from Reuters about the inquiry.

On New Year’s Day, Keshel gave an interview carried on YouTube in which he said the election’s results were “definitely irregular” because they disrupted what he said were historical trends in U.S. elections. “I served one tour in Afghanistan … with a primary focus on understanding enemy activity,” he said. Now, he said, his focus is on unearthing the election’s “data irregularities.”

PODCASTS, TWEETS, FORUMS: Ivan Raiklin lays out his case in New Hampshire. Raiklin, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, has worked with former General Michael Flynn to challenge the 2020 election. REUTERS/Brian Snyder]

Conspiracy PowerPoint

In early January, Waldron said he flew to Washington bearing a 36-page PowerPoint presentation he said he helped prepare. Its goal was to convince Congress and the White House the election was stolen and Pence should stop the certification of Biden’s win. This month, the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, produced a copy of that PowerPoint in response to a subpoena.

Waldron’s presentation was called “Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN.” He said he briefed legislators on Capitol Hill on January 5, explaining a document whose recommendations included, “Declare National Security Emergency” and “Declare electronic voting in all states invalid.”

Waldron’s pitch mirrored arguments being made by Trump, who at the time was publicly urging Pence to refuse to certify Democratic electoral votes from a handful of swing states and either declare Trump the winner or not declare a winner at all. Waldron proposed going further, such as deploying U.S. marshals and the military to seize ballots nationwide. “A Trusted Lead Counter will be appointed with authority from the POTUS” to recount all the votes, the PowerPoint said.

HOW TO UNRAVEL AN ELECTION: Pages from a PowerPoint Phil Waldron presented in D.C. this year. The House committee investigating the January 6 riot has obtained a copy. REUTERS/Courtesy Phil Waldron

“US Marshals will immediately secure all ballots and provide a protective perimeter around the locations in all 50 states,” the PowerPoint said. “The federalized National Guard in each state will be supplied detailed processes and be responsible for counting each legitimate paper ballot.”

On January 5, Flynn told a pro-Trump crowd at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., “We will not stand for a lie!” The House committee investigating the January 6 riot has subpoenaed Flynn to testify about his efforts to overturn the election.

A week after the attack, Waldron told Reuters he blamed Pence for the chaos. Pence’s offense, he said, was to refuse to go along with the plans to block Biden’s certification. That was the riot’s primary cause, he said. “You could logically argue that he had more to do with inciting the riot than anyone else on that stage,” he said.

The Secret Service had to evacuate the vice president from the Capitol complex during the riot. Videos show some of the rioters who stormed the Capitol chanting, “hang Mike Pence.”

A spokesman for Pence declined to comment.

Congress’ votes in the early morning hours of January 7 to ratify Biden’s victory brought an end to nearly all of the Trump camp’s efforts in the courts to keep him in power.

“After that, it was pencils down,” said Powell colleague Kleinhendler. “There was just nothing else to do.”

The Flynn circle wasn’t ready to let go.

Arizona audit

Everett Stern, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Pennsylvania who runs a private intelligence firm, said he was approached in April by two Republican political operatives who urged him to gather information on elected officials to help prompt a state audit of the 2020 vote. They also helped connect him with Raiklin, said Stern, who said the operatives told him they were acting at Flynn’s direction. Stern said he declined to take part because he viewed the approach as an “extortion” attempt and alerted the FBI, which said it had no comment.

In Arizona, Republicans in the state Senate pushed for a “forensic audit” of the vote in the state’s largest county.

Arizona’s Senate president, Karen Fann, turned to Florida cybersecurity contractor Doug Logan to do the job. Logan’s firm, Cyber Ninjas, had no experience running audits or elections, though Logan said he had done previous work reviewing 2020 election disputes. Logan told Reuters he wasn’t sure how his company was picked for the task; he said he didn’t submit a proposal until Fann contacted him.

Logan did have connections, though. He confirmed to Reuters he was among those who huddled with Flynn at Wood’s estate after the election. And he received an endorsement from Waldron, who called him “very reputable” in a text message to Sen. Fann before she selected him to run the audit, records released in a public records lawsuit show.

“If you’re talking to an audience that cares what General Flynn thinks, and you tell the audience, ‘I did this in this military,’ then they’re more likely to be impressed.”

Pauline Shanks Kaurin, a professor of military ethics at the U.S. Naval War College]

“We did things the right way,” Logan said. Through a spokesman, Fann declined to comment.

The Arizona Senate audit cost $5.7 million. It was largely financed by Flynn’s team.

Nearly $1 million came from a nonprofit called America’s Future, which until then had been largely dormant, Internal Revenue Service filings show. Flynn now chairs its board. His brother Joe Flynn was a director. And his sister, Mary O’Neill, was executive director.

Joe Flynn declined to comment. O’Neill did not respond to a request for comment.

Michael and Joe Flynn also briefly served as directors of Powell’s nonprofit Defending The Republic, which kicked in $550,000 for the Arizona audit.

Another $3.5 million came from The America Project, whose website features a video from Flynn declaring, “Our great nation was under a new type of attack.” Joe Flynn is one of the nonprofit’s three board members, and Flynn its senior strategic advisor.

The America Project’s chief executive, former Overstock CEO Byrne, told Reuters Flynn “asked me to come down and set this up.” Flynn “is a driving force” to continue fighting the results of the 2020 election, said the group’s operations officer, Carl Johnson. The America Project told Florida regulators it expected to raise $50 million this year, records show. Byrne said the group raised closer to $10 million, mostly from him.

The resulting Arizona audit featured reviewers with little training who scrutinized ballots using procedures that were widely criticized by election experts; Logan defended the auditing work. The review confirmed Biden won.

This November 19, retired captain Keshel and current reserve lieutenant colonel Raiklin were featured speakers at an “election integrity” rally in Manchester, New Hampshire. Citing polls saying a growing number of rightwing Americans believe the election was rigged, Raiklin and Keshel told a crowd of about 75 that their movement is succeeding.

Noting his legal and military intelligence background, Raiklin laid out what he called a “deep state” conspiracy theory of a stolen election. “I connected these dots,” Raiklin told the crowd.

Keshel, now a paid consultant for The America Project, said Trump supporters faced a “two-front war” – auditing the 2020 election and preparing for 2024.

“It sounds a little crazy,” Keshel said. “But I do believe wholeheartedly … that the future will reflect the truth of the 2020 election, that Joe Biden was illegitimately elected.”

Both men received standing ovations.

FIGHTING WORDS: Supporters of President Donald Trump have used virulent language in spreading false fraud claims. Here, a Trump backer at an “Election Security Seminar.” REUTERS/Brian Snyder

REUTERS INVESTIGATES

Additional reporting by Chris Kahn and Brian Snyder

The Election Foxhole

By Aram Roston, Brad Heath, John Shiffman and Peter Eisler

https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/peoples-convoy-fails-to-disrupt-washingtons-roads-meets-with-far-right-congress-members/

no lnx

rww thus trifecta 3 22

the convoy of anti-vaccine-mandate, pro-Trump, and QAnon-conspiracy activists was determined to disrupt Washington, D.C., by circling the Beltway, the 64 miles of highway that’s generally a hellscape for commuters. Organizers of the “People’s Convoy” modeled their efforts after the trucker convoy in Canada that took over downtown Ottawa and shut down the bridge connecting Ontario to Michigan, disrupting trade and business in both countries. U.S. organizers demanded an end to vaccine and mask mandates and an end to the national emergency around COVID-19 that was declared under former President Donald Trump and extended under President Joe Biden.

On Monday, the truck convoy entered the Beltway with instructions to take up two lanes of traffic. By 2 p.m., the convoy was “struggling to occupy one lane of traffic let alone two,” The Daily Beast’s Zachary Petrizzo reported. Regular traffic separated convoy vehicles as it had on Sunday. With diesel hitting $4.75 this week, driving their gas-guzzlers slowly around the Beltway seemed like an expensive effort in futility, especially since D.C. had lifted its mask and vaccine mandate and the Biden administration and Congress had. Brase stated the convoy’s demands to “end the state of emergency, end the vaccine mandates” and to hold “our elected and unelected officials accountable for their actions that led to this,”” the AFCLF representative told Cruz and Johnson. “We have a pendulum that’s swinging from ‘woke’ to ‘the great awakening’.”

Shortly thereafter, a larger group met with Reps. Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Thomas Massie for a “trucker round table” on Capitol Hill. The truckers and adjacent activists complained about rising gas prices, mask and vaccine mandates, critical race theory, and government tyranny, with one trucker calling on the legislators to simply stop funding the government. When one convoy member from Michigan asked how to prevent stolen elections, Gaetz repeated debunked voter fraud claims about the state.

“Michigan, where they waited, the center in Detroit, to see how the rest of the state voted to figure out how many ballots they needed,” Gaetz said. “You want to be very suspicious of federalizing elections. If we federalize elections, then we have the swamp and the Washington, D.C., Beltway telling you how to count votes in Lansing, Michigan.”

Massie decided to focus on mail-in ballots—which Trump baselessly insists was a source of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election—warning that “they may have to find some excuse to go back to mail-in ballots.”

Greene was in agreement. “The last thing you want is the federal government to be involved in your election,” she said.

Gaetz tried to wrap up the questions, joking that if the group stayed over its allotted time in the room he reserved, they would be accused of “an insurrection.”

“We don’t want to be accused of that,” Greene said. “It’s frowned upon here.”

The meeting with far-right members of Congress and the focus on the Big Lie from a convoy demanding an end to COVID-19-related mandates might be surprising to those just tuning in. But the rhetoric exhibited on rally stages and social media throughout the convoy’s two-week trek across the country and the organizations supporting the convoy have always indicated that this was never just about public health mandates.

A new report from the nonprofit research organization Advance Democracy, Inc., details the ties that three organizations supporting the effort have to the so-called Stop the Steal movement, whose massive rallies to overturn the 2020 presidential election attracted many of the same elements featured in the People’s Convoy.

AFCLF, whose representative met with Cruz and Johnson, has faced scrutiny over its connections to dubious efforts to overturn 2020 election results in Michigan. It claims to have raised more than $1.6 million for the convoy as of Monday, but it’s unclear how that money has been used.

The People’s Convoy also partnered with Freedom Fighter Nation on strategic and logistical planning, Brase, the convoy organizer, said on a Feb. 12 livestream.

“We don’t want to end up on the news for weird money stuff, we’re making sure that accountants and attorneys are handling it personally through freedomfighternation.org. They have helped set up a lot of this infrastructure. They are working with us one on one to help guide us,” Brase said.

Freedom Fighter Nation is led by Leigh Dundas, a COVID-19 and election conspiracy theorist who was seen near the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection. The day before the attack, she told Trump supporters at a D.C. rally that they would be “well within our rights to take any alleged American who acted in a turncoat fashion and sold us out and committed treason, we would be well within our rights to take ’em out back and shoot ’em or hang ’em, because that is what we did when they tried to overthrow our government by way of assassinating Abe Lincoln, and it is not too good of an end for the guys who sold out our government on our own soil.” Dundas and Chris Marston of AFCLF say they are https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/03/04/peoples-convoy-donations-fraud-afclf

Before the convoy left from California to make its way across the country, it was also supported by The America Project, an organization founded by election conspiracy theorists Mike Flynn and Patrick Byrne.

The organization frequently promotes election fraud claims and contributed $3.2 million to fund the 2020 election audit in Maricopa, Arizona. The group was listed as a supporter of the convoy in a Feb. 20 press release, but by Feb. 23—when the convoy began its trip and...Byrne announced The America Project was “stepping away” from the convoy, alleging that it had been “penetrated by the left.” The convoy—which an estimated 1,000 people committed time and money to join—doesn’t appear to be penetrated by the left in the least bit.

At a Sunday night convoy rally in Hagerstown, Maryland, speakers railed against tyranny, stolen elections, and the mainstream media. QAnon conspiracy theorists ...;Christian nationalists, members of the Proud Boys hate group, and likened the rally to a “county fair,” with music, food, and speeches building community and connections among factions of the fringe right-wing.

The convoy continues its Beltway circling this week. It has yet to be as successful as its Canadian counterpart in bringing gridlock to the nation’s capital, but it has served a purpose for far-right organizers, attracting Republican star power and bringing activists from different factions of the movement together under the banner of “freedom.”

Tags: Marjorie Taylor Greene American Foundation for Civil Liberties and Freedom Freedom Fighter Nation People's Convoy

toby ziegler's pro military nephew let him and kraken into white house; meadows yanked his privs

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/michael-flynn-us-constitution-creator/

does not understand const

https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/michael-flynn-falsely-claims-the-word-creator-appears-in-the-constitution-four-times/

an 222

former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is among the far-right MAGA Republicans who tried to help former President Donald Trump carry out a coup d’état and overturn the 2020 election results. Flynn envisioned the U.S. military playing a prominent role in the coup, and according to New York Times reporter Robert Draper, he is still promoting the Big Lie a year into Joe Biden’s presidency.

Flynn, in fact, wanted Trump to declare martial law during the post-election lame duck period of late 2020/early 2021 — a terrifying thought in light of how bloody the military coup in Myanmar has been.

“While (attorney Sidney) Powell was pursuing legal options for reversing the election results,” Draper explains in an article published by the Times on February 4, “Flynn was beginning to envision a military role. ‘It’s not unprecedented,’ Flynn, describing the nascent plan, insisted to the Newsmax host Greg Kelly on December 17, (2020). ‘I mean, these people out there talking about martial law, like it’s something that we’ve never done. Martial law has been instituted 64 times, Greg,’ he said, then added, ‘I’m not calling for that.’”

Draper continues, “But by that point, Flynn was, in fact, calling for sending in the military to the contested states.”..

no twt lnx

The Times reporter adds that Patrick Byrne, former CEO of the e-commerce site Overstock.com and a right-wing activist, “told me that by December 16, he had lined up a series of options for the president to consider, including using uniformed officials to confiscate voting machines and ballots in six states. Flynn suggested to Byrne that the National Guard and U.S. marshals in combination would be the most suited to the job.”

In the weeks that followed, Draper notes, Flynn “continued to agitate for military intervention.”

Now, in 2022, Flynn continues to promote the false and totally debunked claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and that Biden wasn’t legitimately elected. In MAGA World, Draper writes, “Flynn is probably the single greatest draw besides Trump himself.”

Draper observes, “Flynn possesses unique credibility among the ex-president’s followers, with his own compelling storyline: that of a distinguished intelligence official who, he claims, experienced first-hand the nefariousness of the Deep State…. In the year since Flynn sought to enlist the military in overturning the election, he has continued to fight the same battle by other means. He has been a key figure in spreading the gospel of the stolen election.”

According to Amnesty International, almost 1500 people have been killed in Myanmar since the military coup — a coup that Flynn has described as something the U.S. should emulate.

Draper notes, “Flynn’s suggestion at a conference last May that a Myanmar-style military coup ‘should happen’ in the United States led Rep. Elaine Luria, a moderate Democrat from Virginia and former Navy commander, to argue that Flynn should be tried for sedition under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”

he gives permission for wingnuttery?

https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/qanon-influencers-are-urging-followers-get-involved-locally-and-school

many lnx vod

QAnon influencers are urging followers to get involved locally and with school boards

WRITTEN BY ALEX KAPLAN

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM DANIL CUFFE, KAYLA GOGARTY & CLARA MARTINY

PUBLISHED 01/26/22

This past summer, a woman named Anna Desenze -- an anti-masker who has expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory -- spoke at a school board meeting in Broward County, Florida. While railing against a school mask mandate, she falsely claimed that “there’s so much science out there that proves that the masks are more harmful than anything else” and that ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine can effectively treat the coronavirus. She later made similar claims at another school board meeting in October.

In July, the hosts of the MatrixxxGrooove Show, a show dedicated to QAnon, noted that Desenze was a listener of the show and claimed that they had encouraged her to take action. She’s “actually thanking us for her getting out there,” a co-host of the show said. They also posted and hyped the clips of her school board rants on Telegram.

intheMatrixxx Desenze post2

Similarly, in September, a group of anti-mask protesters disrupted a closed meeting of a California school board, forced it to adjourn, and then voted themselves in as new members without any legal basis. One of the protesters, a man named Derek Greco, was named president of the new (illegitimate) school board.

Days before that meeting, Greco had posted a video on Facebook featuring QAnon show host Scott McKay claiming that he had been texting with Greco and that Greco had invoked a post from “Q,” the central figure of the conspiracy theory, while speaking before a city council meeting. Greco -- who has also posted a video about “the Great Awakening,” a QAnon-connected phrase -- wrote that he had met McKay in June and that he had “forever changed my view on how to address these issues in our local governments.”

McKay in turn posted praise for Greco’s school board takeover, writing, “This is where the war is being fought today.” And on his show, McKay claimed that Greco credited the QAnon show host for his actions at the school board meeting. McKay added that Greco “showed you how it works,” in that “you go after these milquetoast pussies and cowards, the dumbest people in America, on these school boards.” McKay declared, “It’s training ground for the city councils. It’s training ground for the town councils. It’s training ground for these city commissioners.”

CitationFrom a stream of Patriot Streetfighter uploaded on Rumble on September 13, 2021

In November, McKay posted an “update” from Greco about “taking over the school board,” claiming the government had “weaponized law enforcement against parent’s asking questions” and asking for help contacting other QAnon influencers.

Desenze and Greco’s actions appear to be part of an effort among QAnon influencers to get supporters more involved with local office elections and school boards. Michael Flynn, a QAnon-supporting former national security adviser for then-President Donald Trump, seems to have played a major role in spurring the movement, which appears to have already shown signs of impact.

In May, Flynn urged followers in a Telegram post to “get involved,” “take responsibility for your school committees or boards,” and “run for local, state and/or federal office.” He also added that “local action = national impact” (the MatrixxxGrooove Show used a similar phrase when it posted about Desenze at the school board meeting). Over the coming months, Flynn continued to make the case for people to take “local action” for a “national impact.”

Flynn May post

Soon after Flynn’s call in May, attorney Sidney Powell also urged supporters to get involved locally. (Powell advised Trump’s legal efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and also has extensive QAnon ties.) During a QAnon conference in May, Powell told attendees that “there are no military tribunals that are going to solve this problem for us” and “it’s going to take every one of us rolling up their sleeves.” She also specifically called for people to target school boards as part of this local effort.

And in July, Lin Wood, another QAnon-supporting attorney involved with Trump’s election efforts and who unsuccessfully ran for chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, called for followers to “live local and take local action” and to “assemble and protest local school boards mandating masks or worse for our children.”

A number of QAnon influencers have since called for local action, such as telling people to go “to your school board meetings and demand they remove mask mandates and critical race theory.”

In August, “QAnon John,” the influencer who organized the May conference that Powell (and Flynn) attended, wrote that Flynn’s call was “VERY important.” An administrator for QAnon John’s group The Patriot Voice urged others to “get loud and in the face of school boards, city councils, county commissioners, [and] state reps.”

Zak Paine, a QAnon show host who participated in part of the January 6 insurrection, urged his listeners to “please consider running for school board,” adding, “Start going to the meetings and once you’re at the meetings, then you can start learning how they do their business and then you can go ahead and run for school board yourself.”

CitationFrom the October 28, 2021, edition of RedPill78

Jim Watkins -- the QAnon-supporting owner of 8kun, the site where Q posted -- argued that Q’s plan was “no more” and agreed with Flynn to “take action locally” instead. A major QAnon forum also added a banner featuring text from Flynn’s May post.

In October, a major QAnon Telegram channel even posted a link to an article on how to join a school board, calling it “food for thought” because “this nation ain’t gonna save itself.”

QAnon school board link post

The influencers’ calls may be showing signs of impact, with some QAnon supporters claiming they’ve taken action in response. Some wrote that they were “running for school board” or were “in charge of my kids school board now.” Others wrote that they were helping to get “citizens involved on every level...city/county government, election boards, school boards, etc.,” or that they were “going to keep going every month” to school board meetings to attack mandates, noting that sometimes they were one of the few people there. “GhostEzra,” a neo-Nazi QAnon influencer, encouraged followers to run for office; in response, several said that they were “thinking about running for school board” or other offices like city council, including one follower who appeared to be a poll worker who was called as a “witness” by the Arizona state legislature following the 2020 presidential election to push voter fraud claims.

In response to a link shared in a QAnon channel about how to run for school board, users wrote that they “needed this” and asked for “a guide on how to become part of your city council and how to be appointed or elected to your county’s election board” as well. One follower of a QAnon influencer also bragged that she had joined her town council in West Virginia after encouragement from the influencer, sharing a video of herself being sworn in.

QAnon supporter school board post6

Some QAnon shows have also highlighted what they claim are signs of impact. The MatrixxxGrooove Show highlighted a video of a QAnon-supporting follower of the show making false claims about vaccines at a board of supervisors meeting in California and saying that “nothing can stop the awakening of humanity.” The man wrote that he credited the show’s hosts and Michael Flynn “for giving me the courage to do this,” with the hosts on the show urging Flynn to share the video and claiming that they had sent it to his brother. (Flynn did share the video as well, repeating his “national impact” slogan.)

CitationFrom the November 17, 2021, edition of the MatrixxxGrooove Show

Another QAnon show, SGT Report, has also featured an interview with an Ohio man who “read [his] school board the riot act, the legal riot act,” over mask mandates, and the man credited the show for his action. The host said the incident was part of “a great awakening,” and the man invoked Flynn’s “national impact” line for inspiring his strategy.

Video file

CitationFrom a stream of SGT Report uploaded on Rumble on November 17, 2021

There have also been multiple reported instances of school board members and candidates supporting QAnon in Colorado, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. (While responding to a question about her QAnon posts, the Michigan school board member falsely claimed, “There’s no such thing as QAnon.” She was echoing Q’s call from late 2020 urging followers to stop using the term “QAnon” and to instead deny its existence.) A Rhode Island woman who invoked the QAnon slogan -- “where we go one, we go all,” or “wwg1wga” for short -- formed an anti-critical race theory group to target her school committee and wrote that she planned to “run for school committee.”

Other people who have expressed support for QAnon have also been elected around the country or tried to run for office, such as Tracy “Beanz” Diaz, one of the first people to popularize QAnon, being elected to a position in the Horry County, South Carolina, Republican Party, and QAnon supporter Gene Ho unsuccessfully running for mayor of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The QAnon community’s focus on school boards was also noted at QAnon John’s follow-up QAnon conference in Las Vegas in October. While discussing how attendees could get more involved, the conference’s emcee said, “What's happening in the school boards is magic.” The National Education Association, a labor union, also warned in June about QAnon school board candidates as an increasing issue nationally.

Citation From the "Patriot Double Down" QAnon conference in Las Vegas on October 23, 2021

In addition to the “local action equals national impact” plan, the QAnon community has also embraced a plan called the “precinct strategy” to sign up as Republican precinct committee members -- who are involved with election activities -- which multiple QAnon supporters have also since done. Others on the far-right have also focused on local positions as a strategy for consolidating power and gaining influence in recent months.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/in-the-mueller-report-erik-prince-funds-a-covert-effort-to-obtain-clintons-e-mails-from-a-foreign-state

erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater, a former private-security company embroiled in controversy surrounding its use of lethal force against civilians in Iraq, makes a strange cameo appearance in the redacted version of the Mueller report, which was released on Thursday morning. Prince, who is the brother of Betsy DeVos, the Secretary of Education, is described as having provided some funding for a secretive effort to obtain Hillary Clinton’s private e-mails from shadowy operatives working on the so-called dark Web.

According to the report, Prince “provided funding to hire a tech advisor to ascertain the authenticity” of e-mails that conservative activists had obtained. Prince, who was interviewed by the special counsel’s team, said that the cache of e-mails in question turned out to be fakes.

The report, however, details a strange effort by Trump-campaign associates to hack into Clinton and the Democrats’ e-mail accounts that paralleled the Russian plot. According to Mueller, the effort began as early as December, 2015, and ramped up after Trump publicly declared, on July 27, 2016, that he hoped Russia would “find the thirty thousand e-mails that are missing” from Clinton’s private e-mail server. Mueller and his team never interviewed Trump, but the retired lieutenant general Michael Flynn, the campaign aide whom Trump later appointed his national-security adviser, told them that Trump repeatedly asked to get Clinton’s e-mails. According to the report, Flynn tried to do this by contacting multiple people who might be able to supply them, including two well-placed conservative operatives, Peter Smith and Barbara Ledeen.

Smith, an investment banker and Republican donor, had helped finance an investigation of Bill Clinton’s sexual relationships in Arkansas, leading to the 1993 Troopergate scandal. Ledeen, a Republican Senate staffer, worked for Chuck Grassley. Grassley was then the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and one of the fiercest defenders of Trump and critics of the Russia investigation. Barbara Ledeen’s husband, Michael Ledeen, had co-authored a book with Flynn. A spokesman for Grassley’s office described Barbara Ledeen’s efforts as her private pursuit, rather than an official effort undertaken by the senator’s office.

In December, 2015, Ledeen e-mailed Smith a proposal to obtain Clinton’s private e-mails, which, she claimed, “were classified” and had been “purloined by our enemies.” According to Mueller’s report, the proposal claimed that the “Clinton email server was, in all likelihood, breached long ago,’ and that the Chinese, Russian, and Iranian intelligence services could ‘re-assemble the server’s email content.’ ” In an account of Ledeen’s efforts, the Guardian cited notes by federal investigators that said her motive was concern for the well-being of her children, who have served in the U.S. military, and whose safety, she suggested, could have been undermined if Clinton’s e-mails had fallen into hostile governments’ hands. But, in her e-mails to Smith, as revealed by the Mueller report, Ledeen appears more focussed on partisan politics. She writes, “if even a single email was recovered and the providence [sic] of the email was a foreign service, it would be catastrophic to the Clinton campaign.”

The report shows that, though Smith declined to participate in the project at first, Ledeen went ahead and obtained a cache of e-mails. After Trump publicly called for help in getting Clinton’s e-mails, Smith initiated his own effort and circulated information about it to members of Trump’s campaign. According to Mueller’s report, in August, 2016, “Smith sent an email from an encrypted account with the subject ‘Sec Clinton’s unsecured private email server’ ” to recipients including the Trump-campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis. Smith reported that he was involved in efforts “to poke and probe on the above,” and that the Clinton’s server had been “hacked with ease by both State-related players and private mercenaries.”

Smith set up an L.L.C. for the project and structured it as an “independent expenditure group” that, under campaign law, could not coördinate with the Trump campaign, yet Smith circulated e-mails saying that his initiative was “in coordination with” the Trump campaign “to the extent permitted” by the law. The New Yorker obtained a document from Smith, from September, 2016, in which he claimed that he was working with the Trump-campaign representatives Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Sam Clovis, and Michael Flynn, and also with the Republican National Committee, Judicial Watch, Citizens United, and the conservative activist James O’Keefe. There is no evidence that any of these individuals were, in fact, working with Smith. But the Mueller report’s depiction of Smith, Ledeen, Flynn, and Prince’s efforts suggests that Trump and his immediate campaign orbit were deeply intent on obtaining Clinton’s private e-mails during the period when Russia was hacking into them.

In September, 2016, Smith and Ledeen rejoined forces, at which point Prince provided some of the funding for the operation. Mueller’s team obtained files from Smith’s computer showing that Smith had documents that WikiLeaks had stolen from the computer of the Clinton campaign chairman, John Podesta, though Mueller found no conclusive evidence that Smith had obtained the stolen files prior to WikiLeaks’s public release of them. (Smith died in May, 2017, in what was ruled a suicide.)

In his remarks prior to releasing the report, Attorney General William Barr stressed that it is not criminal to disseminate stolen information, such as the e-mails that the Russians hacked from the Democrats during the 2016 campaign, so long as those spreading the stolen information were not involved in the initial theft. It appears that the Attorney General’s definition of the criminal law was narrow and careful for a reason—many Trump-campaign supporters were involved in tiptoeing right up to the line.

https://www.alternet.org/2022/01/michael-flynn/

Retired army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn's allies reportedly planned to gather "intelligence" on Republican electors in key states former President Donald Trump lost in hopes of distancing them from the election audits, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and House Select Committee investigators have learned. GUK

Former whistleblower Everett Stern recently spoke with the investigating panel and FBI agents where he shared details about Flynn's associates.

Speaking to The Guardian, Stern, head of the Tactical Rabbit intelligence firm and a current Senate candidate, also revealed Flynn's allies reached out to him. He reportedly provided evidence, which included text messages, emails, and other correspondence to support his claims.

The individuals he was in contact with included Velma Anne Ruth, along with two additional Flynn allies: Al Hartman, a real estate mogul in Houston, Texas, and former army Green Beret Ivan Raiklin, both of whom advocated for election audits in multiple states.

Two of Flynn's associates, who are said to be part of a far-right extremist organization known as the Patriot Caucus, were the first to approach him back in April of last year. At the time, they were reportedly part of a "scheme to seek potentially damaging information on two Republican members of Congress to prod them to back an audit of the 2020 vote that Joe Biden won."

Stern revealed Flynn's associates were in search of incriminating campaign financial information and other negative intel on Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.), who both supported Trump's impeachment. They'd reportedly hoped the dirt would be a way to convince Toomey Fitzpatrick to support Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud which suggested that President Joe Biden's election win was illegitimate.

Per The Guardian:

"The efforts by Flynn’s Patriot Caucus allies were launched after Trump failed to block Biden from taking office, and are part of a wider drive by Trump loyalists and Flynn to help boost Trump’s political fortunes via more state audits nationwide into false charges that Biden’s win was rigged, and elect like-minded candidates in key states to top electoral offices."

Although Stern reached out to the FBI last June, it remains unclear whether or not the agency is still pursuing the allegations.

emptywl no lnx

SIDNEY POWELL IMPLICATES BARBARA LEDEEN IN HER EFFORT TO UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY

November 17, 2020/42 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, 2020 Presidential Election /by emptywheel

Yesterday, GA’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger used various means to push back on the Republicans who were trying to cheat to win. In addition to a genuinely useful thread from Erick Erickson debunking one after another conspiracy theory about GA’s vote, he gave an interview to the WaPo detailing how his Republican colleagues have been pressuring him.

He called Doug Collins (who, remember, campaigned with all the Trump felons) a liar.

The normally mild-mannered Raffensperger saved his harshest language for Rep. Douglas A. Collins (R-Ga.), who is leading the president’s efforts in Georgia and whom Raffensperger called a “liar” and a “charlatan.”

Collins has questioned Raffensperger’s handling of the vote and accused him of capitulating to Democrats by not backing allegations of voter fraud more strongly.

[snip]

“I’m an engineer. We look at numbers. We look at hard data,” Raffensperger said. “I can’t help it that a failed candidate like Collins is running around lying to everyone. He’s a liar.”

More alarmingly, Raffensperger described Lindsey Graham suggesting he should throw out entire counties of legally cast votes.

Raffensperger also said he spoke on Friday to Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has echoed Trump’s unfounded claims about voting irregularities.

In their conversation, Graham questioned Raffensperger about the state’s signature-matching law and whether political bias could have prompted poll workers to accept ballots with nonmatching signatures, according to Raffensperger. Graham also asked whether Raffensperger had the power to toss all mail ballots in counties found to have higher rates of nonmatching signatures, Raffensperger said.

Raffensperger said he was stunned that Graham appeared to suggest that he find a way to toss legally cast ballots. Absent court intervention, Raffensperger doesn’t have the power to do what Graham suggested because counties administer elections in Georgia.

“It sure looked like he was wanting to go down that road,” Raffensperger said.

As a number of people have pointed out, it’s a crime under GA law to solicit election fraud.

Meanwhile, Sidney Powell continues her effort to drum up support for undermining democracy. In a tweet this morning, she included Lindsey Graham staffer Barbara Ledeen among her co-conspirators.

In addition to working with Mike Flynn to try to reach out to hostile foreign governments in hopes they had hacked Hillary’s emails, Ledeen’s spouse, Michael, was the first person Flynn called when he was trying to figure out how to undermine sanctions on Russia.

Ledeen is, in spite of those glaring conflicts, the key staffer behind Lindsey’s efforts to undermine the Russian investigation. That suggests she’s also a key staffer behind Lindsey’s decision to ignore how DOJ has altered documents in Bill Barr’s effort to undermine the prosecution of Powell’s staffer.

I honestly believe that Lindsey does all this because his mind has rotted and people like Ledeen have told him so many lies he believes it. But now he’s entering a potentially criminal racket.

Tags: Barbara Ledeen, Brad Raffensperger, Doug Collins, Lindsey Graham, Sidney Powell

capt 619

html improperly revealed

wacko? boosted sidney kraken and qanon

gen bro no nat'l guard 1/6 willard hotel wAR ROOM?

recall NO ONE HAS INVESTIGATED RUSSIA COLLUSION?

he got pardon

kraken spec ops rescue haspel?

according to The Daily Beast, the latest Make America Great Again (MAGA) intraparty feud involves Trump-loyalist and conspiracy-driven attorney Lin Wood and former U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Although Wood has a reputation of backing far-right conservatism and conspiracy theories, most recently, he has faced deep scrutiny for attacking other well-known conservative figures and releasing incriminating audio clips.

During a recent segment of the podcast Fever Dreams, co-host Will Sommer shed light on the clash between Wood and Flynn. Per Sommer's report, the controversy surrounding Wood escalated when he released audio clips of Flynn. The incriminating audio reportedly featured Flynn's deeply critical remarks about the "pro-Trump conspiracy theory" QAnon being a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-backed plot.

In wake of Flynn's remarks, Sommer noted that “QAnon’s been very good to Michael Flynn. Some of them believe he’s Q… I mean this is a guy who is thick as thieves with QAnon. But privately, [he calls it] a ‘CIA operation. It’s nonsense.’ So this is a pretty big break from what he does publicly.”

The whole ordeal has contributed to a domino effect of other issues. Per The Beast: "As a result, pro- and anti-Flynn factions inside QAnon have been ripping into each other on Telegram and other right-wing social media platforms."

Sommer also expounded on the aftermath describing it as a form of "civil war."

“This has basically started a big civil war… including, I should say, the JFK Jr. people in Dallas. So they’ve all sided with Lin," Sommer said. "Michael Flynn, obviously, has his own adherents—but this has really, like, started a lot of drama."

He added, “They’re calling it a civil war but maybe it’s more like a prison riot… this has also set off a lot of people who have beefs with people on the other side, but that are totally unrelated to this. But now they’re seeing this as their opportunity to settle scores with their rivals… things are all on fire over there.”

an 12 21

Michael Flynn is always in the news for the worst reasons.

Today, it’s because of the former Trump advisor’s feud with Lin Wood and the leaking of text messages and audio recording during which he calls QAnon “total nonsense” as well as a CIA psy-op. Last time, he was calling for a single religion in the United States. Time before that, QAnon members accused him of being a Satanist for a sermon at a church drawing from a former New Age apocalyptic leader.

Next time, it may be for something worse. In any case, everything Flynn has been doing suggests that QAnon or not, his audience, his rhetoric and his goals are far more concrete and far more sinister than the mocking media coverage suggests. Let’s start in September.

On September 17, Flynn was at the “Opening the Heavens” Conference at the Lord of Hosts Church in Omaha, Nebraska. That event claimed to be “an annual, multi-day event where the prophetic heart of God and the manifestation of His supernatural power are demonstrated to those in attendance and [those] viewing online around the world!”

READ: 'Intentional deception': Mark Meadows releases damning details about Trump ahead of hearing with Jan. 6 panel

Flynn spoke alongside a number of “prophetic” pastors, including Gene Bailey, executive director of Kenneth Copeland ministries, whose spiritual warfare preaching got the heavy-metal treatment last year.

Flynn’s speech made news due to QAnon’s reaction to it. It was said to be Satanic, ironic given QAnon’s resemblance to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. Flynn’s speech resembled a 1984 sermon by Elizabeth Clare Prophet, founder of the Church Universal and Triumphant, a New Age apocalyptic group best known for their move to bunkers in Montana to await a prophesied nuclear apocalypse in 1990. Not only was it a failed doomsday cult, but it was a theosophic movement, something associated with Lucifer by its 18th-century founder.

Flynn said he felt called to St. Michael, the archangel and his namesake. While the link between Prophet and Flynn is interesting, the text of Flynn’s “Archangel Prayer” is all by itself not so great:

We are your instrument

Of those sevenfold rays

And all your archangels, all of them

We will not retreat, we will not retreat

We will stand our ground

We will not fear to speak

We will be the instrument of your will

Whatever it is

In your name, and in the names of your legions

We are freeborn, and shall remain freeborn

And we shall not be enslaved by any foe

Within or without

So help me God.

READ: The Supreme Court shows off its contempt for women

“Seven rays” is a concept used in theosophy and in the Summit Lighthouse. Prophet’s prayer to Archangel Michael, which people have compared Flynn’s sermon, is not only part of the theosophic movement, but an aggressively anti-Communist talk, ending:

Archangel Michael, Stand with me!

Save my child!

Save my household!

Save my nation and bind those Communist hordes!

Others can analyze the I AM movement and its issues, but the use of militant religious language and the comparison to an aggressively apocalyptic, anti-Communist doomsday cult is bad enough.

Then in early November, Flynn and Wood had a series of exchanges -- people have focused on the audio recording of Flynn calling QAnon a CIA disinfo operation — but more worrying was the fact that he told Wood, on November 3, to read an article proving QAnon is a fraud.

READ: Democrats will have a 'boatload of material' to use against 'unhinged, out-of-step' Republicans in 2022: conservative

Why more worrying? Because it was written by Hal Turner, a neo-Nazi radio host who’s promoted various QAnon conspiracies and served time for threatening elected officials -- he advocated murder repeatedly. The article is incredibly scary. It included this passage:

The Trump Anon believers want SOMEBODY ELSE to do it for them. Well, I’ve said this before and I will say it again now: Nobody is coming to save them/us. Nobody is coming to save the country. If you want something done, you gotta do it yourself. And until someone (but not me) decides that it is finally time to throw away all the comforts of this life, and brutally slaughter the people who are doing all these things, (and by “slaughter” I mean exactly that) then all these things will continue, unabated, to the destruction of our country and our oh-so-comfy lives.

This is standard Turner fare -- to preserve white nationalist power, people have to murder others, including elected officials -- but to have someone with Flynn’s background and his elite status within QAnon conspiracy and other movements promoting it is infinitely more terrifying than the entertainment value of seeing him bashing QAnon.

A week later Flynn and Wood were in Springfield, Missouri, at a “Preserving America” event billed as “Come and listen to America’s tier-1 patriot speakers and learn about preserving America under the Constitution.” Outside of the Springfield News-Leader, it garnered little press -- but one local sheriff attending claimed he had, “A great conversation with General Flynn. He wanted me to know the American Sheriff is the last line of defense for our freedom. I agree!”

READ: The real history of US anti-abortion politics began in 1662 — and is bound to the legacy of slavery

Flynn has spoken with Richard Mack for the “Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association” podcast, an anti-government extremist group that works to recruit sheriffs into the “patriot” militia movement. The comment should be taken in that light.

Then there is Flynn’s ongoing “Reawaken America” tour, the most recent news items before the Wood blowup. On November 13, the tour was at the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, John Hagee’s church.

Hagee is an apocalypse minded Christian Zionist and his son and executive pastor of the church, Matt, was on stage for the event. The “Reawaken America Tour,” a QAnon speaking tour, has numerous pastors presenting -– Dave Scarlett, Mark Burns, Phil Hotsenpiller, Leon Benjamin, Greg Locke, Jackson Lahmeyer, Brian Gibson among them. All have pushed the Big Lie and Christian Nationalism.

On stage, Flynn said, “if we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God.” The clip got widespread media play, but it is much more important in that broader context. “Reawaken America” has events in Dallas in December at Elevate Life Church in Frisco, where Pastor Keith Craft runs men-only “Warrior Nights,” dresses in militant garb, and mocks mask-wearing and the government.

READ: MSNBC host details 'weird baroque tradition' that allowed Trump-picked justices to lie 'under oath' on womens’ rights

In January, they’ll be at Dream City Church in Phoenix, which had hosted a Trump rally in 2020 and had been sent a cease-and-desist about promoting a fraudulent air filter system that June.

In February, they’ll be at Trinity Gospel Temple in Canton, Ohio, where Pastor Dave Lombardi tweeted out on November 3: “‘King Cyrus’ will prevail! Christian principles will prevail!,” and “the ‘Walls of Jericho’ will fall tonight! The Gospel message will prevail! The March continues!”

Both ideas have violent overtones — the fall of the walls of Jericho is followed by the massacre of all inhabitants. “King Cyrus,” a reference here to Donald Trump, destroyed the empire of the Babylonians.

These events are linking congregations nationwide in a specific project -- to build an ultranationalist Christian right to control of America.

READ: The meaning of white supremacy since the rise of Donald Trump

Flynn’s fall events show it is not as simple as whether or not he’s a grifter who pretends to believe in QAnon. He is. He’s a fraud. He’s corrupt. And we already knew this. But he’s also a corrupt fanatic, who believes in overthrowing the government and imposing a theocracy. He certainly seems comfortable reading and promoting neo-Nazi articles advocating the literal slaughter of enemies while doing so.

Stop laughing at Michael Flynn.

He’s dangerous.

Driving him out of QAnon is great, but the other groups he’s engaged with, the other ideologies he’s a part of, are no laughing matter.

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mike Flynn and Josh Mandel do not stand at the center of the Republican Party. They do not stand at its margins either. Flynn is the former's president's former advisor. (He's a pardoned criminal, too.) Mandel is Ohio's leading Senate candidate. Both men have said in recent days they don't believe in the separation of church and state.

I'm paraphrasing. See for yourself what they said. However, their remarks should be familiar. They reflect the GOP's theocratic wing. For decades, it has opposed the incorporated interpretation of the First Amendment's establishment clause. They used to be way, way out there. But, even if I'm missing something, Flynn's and Mandel's remarks suggest the GOP's theocratic wing isn't as marginal as it once was.

Liberals have always been alarmed by the theocrats. Liberals know that when they talk about so-called "Judeo-Christian" values, they don't mean Jews of any stripe. They don't mean the full spectrum of Christianity. Mormons are not included. Neither are Episcopalians, Methodists or Presbyterians. Unitarians, like me, are cultists. Jehovah's Witnesses are heretics. Only "real Christians" need apply, meaning twice-born believers in Christ saving them from eternal damnation.

Liberals should be more alarmed, especially religious liberals, but they may not know they should be. After all, the theocrats keep telling us, and the Washington press corps keeps telling us, that they are merely fighting for their Constitutional right to worship as they please, however they please. Religious liberals, therefore, might be thinking their religious freedoms will be secure, no matter what happens.

READ: 'You're his lawyer': CNN host stumps Bannon lawyer by asking if client had 'foreknowledge' of Capitol riot

That, however, overlooks the theocrats' unending bad faith. They don't mean all Jews or all Christians when defending "Judeo-Christian values." And they don't mean everyone's freedom of religion. They mean theirs. That's why figures such as Flynn and Mandel say what they said. Liberals, especially religious liberals, should be more alarmed. The theocrats are assaulting (everyone's) religious freedom in the name of (their) religious freedom. When they say the United States was founded as a "Christian nation," they're telling us their desires.

Before I go on, a word about Josh Mandel. As I said, he's Ohio's leading Republican candidate for the Senate. He's also Jewish. Some say his appeal to the GOP's theocratic wing means the GOP's theocratic wing can't possibly desire the creation of a "Christian nation." After all, he's a Jew! Friend, I don't need to tell you shameless people sometimes say all sorts of things. If you think Mandel's candidacy means the theocrats believe in freedom of religion for everyone, I have a bridge to sell.

The temptation among liberals, even religious liberals, is to fall back on old arguments, to wit: America is not a Christian nation any more than it's a Hindu nation. Its people are religious. Its government is secular. For many liberals, that's what separation of church and state means.

The truth is more complex. As Editorial Board legal historian Mia Brett wrote in April. "The United States was founded with an attempt at secularism as well as freedom of religion." In theory, the objective is balancing those interests. (In practice, it has meant something quite different, as Dr. Brett explains.) To reach that ideal, however, liberals should remember what "secular" means. It does not mean the absence of religion. It does not mean hostility toward it. It means indifference to it — or, rather, the equal treatment and protection of all religions.

READ: 'Biden delivered': Devastating Lincoln Project ad mocks 'so-called builder' Trump on 'infrastructure week'

The theocrats are correct when they say religion has a place in the people's business. They are wrong in lying about what they mean. (They mean their religion and theirs alone.) When liberals fall back on old arguments based on misunderstandings of secularism's meaning — "keep religion out of government matters!" — they end up empowering the theocratic position by legitimating it. The theocrats tell us they believe the "secular left" wants to drive out religion. Worse, liberals risk making allies out of theocrats and religious liberals, who might not see any harm in having a place for religion in the public square.

They're right. There is no harm. As long as the state is impartial to particular religions but partial toward freedom of religion. Put another way, as long as the state treats and protects religions equally. If the courthouse has a spot for the Ten Commandments, it has a spot for the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism. By privileging presence over absence, liberals take the gas out of the theocrats' position. By defending the First Amendment, rather than by opposing religion, liberals end up bringing attention to the real problem, which is the growing religious movement toward annihilating freedom of religion.

Finally, I expect some liberals to disagree with me. I expect them to defend calling for the ouster of all religions from all matters of public life. Well, more power to them. That's the conflict I would like to see more of — between camps with differing views on the meaning of secularism — rather than conflict between camps with the same meaning with the difference being one is for, the other against. One of these is better for democracy. It's not the one we're currently having.

House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack has just issued more subpoenas for very close Trump associates, among them longtime Trump advisor Jason Miller, and former Trump National Security Advisor, QAnon conspiracist Michael Flynn.

Also on the list are the author of the memo detailing how Vice President Mike Pence could allegedly overturn the election, anti-LGBTQ group chairman John Eastman. Decades-long Giuliani ally Bernard Kerik is also among those subpoenaed.

One name many do not know is Angela McCallum, who served as a National Republican Senatorial Committee War Room Lead, and as a National Executive Assistant, for Donald J. Trump for President.

Lastly, Bill Stepien, Trump 2020 campaign manager.

Axios' Andrew Solender posts the letter to Stepien.

https://www.salon.com/2021/01/29/florida-mans-arrest-on-2016-election-charges-suggests-russia-probe-may-have-survived-bill-barr/

Florida man's arrest on 2016 election charges suggests Russia probe may have survived Bill Barr

Indictment of a Roger Stone-connected operative may signal that Robert Mueller's spinoffs are still bearing fruit

By ROGER SOLLENBERGER

PUBLISHED JANUARY 29, 2021 5:59AM (EST)

Florida man Douglass Mackey, a notorious white nationalist and right-wing social media troll, was arrested this week on charges of conspiring with others to deprive citizens of their right to vote ahead of the 2016 election, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

"According to the allegations in the complaint, the defendant exploited a social media platform to infringe one of the most basic and sacred rights guaranteed by the Constitution: the right to vote," Nicholas McQuaid, acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, said in a press release. "This complaint underscores the department's commitment to investigating and prosecuting those who would undermine citizens' voting rights."

It also suggests that the Russia investigation, at least in part, survived the tenure of former Attorney General Bill Barr.

According to the complaint, Mackey's Twitter account had nearly 60,000 followers, and in February 2016 the MIT Media Lab ranked him 107th in its list of the most influential personalities ahead of the election, higher than NBC News and Stephen Colbert. Prosecutors say that in the months before the election, Mackey collaborated with unnamed co-conspirators to encourage Hillary Clinton supporters to cast votes via text messages or social media — which are not viable or legal voting methods in any state.

The conspiracy charge against Mackey, who was arrested in West Palm Beach, could indicate that the Justice Department has been probing a broader network. Three of his co-conspirators were identified by HuffPost reporter Luke O'Brien, who wrote an in-depth 2018 profile of Mackey: white nationalist financier Jeff Giesea; conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich, who has ties to onetime national security adviser turned QAnon hero Michael Flynn; and Jack Posobiec, a far-right provocateur with ties to neo-Nazi groups and longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone. The pro-Trump group, who called themselves "MAGA3X," fueled the Pizzagate social media campaign that smeared Hillary Clinton and other Democratic leaders in the run-up to the 2016 election.

Notably, both Stone and Flynn came under the focus of former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the weaponization of social media in 2016. Flynn had repeatedly shared content from the Russian-linked account @TEN_GOP, which shared disinformation to tens of thousands of followers under the auspices of the Tennessee Republican Party.

Stone, a misinformation mastermind, also imprinted on the Trump campaign the importance of social media. Just this summer, Facebook wiped more than 100 Facebook and Instagram accounts and pages that Stone and unnamed associates had used to push disinformation related to the 2016 election, as well as to Stone's criminal trial.

One arm of Stone's social media work in 2016 was an effort to suppress the Black vote, which is also specified in the charges against Mackey. Mueller had questioned and subpoenad Stone's associates who helped orchestrate his social media campaigns.

Former President Trump's efforts to block Mueller — or even fire him — have been well documented. In anticipation of possible acts of executive sabotage, the special counsel's office in the course of its work spun off a number of investigations to other divisions, primarily the Southern District of New York. As one of Barr's first acts in office, he appointed his own special prosecutor, Connecticut U.S. attorney John Durham, to investigate the origins of the Russia probe — and potentially pursue charges against FBI agents and Obama administration officials. Barr has long been suspected of spearheading a secret effort to suppress evidence and snuff out ancillary investigations, and after Mueller submitted his final report, congressional Democrats requested the attorney general's communications regarding the spinoff cases.

Considering all this, it seems possible, even likely, that the Mackey indictment indicates that some Russia-related inquiries have survived Barr's efforts to uproot them. Investigative journalist Marcy Wheeler proposed another, deeply ironic possibility: The charges could have stemmed from Trump's efforts to undermine the 2020 election and reverse his defeat.

About a week after the election, Barr, under pressure from Trump, took the unprecedented step of authorizing prosecutors to pursue election fraud cases ahead of the Electoral College vote. It's possible, Wheeler suggests, that if one of those prosecutors had ahold of evidence from prior investigations, Barr's authorization could have allowed that prosecutor to prioritize the Mackey case and bring an indictment — which would be a prodigious case of cosmic payback.

ROGER SOLLENBERGER

Roger Sollenberger is a staff writer at Salon. Follow him on Twitter @SollenbergerRC.

WHAT IS SUBSTACK?

https://sethabramson.substack.com/p/major-breaking-news-team-trump-had

NO LNX MANY VID?

Team Trump Had a Second Pre-Insurrection War Room

An investigation of who was in this second Insurrection Eve war room has now begun.

Seth Abramson

Jun 6

Introduction

As this publication has exclusively and exhaustively detailed, on the eve of the January 6 insurrection Team Trump convened a 23-person war council at Trump International Hotel in D.C. to plot out—as attendees have since confessed—what would happen the following day. It is now clear that a second, contemporaneous pre-insurrection war council was held at a nearby Washington hotel and that it may well have been linked, through either phone or video conferencing, to the first.

This previously unreported news could significantly swell the size of Donald Trump’s pre-insurrection planning team, even as it remains possible (indeed, a possibility that has been extensively investigated here at Proof) that any remote conferencing that occurred the night before the January 6 insurrection also included the White House.

The Two War Rooms

The group that convened at Trump International on January 5 included, per eyewitness accounts previously compiled by Proof, the following members of Trump’s family, legal team, campaign staff, advisory corps, donor class, circle of friends, allies in Congress, and presidential administration:

Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Corey Lewandowski, David Bossie, Michael Flynn, Peter Navarro, Adam Piper, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Nebraska GOP gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Lindell, Eduardo Bolsonaro, Doyle Beck, Daniel Beck, Layne Bangerter, and two additional unnamed U.S. senators, one of whom prior Proof reports suggest was Ted Cruz (R-TX). Domestic terrorist Ali Alexander “attended” by phone.

Other possible attendees—whose status is still being investigated in light of evidence they were present—include Alex Jones, Sidney Powell, Patrick Byrne, and Guiliani cybersecurity adviser Phil Waldron. As Proof has previously noted, and as will become vital to the account below, four individuals from the two lists above now claim (or have had it claimed by legal counsel) that they weren’t, in fact, part of any meeting involving Trump International Hotel on January 5, despite eyewitness accounts to the contrary. Those individuals are Michael Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, Peter Navarro, and David Bossie.

Based on the evidence now available, the largest possible size of the group that met at Trump International Hotel on January 5—all members of Trump’s inner circle—is 23.

But emerging evidence—see below—now suggests a sizable team of Trump insiders concurrently gathered, on January 5, at the Willard InterContinental Washington D.C. Hotel (“the Willard”) at 1401 Pennsylvania Ave., 0.3 miles from the White House.

The group that gathered at the Willard Hotel on January 5 appears to have been nearly as large, if not larger, than the group at Trump International Hotel. Possible attendees include, of those not also reported to have been involved in the January 5 meeting at Trump International, the following: Roger Stone, Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, John Eastman, Robert Hyde, Russell Ramsland Jr., Jim Penrose, Sal Greco, Jennifer Lynn Lawrence, and Dustin Stockton. Moreover, among the Willard war room attendees concurrently said to have been involved in a meeting at Trump International Hotel we find Rudy Giuliani, Ali Alexander, Sidney Powell, Michael Flynn, Phil Waldron, and Peter Navarro. In all, the suspected roster of Willard war room attendees numbers 16, though that number may swell after additional investigations at Proof and elsewhere.

Indeed, just two photos of the Willard war room taken by Robert Hyde on Insurrection Day alone (the one below and this one) show ten people, only three of whom—Giuliani, Eastman and Hyde—can be identified, and are thus included in the attendee list above.

{Note: The man in the white shirt in the first picture below may be Owen Shroyer, who works with and for Alex Jones at InfoWars. The second picture below is Shroyer on January 5, 2021. Shroyer introduced Jones at the Freedom Plaza event that day. The two were followed on stage by Ali Alexander, who oddly said that Trump “calls me ‘Sammy Davis Jr.’ every time he sees me” (emphasis supplied). Alexander introduced Roger Stone by noting that Stone, who was then staying at the Willard, had offered “counsel” to Trump’s legal team—headquartered at the Willard—and that, as of January 5, Stone’s Stop the Steal “movement” was at “war.” After Stone speaks, someone is heard repeatedly calling “Victoria! Victoria! Victoria!”, which may refer to Trump lawyer Victoria Toensing. It is unclear if Toensing stayed at the Willard also.}

Those who have followed the January 6 investigation closely will note that the Willard Hotel war room attendee list includes a substantially larger number of dubious figures (for instance Hyde, who aided in Trump’s efforts to steal the 2020 presidential election in Ukraine, as detailed in a chapter in my 2020 Macmillan book Proof of Corruption) as compared to the Trump International list, which may underscores why it has taken so long for this second war room to be disclosed to the public.

Roger Stone, Alex Jones, Steve Bannon and the Willard

While Roger Stone spoke briefly to the crowd at Freedom Plaza on January 5—and in his remarks incited insurrection through militant, bizarrely pseudo-religious rhetoric—and while he also spoke in front the Supreme Court building earlier on January 5, in both instances traveling via golf cart and flanked by Oath Keepers, everyone seems to agree that Stone wasn’t at Trump International on January 5; that he never showed up to Trump’s January 6 Ellipse speech, as his Stop the Steal co-organizers Alexander and Jones and had expected him to do; and that he never showed up for his “Wild Protest” speech at the Capitol, despite having publicly raised money for the latter appearance.

So where was Roger Stone the rest of the time on January 5 and January 6? According to Stone himself, he was at the Willard Hotel. A video from ABC News confirms that this is where Stone was staying during the insurrection, with Stone further telling the network that he “never left the site of my hotel until leaving for Dulles Airport” on the afternoon of January 6. Stone’s statement makes clear that it was not that he stayed in his room at the Willard, but that he remained on hotel grounds—a distinction that is critical now. Stone’s NYPD bodyguard Sal Greco stayed with him at the Willard Hotel.

As for Alex Jones—who has said the White House asked him to lead the march on the Capitol; who has said he (with Alexander) was in text communication with the Trump campaign from the Capitol as it was being attacked; and whose top lieutenant Owen Shroyer appears to be pictured above, with Rudy Giuliani, in the Willard war room—per Yahoo! News he stayed at the Willard for a Stop the Steal event in November 2020 and, per Politico, also stayed at the Willard for a December 2020 Stop the Steal event.

But now an amazing five-part exposé by a French independent journalist publishing via Montréal-based website Centpapiers further reveals—using simple and easily confirmed photographic analysis—that the January 5 interview Michael Flynn conducted with Alex Jones, reported on at length at Proof, was held at the Willard, meaning both men were at the site of Trump’s second war room on Insurrection Eve.

{Note: This same exposé offers pictures that seem to indicate top Trump adviser Peter Navarro was with Dustin Stockton at the Willard at some point during the lead-up to the insurrection, as well as providing pictures of Stockton and his wife Jennifer Lynn Lawrence in the VIP area of Trump’s Ellipse speech alongside top Trump congressional ally Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, one of Ali Alexander’s self-confessed co-conspirators in plotting the dire events of January 6.}

The aforementioned couple, Lawrence and Stockton, have at various points been Steve Bannon acolytes, employees, and business associates, and were known to have been at the Willard Hotel pre-insurrection. According to this report by the New York Times,

Two organizers helping the [post-election Stop the Steal] effort, Jennifer Lawrence and Dustin Stockton, were close to Bannon, having worked at Breitbart and then at his nonprofit seeking private financing to help complete Trump’s border wall. In August [2020], federal prosecutors accused Bannon of defrauding the nonprofit’s donors, after an investigation that included a raid of Lawrence and Stockton’s motor home; they were not implicated, and Bannon, who pleaded not guilty, was later pardoned by the president. A onetime organizer for the hard-line Gun Owners of America, according to his LinkedIn page, Stockton had come to know members of the Three Percenters militia group.

…

[Jennifer Lynn] Lawrence had personal ties to Trump. Her father was a real estate broker in the Hudson Valley, where Trump has a golf club and his sons have a hunting ranch. “He’s done business with Trump for over a decade, so I’ve had the opportunity of meeting the president and interacting with him on a lot of occasions”, she said in an interview. She also knew [Michael] Flynn through their mutual association with a conservative think tank.

…

By [approximately 2PM ET on January 6], with “all hell breaking loose”, as Stockton put it, he and Lawrence decided to take golf carts back to their room at the Willard Hotel and “await instructions about whether to go back to the Ellipse.”

While Lawrence and Stockton’s presence at the Willard Hotel doesn’t ensure Bannon’s, the two Bannon associates’ unusual use of golf carts in downtown Washington during the insurrection—mirroring the use of such vehicles by Stop the Steal, Roger Stone, and the Oath Keepers—as well as the notion that they went to the Willard to “await instructions” from an unnamed superior, group of superiors, or group of compatriots, suggests the possibility that Bannon and/or the Three Percenter leadership were at the Willard at some point during the run-up to the insurrection or on Insurrection Day.

How Proof Learned About the War Room at the Willard

On May 5, 2021, in a little-heard interview with self-described “birther” Peter Boyles, former Chapman University and University of Colorado-Boulder law professor John Eastman—known for falsely saying prior to the 2020 election that Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris was ineligible to run for Vice President due to not being a U.S. citizen—told Boyles that that in January 2021 he “was representing the President of the United States in the Supreme Court on one of the most significant legal issues to have come down the pike in half a century.” Eastman, who notes that he “spoke right before the president” at the Ellipse on January 6, further tells Boyles he can reveal private conversations he had with his “client” Donald Trump pre-insurrection because he has received “express” permission from Trump to do so.

Eastman confesses to Boyles that in the days prior to and including the attack on the Capitol, he, Giuliani, and unnamed others “had a war room at the Willard Hotel [in Washington] kind of coordinating all of the communications.…[it was in] a suite of offices.” Significant in this, of course, is not only Eastman’s description of the space as a “war room,” but his contention that Giuliani used the room in the days prior to the insurrection. Why does this matter? Because it raises new questions about another pre-insurrection war room: the one at Trump International. Was Giuliani at the Trump International war room on January 5, the Willard war room, or both? This question has larger implications than may at first appear, so we begin by unpacking what we know:

(1) Charles W. Herbster vacillated on the presence of only one person at the January 5 pre-insurrection war council at the Trump International Hotel: Rudy Giuliani.

After first writing on Facebook that he (Herbster) was “standing in the White House”, Herbster edited his post to write that he was in fact in Trump’s “private residence” in Trump International. But he also edited out Giuliani’s name, as if he’d either (a) been mistaken about Giuliani being at Trump International, or (b) suddenly felt it critical to not say that Giuliani was with him. Note that Herbster took this view of no one else at Trump International; as Proof has detailed, David Bossie and Michael Flynn both now maintain they weren’t at Trump International, and yet Herbster still hasn’t changed his contradictory statement on the matter. For a time even Tuberville contradicted Herbster and said he wasn’t at Trump International, and yet, despite Tuberville being a senator, Herbster still didn’t amend his statement on Facebook. Yet as to Giuliani Herbster did correct himself, suggesting a possibility Giuliani really was at a different location than the other individuals Herbster mentioned—but nevertheless attended the meeting Herbster described. Proof previously noted that this would be possible if the January 5 meeting at Trump International was “conferenced” with other locations.

(2) When the Associated Press asked Rudy Giuliani if he was at Trump International Hotel on January 6, Giuliani told the AP that he would have to check, via his “diary.”

Giuliani never got back to the AP, despite there being no known illegality—as yet—with respect to the event at Trump International. So why not tell the AP where he was on January 5? Doyle Beck told the AP Giuliani was at Trump International; it’s unclear why the conversation regarding his whereabouts isn’t one Giuliani is willing to have.

(3) On January 5, Flynn gave a long interview with Alex Jones at the Willard Hotel.

Both Stone and Giuliani were staying at the Willard Hotel, and Alex Jones and his team would have had to reserve a room at the Willard for any live recording there, so this creates numerous opportunities for overlap between Jones, Stone, Flynn, and Giuliani—the last of whom was then running an on-site Trump war room. Note that, as previously reported at Proof, Michael Lindell has said he was consistently with Flynn and Giuliani in the days prior to the insurrection. If Herbster is unclear and Giuliani cagey about whether Giuliani was ever at Trump International on January 5; and Flynn maintains he wasn’t at any meeting at Trump International (despite an Instagram photo placing him in the hotel lobby that day), one possibility is that any war room meeting(s) Flynn attended on January 5 were attended from the Willard, where we now know he was with Jones on January 5. Flynn is so adamant he wasn’t at Trump International on January 5 that he had his attorney send this author a letter threatening legal action for citing news reports placing him at that location on that day; this suggests a degree of confidence that no one can place him inside the Trump Townhouse at Trump International, his presence in the hotel lobby notwithstanding.

(4) As Proof has reported, Corey Lewandowski was also cagey about his location on January 5, telling a reporter for The Atlantic that he “met” with Donald Trump on that day—but also implying that he didn’t go to the White House in order to do so.

How could Lewandowski meet with Trump without being in the same space? Again, the specter of a very simple explanation—the use of phone or video conferencing—manifests. This might also explain the confidence that David Bossie, Lewandowski’s business associate, has had in maintaining he never entered Trump International on January 5, even as Herbster places him at an event Herbster attended from the hotel.

What Happened at the Willard Hotel

Eastman describes the “suite” of offices at the Willard—a term that suggests multiple rooms and work stations—as designed for “coordinating all of the [pre-insurrection] communication[s]” between members of Team Trump. Certainly, the suite could have coordinated communications via phone conferencing rather than video conferencing, but in either case it would seem that to “coordinate” communications between a large team of people at least some conferencing would have to have occurred at some point.

So if Giuliani had a “war room” at the Willard on January 5 that was specifically set up to “coordinate communications” pre-insurrection, why on earth would he need to walk over to Trump International to attend a second war room? Why not just conference the rooms? This question begs another: if Giuliani did decide to needlessly travel from one war room to another on January 5—during a period of hours that time was precious to Team Trump—why didn’t he bring Eastman with him? Indeed, an unresolved paradox is that Eastman appears to place himself with Giuliani fairly consistently during the days before the insurrection, yet no one places Eastman at Trump International Hotel.

A similar paradox involves Giuliani, Flynn, Lindell, and Powell. As Proof has reported, Lindell says he was with Giuliani, Flynn, and Powell on January 5, yet Flynn says he wasn’t at Trump International, Herbster at first wrote that Giuliani was there and then corrected himself, and no one places Powell at Trump International. Given that Powell was, like Eastman and Giuliani, a Trump legal adviser on January 5, one explanation for this would be that Flynn, Giuliani, and Powell were with Eastman at the Willard on January 5, whether or not they—or Lindell—also visited the Trump International war room.

More Bombshells From the Eastman-Boyles Interview

(1) Trump cybersecurity advisers Russell Ramsland Jr., Doug Frank, and Jim Penrose were with Eastman in the Willard Hotel war room at some point on January 5, 2021.

Specifically, Eastman told Boyles that “the [election] experts that I had met with [in November and December 2020, a group into which Eastman puts Ramsland, Frank, and Penrose] were with me on January 5.” Given this statement, it’s worthwhile to say a little more about two of these men.

Jim Penrose

According to The Hill, Penrose is “a former head of the National Security Agency’s Operational Discovery Center.”

Besides having run an operational center for the NSA—which sounds oddly similar to Eastman’s depiction of the Willard Hotel war room as having been a “communications coordination” center during the insurrection—one of Jim Penrose’s specializations, reportedly, is “how misinformation campaigns [can]…influence elections.” Does this mean that Trump had a misinformation operations expert running a secret war room during the January 6 insurrection? That’s a question the FBI will now need to answer.

Russell (“Russ”) Ramsland Jr.

Russ Ramsland co-founded Allied Security Operations Group (ASOG), a Dallas-area cybersecurity firm, with a number of men, among whom was Adam Kraft, a former DIA employee of Michael Flynn. Jenna Ellis, a senior legal adviser to Trump after the 2020 election, has referred to ASOG as “our [Trump’s] team” on Fox News Channel.

The Washington Post writes that in 2018 ASOG began pitching GOP candidates on schemes to challenge their election losses by claiming election fraud. Per the Post,

By late 2019, ASOG’s examination [of elections in which Republicans had lost] had moved beyond audit logs. Among other claims, Ramsland was repeating the ominous idea that election software used in the United States originated in Venezuela, and saying nefarious actors could surreptitiously manipulate votes on a massive scale. As the 2020 election approached, he privately briefed GOP lawmakers in Washington and met with officials from the Department of Homeland Security, documents and interviews show. ASOG’s examination [of elections] by last summer [the summer of 2020] had already cost more than $1 million, according to a document the company gave government officials that was obtained by the Post. Ramsland had sought funding from Republican donors whose fortunes were made in the oil, gas and fracking industries.

There’s more of interest here than can be unpacked in one article. For instance, Stop the Steal’s Ali Alexander is believed to have contacted a DHS number to join a 90-minute conference call on December 21, 2020, the same day Trump met in the Oval Office with a delegation from the House Freedom Caucus led by Rep. Gosar (R-AZ), Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Of the call to DHS, Alexander wrote on Twitter that he hoped it would “change the world”, raising the question of who at DHS could have been in contact with Alexander, and whether they were also in touch with Ramsland as he worked with Trump’s legal team. {Note: While I’ve confirmed that Alexander called a “DHS” number, it remains unclear whether it’s a “Department of Homeland Security” call-in number or a D.C. “Department of Human Services” number; in the latter case, the call may have been about January 6 permitting, though it’s unclear why this would “change the world.”}

Trump’s 2019 and 2020 efforts to steal the election—detailed in Proof of Corruption—were linked to, among others, Texas Republican donors whose fortunes were made in the oil, gas, and fracking industries, an echo of the phrase used to describe Ramsland’s donors and investors. Were any of the individuals who met in Texas in 2019 with Rudy Giuliani, Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, and Florida-based Trump donor Harry Sargeant III to discuss the 2020 election, energy issues, and pro-Kremlin Ukrainian oligarchs who allegedly had dirt on Joe Biden involved in funding Ramsland’s dubious pre- and post-election “election integrity” efforts? Republican donors who made their fortunes in the oil, gas, and fracking industries were also, as Proof of Corruption details, involved in Trump’s clandestine outreach to Venezuela in 2019 and 2020—Venezuela being the nation in which the Post says Ramsland’s donors were hoping he’d look for and find political dissidents to reveal a supposed election-theft scheme originating in Caracas.[ghost of hugo chavez?]

The Post notes that Ramsland’s lies “were circulated by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), a staunch Trump ally who had been briefed by ASOG. And Ramsland’s assertions were incorporated in the ‘kraken’ lawsuits filed by conservative lawyer Sidney Powell—who the Post has learned had also been briefed two years earlier by ASOG—and aired publicly by Rudy Giuliani, then Trump’s personal attorney, as they tried to overturn Joe Biden’s victories in key states.” Rep. Gohmert attended the December 21 pre-insurrection meeting at the White House, intended as a follow-up to the raucous December 18 Oval Office meeting attended by Giuliani and Powell. This underscores that, at a minimum, three individuals who Ramsland had worked with to spread false claims of election fraud were in the Oval Office with Trump during the 120 hours—December 17 to December 21—it appears the initial planning for the insurrection occurred. Indeed, the Post writes the following of November and December of 2020:

During that period, Trump was hyper-focused on making the case that the election had been rigged, former White House aides said. He would listen to “literally anyone” who had a theory about it, in the words of one former senior administration official.

The Post alleges that at least three such “anyones”—Gohmert, Powell, and Giuliani—were part of Ramsland’s “network” of collaborators. Per the Post, “ASOG provided research for Powell and Giuliani but…[Ramsland] never spoke[ ] to Trump himself.”

Whether or not Ramsland spoke with Trump pre-insurrection, the fact that he is, per the Post, a Cruz donor as well as a Trump donor; someone whose first client was an “associate of Steve Bannon”; co-founder of ASOG with a Flynn associate; and a man who successfully lobbied top Trump congressional ally Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) to use his services underscores that if he was in the Willard war room on January 5 the number of Trump associates who may have been there, nearby, or in contact with the war room is considerable.

Beyond the obvious figures, others written about at Proof but with less frequency may also be in the picture with respect to the Willard war room. The Post reports that one apparent investor in Ramsland’s efforts to spread election conspiracy theories prior to the 2020 election was Charles Richard Saulsbury, the fabulously wealthy Texan whose son Bubba Saulsbury was with Mike Pence at the vice presidential mansion on the night of January 5, as exclusively reported by Proof. If a Ramsland investor was with Pence while Ramsland was at the Willard, is it possible that any phone- or video-conferenced strategy session that evening involved not just the Trump International and Willard Hotel war rooms but both the White House and vice president’s mansion? We can’t, at present, know this. But we do know that Bubba Saulsbury—who’d come to D.C. thrilled about marching to the Capitol—saw or heard something on the evening of January 5, while with Pence, that caused him to flee Washington the next morning to avoid all of the events of January 6. What had Bubba Saulsbury heard, and from whom?

{Note: Saulsbury’s Facebook photos indicate he was staying at Trump International Hotel.}

The Post reports that, during the time Ramsland may have been receiving investments from the Saulsburys—in 2019 and beyond—everything he did “became about getting to Trump. He had this idea [that] it [his plan to challenge elections Republicans had lost] had to get to Trump.” This doesn’t sound like a man who would have sat at the Willard on January 5 without making any attempt to get in touch with the president.

Indeed, the Post reports that “In July 2020, ASOG gave a two-hour briefing to seven members of the House Freedom Caucus”—possibly the same seven Freedom Caucus members who five months later would be in the Oval Office discussing an allegedly stolen election with Trump: Gosar, Brooks, Biggs, Gohmert, Gaetz, Greene, and Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA). Certainly, Trump was well aware of Ramsland by mid-November of 2020, with the Post reporting that “late on November 15, Trump retweeted to his millions of followers a video clip of Ramsland saying in a pre-election interview that votes from twenty-nine states were routed through ‘a server in Frankfurt, Germany’ and that [Spanish election systems company] Scytl ‘controls and reports your vote.’”

But Ramsland’s connections to key insurrectionists go well beyond these, to include ex-Trump legal adviser Lin Wood and Giuliani cybersecurity adviser Phil Waldron. The Post writes that “Ramsland contributed material to [Sidney] Powell’s lawsuits and to one brought by L. Lin Wood Jr., another pro-Trump lawyer, seeking to overturn Biden’s victory”, and also that “Phil Waldron, a retired Army colonel who specialized in psychological operations and is now chief executive of a cybersecurity firm…said he was working with ASOG to examine the 2020 election.”

Even former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, a participant in the unprecedentedly wild December 18 meeting at the White House, is tied to Ramsland. Per the Post, “By December [2020], Ramsland was opening doors for people seeking to challenge the election results. He connected Patrick Byrne, the billionaire former CEO of the online retailer Overstock, with Powell, and Powell connected Byrne with Giuliani.”

So if Eastman was with Ramsland in the second Trump war room on Insurrection Eve, did Ramsland’s associates Ellis, Gohmert, Byrne, Bannon, Wood, Powell, Saulsbury, Sessions, Waldron, Giuliani, or Flynn join them there at any point on January 5 or 6?

(2) Eastman was in the Oval Office on January 4 in a previously unreported meeting.

According to the ex-law professor, on January 4 three people met in the Oval Office with him and Donald Trump: Pence, Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short, and Pence’s general counsel Greg Jacob. Per Eastman, prior to the meeting someone had advised Trump that “law review articles” written about the 2000 election indicated that “maybe the Vice President had unilateral authority to determine the validity of electoral votes.” Presumably it was not Eastman who provided such erroneous counsel to Trump, as Eastman says that during his meeting with Trump and Pence,

Pence asked Eastman if he believed vice presidents had the authority that Trump had been advised they had, and Eastman purportedly told Pence it was an “open question.” But per Eastman, he nevertheless told Pence it would be “foolish” to accept the alternate slates of electors the Trump campaign had had sent to D.C., as none had been certified by any state legislature. Eastman says he advised Pence to “delay the proceedings [in Congress]” in “response to the [GOP] state legislatures” that wanted time to “audit” their votes.

This meeting corroborates prior Proof reporting on Trump’s plan for January 6, which was not to win re-election—an impossibility—but simply to allow for so much chaos on Capitol Hill that Congress’ joint session would have to be postponed, giving GOP-led batlleground-state legislatures time to decertify their electors. As Eastman advised Pence and Trump on January 4, under such a scenario GOP-led state legislatures could try to certify new slates of Trump electors, arguably putting Pence in a novel situation the second time Congress met to certify Biden’s victory. Many of the voter suppression bills the GOP is now pushing across America are “insurrectionist” in just this way; they aim to realize the vision of our democracy that Eastman shared with Trump and Pence on January 4—one in which state legislatures decide elections, not U.S. voters.

Conclusion

The Willard war room seems to have been focused on “coordinating communications” to ensure sufficient delay in the joint session of Congress that a coup of the incoming Biden administration would be possible through the creation of new slates of certified electors. While we know that the Willard war room hosted an advisory corps focused on the administrative components of this plot, the evidence also suggests that present in this second war room may have been individuals like Stone, Jones, Alexander, Flynn, Stockton, Lawrence, and Shroyer, who lacked the qualifications to have any role in any such administrative component—but would have been of great utility in orchestrating a paramilitary component to Trump’s plan to delay the certification of Biden’s victory.

At the nexus of these two parts of Trump’s apparent coup plan was Giuliani, whose ties to both of the two teams that appear to have used the Willard were considerable. Notably, it was Giuliani who said at the Ellipse, “Let’s have trial by combat!”—a line equally relevant to the administrative components of such a plot or paramilitary ones.

A robust investigation of the Willard Hotel “war room” has only just begun. Its size, technological capacities, traffic, purpose, and full roster of attendees remain an open question. This article therefore serves as only the first of a series of articles about this critical development in the story of the January 6 insurrection. More is forthcoming.

revealed: Mike Flynn hid $200K payments for Middle East nuclear plan before joining White House

Travis Gettys Raw Story October 04, 2021

Michael Flynn received $200,000 in undisclosed payments for consulting work in the Middle East before joining Donald Trump's administration.

The retired U.S. Army general was paid for his work ...[nuclear?]

Rebekah Mercer reportedly led a major reorganization of Trump's 2016 campaign, connecting him with Bannon and former Cruz adviser Kellyanne Conway, who would replace Paul Manafort at the helm of the team. Mercer, who also served on the Trump transition's executive committee, pushed for Trump to hire Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general who was forced to resign less than a month into Trump's presidency amid a criminal investigation and now spreads QAnon conspiracy theories online.igor salon

wendy s medium 2018? russia disinfo network:

Michael Flynn-related entities

Michael Flynn has barely been in the news recently, especially since he pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI at the end of 2017. However, as one of the earliest members of Trump’s campaign, and one of the most senior members of Trump’s administration for a short time, Flynn was involved with many people and companies that did social media and influence work on behalf of Trump.

In August 2017 Flynn amended his financial disclosure form to show he had agreed to work with SCL Group, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, to help win new US government contracts. However, a source reported that Flynn did not receive compensation or perform any work.

In the US, Cambridge Analytica hired Josh Weerasinghe, who had worked at defense company BAE Systems and had previously worked with Flynn at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, to focus on winning US government contracts.

In April 2018, Senator Bob Menendez on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent two letters to the State Department and SCL Group requesting information on the $490K State Department contract awarded to SCL “when Michael Flynn was serving as an advisor for the company and on President Trump’s transition team.” The letters requested a detailed description of the work that Michael Flynn performed as an advisor for SCL Group.

As reported earlier, Flynn allegedly had interactions with Joel Zamel, the founder of Psy-Group and Wikistrat, who wanted Flynn to join the advisory board of Wikistrat.

Flynn Intel Group

Flynn started his company, Flynn Intel Group, in 2014 and closed it at the end of 2016 before he joined the Trump administration. Flynn partnered with Bijan Kian and Philip Oakley, and according to company records, Flynn Intel Group was “a premier private intelligence and cybersecurity advisory firm.” Flynn received small payments from Russian firms Kaspersky Labs and Volga-Dnepr Airlines. And according to the NYT Flynn joined the advisory board of OSY Technologies, part of the NSO Group, a secretive cyberweapons dealer founded by former Israeli intelligence officials.

Bijan Kian introduced Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin to Flynn Intel Group to do PR and lobbying work against Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric and someone Erdogan considered an enemy, who was living in Pennsylvania. Alptekin paid Flynn Intel Group $530K through his Netherlands-based company Inovo BV and Alptekin said funding also came from Ratio Oil Exploration, an Israeli natural gas company — although the firm denied any connection to Alptekin.

FIG Cyber: Tim Newberry, who co-founded White Canvas and VizSense with Jon Iadonisis, listed on his LinkedIn profile that in August 2016 he was chief executive of FIG Cyber, a unit of Flynn Intel Group.

White Canvas and VizSense

White Canvas was founded by Jon Iadonisi, a former Navy SEAL, and Tim Newberry, and is described as a technology company with expertise in cyber operations, digital influence, social media, and other areas. Iadonisi was close to Michael Flynn and had served with him in Iraq, and reportedly Flynn Intel Group had rented office space from White Canvas. White Canvas received $150,000 in 2016 from the Navy for “deep and dark web capability and gap analysis.”

VizSense was created by Jon Iadonisi and Tim Newberry as a spinoff from White Canvas. Michael Flynn’s companies as well as those run by Iadonisi and Newberry overlap in many ways. For example, in Flynn’s contract with Inovo BV, it appeared that Tim Newberry worked for Flynn Intel group as the head of their “Special Operations Cyber Force.”

In May 2017 the Washington Post reported that Flynn’s friend and business associate Jon Iadonisi was doing work to help Flynn on behalf of the Turkish government and Ioadonisi was also doing social media work on behalf of Trump. FEC filings showed that the Trump campaign paid $200,000 for “data management services” to Colt Ventures, which was an investor in Iadonisi’s social media company VizSense. The payment was for “a social-media project that involved video-content creation and “millennial engagement” in the campaign’s final month.”

Colt Ventures

Colt Ventures was founded by Darren Blanton who served as an adviser to Trump’s transition. Blanton met frequently with Steve Bannon and reported to him on work done for the campaign, according to a source.

A May 2018 Bloomberg story described efforts to win Black voters for Trump, and how a Breitbart writer, along with Steve Bannon, recruited Bruce Carter to target three areas, Florida, Philadelphia, and North Carolina. Bannon introduced Carter to Darren Blanton and Jon Iadonisi to help provide funding and social media support for Carter’s efforts, although it’s not clear if funding was provided. In October 2016, during the final presidential debate in Las Vegas, Blanton introduced Carter to Erik Prince and Michael Flynn, and then later to Rebekah Mercer.

Based on the Bloomberg story, it appears that Darren Blanton, who ran Colt Ventures which was a part owner of Jon Iodonisi and Tim Newberry’s firm VizSense, also knew Erik Prince, Steve Bannon, and Rebekah Mercer. This raises a bigger question about whether or not the companies Flynn was indirectly connected to — VizSense, White Canvas, and Colt Ventures — had any business involvement with SCL or Cambridge Analytica?

Additional Entities Not Included in Chart

Data sources reportedly affiliated with campaign:

Facebook

RNC

Palantir

Experian

Acxiom

InfoGroup

Others:...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-gop-doesnt-care-that-trump-planned-a-coup-do-democrats

no lnx

mich AG scheuette #2 got promoted? GA AG? quit b/c he got headsup he was about to tweet trumped?]

CAPITOL RIOTS

The GOP Doesn’t Care That Trump Planned a Coup. Do Democrats?

‘PURE INSANITY’

OPINION

Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast

New emails show Jan. 6 was just a preview. The GOP and its allies in Congress, law enforcement, and conservative media will attempt another coup when they lose another election.

Wajahat Ali

Updated Jun. 16, 2021 9:26AM ET / Published Jun. 15, 2021 10:58PM ET

Thanks to the bombshell documents the House Oversight and Reform Committee released just ahead of Tuesday’s hearing on the Jan. 6 insurrection, Americans have a clear and unmistakable view of just how far former President Donald Trump went in trying to corrupt our democratic institutions, engage in a violent coup, and overturn our free and fair election.

“These documents show that President Trump tried to corrupt our nation’s chief law enforcement agency in a brazen attempt to overturn an election that he lost,” said Democratic committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney. She’s absolutely correct. I would add one simple edit: It’s Trump and the GOP. He attempted a coup—and, yes, we should all use the word—and he’s still trying, with ample help from Republicans.

If you consider that hyperbole, I direct you to those bombshell documents revealing how the Trump administration, including chief of staff Mark Meadows, attempted to pressure the Department of Justice to advance dangerous conspiracy theories of election fraud and influence courts to nullify the election results so Trump could stay in power.

Trump Pushed Barr’s Successor to Probe Big Lie: New Emails

‘BRAZEN CORRUPTION’

Justin Rohrlich

An hour before announcing his Attorney General Bill Barr would be stepping down, no doubt because he refused to promote “the Big Lie,” Trump’s assistant sent an email to Jeffrey Rosen, his incoming attorney general, showing evidence of alleged “election fraud” in northern Michigan and “talking points” to advance the obvious lie. Two weeks later, Trump’s White House sent a draft brief to Rosen for the DOJ to submit to the Supreme Court intended to effectively nullify the 2020 election and help Trump usurp power. Transcribed interviews with former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows reveal he directly pressured DOJ officials at least five times to investigate batshit conspiracy theories, including one suggesting that satellite technology from Europe was used to tamper with US voting equipment.

It appears Rosen, and other senior members of the DOJ, were not willing to pledge allegiance to Trump over the United States. “Pure insanity” is how Rosen and Richard Donoghue, who was the acting deputy attorney general, described Meadows’ emails. Trump then considered replacing Rosen with a sympathetic sycophant, Jeffrey Clark, who was then acting head of the civil division, to continue influencing the DOJ to help him succeed in his criminal, authoritarian coup.

These revelations, which are shocking and should be thoroughly investigated, come on the heels of the equally jaw-dropping but totally unsurprising news that the Justice Department, acting as Trump’s Luca Brasi, decided to retaliate against Democrats and the media. Specifically, prosecutors subpoenaed Apple for phone records of Democratic Representatives Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, their aides and family members, including a minor. The Justice Department also sought to retaliate against reporters and media outlets for “leaks” and attempted to seize thousands of emails and phone records of news outlets’ reporters.

If this sounds like the thuggish tactics used by strongmen and corrupt rulers in authoritarian regimes, well, it is. Let’s not forget Trump continues to praise Putin, and was friendly with Hungary’s Orban, who was “Trump before Trump,” Brazil’s Bolsonaro, Turkey’s Erdogan, Saudi Arabia’s Muhammad bin Salman, Israel’s Netanyahu, who is desperately copying Trump’s tactics to remain relevant, Egypt’s Sisi, and the Philippines’ Dutarte. None of them is particularly celebrated as champions of human rights, the free press, an independent judiciary or the small inconvenience known as a democracy by and for the people.

Thankfully, Trump lost and his efforts to erase his loss fell short, but his corrupting presence has contaminated not only the GOP but also the Department of Justice and law enforcement. We still don’t know the extent of how Trump and his allies pressured, corrupted and manipulated our democratic institutions from within to advance their perverse schemes for power and profit. What I do know after watching this hearing is that Jan. 6 was simply a sneak preview. The GOP and its right-wing allies in Congress, law enforcement, and conservative media are going to attempt another coup when they lose another election.

At Tuesday’s hearing, the committee wanted to investigate why it took the National Guard nearly four hours to respond to the U.S. Capitol breach even though top officials at the Defense Department received 12 urgent requests for help[said flynn bro gen'l not involved, then 180]

from the Capitol police chief and mayor. Meanwhile, Army leaders told the National Guard to “stand by” five times even as violence escalated, which eventually claimed five lives. Pipe bombs were also found near the U.S. Capitol and some of the protesters came with weapons, intending to assassinate Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. We also know that officers are being investigated for their alleged role in the insurrection and that white supremacist groups, sympathetic to Trump and the GOP, have tried to infiltrate law enforcement agencies across the country.

The committee had the opportunity to question FBI director Christopher Wray, Gen. Charles Flynn—the brother of Michael Flynn, who was Trump’s disgraced national security adviser and is a prominent promoter of both the QAnon conspiracy and “the Big Lie”—and Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt, director of the Army Staff. It was revealed that Gen. Charles Flynn and Gen. Piatt were both involved in a phone call in which Army leaders were worried about the “optics” of sending in the National Guard. That’s the same National Guard that quickly responded with massive force to peaceful BLM protesters and cleared others out of Lafayette Square with tear gas and violence last summer. No such concerns for “optics” were present then.

One would assume Republicans, who are allegedly so committed to law and order and national security that they held hearings on Benghazi and Clinton’s emails for years and have focused on antifa as a fake terrorist threat, would take the opportunity to dig deep into this massive failure of intelligence and law enforcement that allowed hundreds of armed, violent insurrections to take over the U.S. Capitol for the first time in 200 years. Or, they could ask FBI director Wray to do more to investigate and prosecute members of armed militias and white supremacist groups, some of whom participated in the violent insurrection, and are also the number one domestic terror threat in America.

Nope.

Instead, they used their time to whine, deflect and obstruct. They performed for their base and said the House should be spending its time and powers to investigate Dr. Fauci’s emails, the Wuhan lab theory, the border crisis, the threat of inflation and Biden’s economic policies. They also found time to whine about masking policies at the U.S. Capitol and to urge Americans to move on from the insurrection that Republican Rep. Clyde recently referred to as a “normal tourist visit.”

It’s time for them to behave like Republicans and finally bring a bazooka to this knife fight.

If you were the party that was actively aiding and abetting a violent insurrection, you’d want to “move on” as well. It was a grotesque spectacle seeing Rep. Paul Gosar grill Wray on who “executed Ashli Babbitt,” and suggesting, without evidence, that the officer who shot her was hiding and waiting to kill her. Gosar didn’t spend time worrying about Officer Sicknick, who died trying to protect his colleagues from Babbitt and the violent mob. Neither did 21 Republicans in the House who just opposed a bill to award congressional gold medals for Capitol Police officers who defended them against a violent mob during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Like some other House Republicans, Gosar actively supports white supremacist conspiracy theories, has ties to armed militia movements, and cheered on many of the events of Jan. 6. Wray said the FBI has arrested 500 people so far and is currently overseeing hundreds of investigations. They could start by talking to some Republicans like Gosar as members of his party have blocked a bipartisan commission to investigate the insurrection and acquitted Trump twice, with a majority of them even voting to cancel the election. Their conservative media ecosystem is actively gaslighting America and their base with dangerous conspiracy theories, as a majority of Republicans believe “the Big Lie” that Biden lost the 2020 election.

Thankfully, Democrats are in power. However, they retain a slim majority before the 2022 midterms that are stacked against them due to GOP gerrymandering and voter suppression. The question is whether this latest revelation of Trump and the GOP’s attempt to subvert democracy will force enough Democrats to finally abandon the dangerous illusion of “bipartisanship” and flex their power to fight for accountability and justice. One piece of good news is that Pelosi said Tuesday that the House committees will continue their investigations after Republicans blocked the Senate commission. Also, the House Oversight Committee said it will request Rosen, Meadows, and top Trump officials to appear for interviews in light of the latest revelations. Judging from what we’ve seen, Republicans won’t be forthcoming.

If they don’t comply, will Democrats finally flex their subpoena power, do a media blitz, and unite on messaging that Republicans are actively aiding and abetting the destruction of our democracy? One can only hope. It’s time for Democrats to unleash hell, as I’ve discussed before both here and here.

Our democracy is worth it. It’s time for them to behave like Republicans and finally bring a bazooka to this knife fight. If they forfeit their power and principle for “bipartisanship” then they might as well acknowledge they are actively complicit with a counter-majoritarian, extremist GOP that is actively trying to subvert democracy in front of our eyes.

https://www.mediamatters.org/michael-flynn/qanon-supporters-and-far-right-message-boards-follow-michael-flynns-lead-endorsing coup

an 621

https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/mike-flynn-2649618737/

colin pwl cos ct martial

an 621

the second-most revered figure in the QAnon conspiracy firmament called for a military coup in the United States. Again. Retired three-star general and former Trump campaign national security advisor Mike Flynn called for the end of democracy during a question-and-answer session last weekend at a QAnon conference in Dallas.

"I'm a simple Marine," a grizzled audience member said, "I wanna know why what happened in Minamar (sic) can't happen here." The room erupted. Flynn waited for the cheering to subside and said, "No reason. I mean, it should happen here."

Flynn reportedly called the conference organizers to backtrack. He's now denying that he said what we all saw him say, but let's get one thing straight: Mike Flynn is a liar.

Trump fired him for lying to Mike Pence about Russia. He pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, but he lied in his plea deal, so Trump had to pardon him. Now he's lying about how he called for a military coup in the United States. On video. This is nothing new for Flynn. After the 2020 election, Flynn privately urged then-president Donald Trump to send troops to "re-run" the election, an idea he'd previously floated in the media.

It's nothing new for QAnon either. QAnon supporters have been cheering on the coup in Myanmar since the military overthrew the democratically elected government in February. The junta has killed over 800 people, including more than 40 children, but QAnon supporters don't know anything about Myanmar's internal politics. They just like coups. After Trump's failed coup attempt on January 6, many of them found it comforting to know a military still could overthrow a democracy somewhere.

And why wouldn't they? The beating heart of QAnon's dark theology is The Storm, the military coup that is always right around the corner. The Storm is the day when Donald Trump and the armed forces liquidates QAnon's political enemies: Democrats, Hollywood celebrities, the media, and anyone who stands against them. The former president will retake his rightful place in the White House, democracy be damned.

According to a new poll, nearly a quarter of white evangelicals believe The Storm is coming to restore "rightful leaders." This mythology fits naturally with the Big Lie that Trump won the election. QAnon believers heard Donald Trump's call to come to Washington on January 6 as the coming of the storm. Many of them believed they were being summoned to take part in the long-awaited battle between good and evil.

Most normal people think of QAnon as the "pedo cabal" people. Indeed, QAnon talks a good game about saving the children from pedophiles. As disturbing as they sound, these child-abuse fantasies are good for recruiting unsuspecting converts. After all, everyone wants to prevent child abuse. QAnon has deep roots in evangelical Christianity and its most fervent proponents have thought long and hard—and written with uncharacteristic coherence—about how to best recruit. Attitude change begins with finding common ground. You can get almost anyone to agree that child abuse is a problem. That provides the common ground needed to begin a conversation in which the believer can plant seeds in the prospective convert's mind about other aspects of QAnon. This process is called "red-pilling," a reference to The Matrix, a movie during which the hero swallows the red pill to dissolve illusion and reveal ultimate reality.

The news media's focus on pedophilia obscures the core of QAnon's ideology, which is a longing for glorious, purifying and revelational violence. The pedophiles of QAnon mythology are the alter-egos of powerful Democratic politicians, Hollywood celebrities, journalists and Jewish financiers George Soros and the Rothschilds. These are the villains who will be purged by the military when The Storm is finally upon us.

Unfortunately for QAnon, normal people love democracy as much as they hate pedophilia. So recruiters don't open with talk of a coup. The faithful avoid talking about it to journalists. That's why Flynn is taking pains to walk back his comment. While The Storm is normal in QAnon circles, it's still taboo in the outside world.

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// gaetz 2nd amend duty?

Donie O'Sullivan is a reporter for CNN. His beat appears to be American conspiracy theories. He was on Anderson Cooper's show last night with reporting on a QAnon conference last weekend during which former Donald Trump adviser and pardoned traitor Michael Flynn said a Myanmar-style military coup "should happen" in America.

That some people in this country long for purifying violence to "reinstate" Donald Trump to his "rightful place" is not what got my attention, though. What did was Donie O'Sullivan's editorial remark at the end of his report. This is what he said:

I spend a lot of time reading these pro-Trump forums, reading these QAnon forums online, and speaking to Trump supporters, and I will say of all the conspiracy theories we hear, this talk from Americans about a coup, cheering a coup, and hoping for a coup, in the United States is one of the most chilling things I hear.

Before I go on, I should say O'Sullivan appears to be an immigrant. (I think he's Irish, given his accent.) As such, I don't expect him to be as attuned to American political culture as I'd expect a native-born American to be. Indeed, as a non-native, I'd expect him to be more attuned to the American civic religion than native-born Americans generally are, because fealty to the civic religion is so often demanded of immigrants.

This civic religion believes military coups and their consequent dictatorships cannot happen in the United States. Ordinary Americans do not want them, moreover, because it would be against their civic religion. You can't quite tell from the written version of his remark, but when you watch the clip, you can hear O'Sullivan put a little more stress on "American" when he says he's chilled to hear Americans, of all people on this earth, talking "about a coup, cheering a coup, and hoping for a coup, in the United States." Implicit point: this is what Trump has done to the globe's oldest democracy.

I suspect some of O'Sullivan's remark was showmanship. (He does work for CNN, after all.) But I think some of it, maybe most of it, reflects the conventional wisdom in Washington—that it's shocking to hear Americans talk this way. It's not shocking, though. It's familiar and quite normal when you know where to look. Fact is, lots of Americans believe they are God's chosen people. They believe the end of the world is coming, according to God's divine plan. They believe the US Constitution is a covenant with them only, and that a genocidal purge will preface Christ's return.

This is the End Times I'm talking about, a story about global events culminating ic that "reinstates" the King of Kings to his rightful place. It's a story millions of Americans tell themselves and their children. It's a story in which the messy and hard-to-understand world around us is no such thing. Instead, it is polarized as conflict between God's friends and God's enemies. The only difficulty is decoding the signs and symbols God lays out. Reality isn't real. Reality is a sinful illusion. What's real is the trail of secrets leading the chosen safely to The End. Argument, language, reasoning—they don't matter. Only they can know The Truth.

The conventional wisdom in Washington is that religion is off-limits. Therefore, the conventional wisdom in Washington does not see, because it will not see, that tens of millions of Americans already believe democracy is getting in the way of God's plan, that democracy is—and I mean this seriously—desecrating the sacredness of the US Constitution. As one critic put it, the Venn diagram showing the overlap of QAnon believers and white evangelical Protestants (and related groups) is actually a circle. When you stand with God against His enemies, you have God's permission to hate.

That's their religion. No, it's not a cult. It's more than that. It's deeper than that. The hate felt by the former president's supporters during four years' worth of political rallies is the same hate for America as it stands, not as they desire it to stand, that right-wing religious radicals have felt since post-Civil War America. That's when Charles Darwin's theories and what they determined about humanity's place in God's divine scheme first gained traction in the United States. Every single intellectual development—from evolution then to Critical Race Theory now—has been met with such hate. I don't understand why the conventional wisdom looks away from history.

Because it's easier, I guess. It's easier to maintain the myth of the civic religion; to be shocked by Americans talking about a military coup; to blame the former president for imperiling the world's oldest democracy. It's easier to respect religion without scrutinizing it too much, and risk discovering it's steeped in hate, which might force the conventional wisdom in Washington to take responsibility. On this one-year anniversary since Trump gassed Americans out of the way for a photo-op of him holding a Bible in front of a church, we need the truth. And that's never been easy.

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https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/michael-flynn/

traitor mem day, reverse mirror or just fact?

mirror of smartmatic kraken suits?

Flynn's family members file $75M lawsuit against CNN over QAnon video

321 an

https://www.alternet.org/2021/02/oval-office-meeting/

President Donald Trump, weeks after losing the November 2020 election by more than 7 million votes and more than 70 electoral votes, discussed declaring national security emergency powers his White House attorneys told him he did not have.

That's according to a stunning report that details a December 18 meeting in the Oval Office and the White House Residence from Axios, "Inside the craziest meeting of the Trump presidency."

The meeting included White House senior adviser Eric Herschmann, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, and White House staff secretary Derek Lyons, on the one side, and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, former Trump administration official Emily Newman, and attorney Sidney Powell, who is now being sued for $1.3 billion by Dominion voting machines.

Powell "proposed declaring a national security emergency, granting her and her cabal top-secret security clearances and using the U.S. government to seize Dominion's voting machines."

At one point Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani joined by phone, and was forced to tell everyone in the "heated" meeting to calm down. Axios reports at one point the "meeting had come entirely off the rails," and says "people were yelling and cursing" inside the Oval Office.

Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, "wearing jeans, a hoodie and a neck gaiter, piped up with his own conspiracy: 'I know how this works. I bribed Hillary Clinton $18 million on behalf of the FBI for a sting operation,' he said, according to Axios."

Herschmann stared at the eccentric millionaire. "What the hell are you talking about? Why would you say something like that?" Byrne brought up the bizarre Clinton bribery claim several more times during the meeting to the astonishment of White House lawyers.

Trump, for his part, also seemed perplexed by Byrne. But he was not entirely convinced the ideas Powell was presenting were insane.

He asked: You guys are offering me nothing. These guys are at least offering me a chance. They're saying they have the evidence. Why not try this? The president seemed truly to believe the election was stolen, and his overriding sentiment was, let's give this a shot.

The words "martial law" were never spoken during the meeting, despite Flynn having raised the idea in an appearance the previous day on Newsmax, a right-wing hive for election conspiracies.

But this was a distinction without much of a difference. What Flynn and Powell were proposing amounted to suspending normal laws and mobilizing the U.S. government to seize Dominion voting machines around the country.

Both Lyons and Morgan "expressed skepticism" about Flynn and Powell's idea of "invoking national security emergency powers."

"Trump expressed skepticism at various points about Powell's theories, but he said, 'At least she's out there fighting.'"

Axios adds the "handful of White House lawyers and advisers" were "determined to keep the president from giving in to temptation to invoke emergency national security powers, seize voting machines and disable the primary levers of American democracy."

Read the entire report here.

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omfg

Trump, according to CNN's Kaitlin Collins, has chosen Rep. Devin Nunes of California to receive the Medal of Freedom — and Collins describes Trump's reasons for picking the far-right conspiracy theorist as a "doozy."

According to an official statement from the Trump White House, Nunes' "courageous actions helped thwart a plot to take down a sitting United States president. He also forced the disclosure of documents that proved that a corrupt senior FBI official pursued a vindictive persecution of Gen. Michael Flynn — even after rank and file FBI agents found no evidence of wrongdoing."

Here are some of the incredulous reactions that Twitter users have had to what Collins accurately described as a "doozy":...

https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/devin-nunes/

https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-qanon-general-tracing-the-rise-fall-and-rebirth-of-michael-flynn/

no lnx vid twt

The QAnon General: Tracing the Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Michael Flynn

By Karim Zidan | December 18, 2020

RETIRED ARMY GEN. Michael Flynn was speaking to a crowd of unmasked Trump loyalists on the steps of the Supreme Court when Marine One flew overhead, soliciting cheers from the delighted audience. Flynn—a special guest speaker at the Dec. 12 rally—stopped mid-sentence and stood in awe of the helicopter while the crowd attempted to sing the national anthem.

“That’s pretty cool,” said Flynn, who served as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser for 22 days before resigning and eventually pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador. “Imagine just being able to jump in a helicopter and just go for a joy ride around Washington.”

The retired Army lieutenant general continued where he left off, echoing unfounded allegations that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden because of widespread voter fraud. He called for “fair, transparent counts,” demanded that Americans get the “truth,” and called out the “media” for its supposed censorship of that truth.

“We’re waging a battle,” Flynn told the raucous crowd.

Flynn’s remarks came a day after the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit from Texas that sought to overturn Biden’s wins in Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. Despite the judicial decision, Flynn encouraged the crowd to have faith in their president and to seek out “avenues” to challenge the results of the election, insisting that the “courts aren’t going to decide who the next president of the United States is going to be. We the people decide.”

“In this crucible moment of our time, we have to pray that truth triumphs over lies, justice triumphs over abuse and fraud, honesty triumphs over corruption,” Flynn said. “Our sacred honor triumphs over infamy.”

After concluding his speech, the disgraced general, who has since been pardoned by Trump, stopped to enjoy his growing fandom among Trump loyalists. He smiled as the crowd chanted “Fight like Flynn” and was even chased by ravenous fans who screamed “We love you, general!” before being stopped by his bodyguards.

Despite Flynn’s unceremonious exit from Trump’s administration in 2017, the retired general remained popular with fringe corners of Trump’s loyal fanbase, including adherents of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory. For years, Flynn has been an important component of the QAnon community, a portion of whom believe he holds pivotal secrets about the so-called “deep state.” His recent presidential pardon reinvigorated their conspiracy theories and validated his status as a hero to their cause—a cause that the general appears to have embraced himself.

“Flynn Facts”

IN JULY 2016, Michael Flynn delivered a fiery speech at the Republican National Convention targeting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over her handling of top secret information. After calling Clinton “weak,” “spineless,” and “reckless,” Flynn led chants of “Lock her up” with the crowd in attendance.

“Yeah, that’s right; lock her up,” Flynn said while clapping into the microphone.

Less than seven months later, Flynn was dismissed from his post as Trump’s national security adviser shortly after The Washington Post revealed that the general had spoken to the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, about sanctions between the two nations, and had later lied to the FBI about the conversation with Kislyak. Flynn continued to deny the accusations in the days leading up to his firing on Feb. 13, 2017.

Two months later, acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified to a Senate Judiciary panel that she believed “Gen. Flynn was compromised with respect to the Russians.”

“To state the obvious, you don’t want your national security adviser compromised by the Russians,” Yates, who was later fired for refusing to defend Trump’s travel ban, added.

By Nov. 30, 2017, Flynn had signed a plea agreement with special counsel and former FBI Director Robert Mueller, in which he acknowledged lying to the FBI about his sanctions conversation with Kislyak. Then, on Dec. 1, Flynn pleaded guilty and began cooperating with the special counsel’s investigation into the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 election.

“I recognize that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong, and, through my faith in God, I am working to set things right,” Flynn said in a statement that day. “My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel’s Office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country. I accept full responsibility for my actions.”

Flynn’s plea agreement was a significant development in the Russia probe at the time. The retired lieutenant general was one of Trump’s top advisers during the 2016 presidential campaign. Though a registered Democrat, Flynn campaigned for Trump and attacked Clinton, even going so far as to accuse her and her aides of child-sex trafficking. Ironically, his son, Michael Flynn Jr., lost his job as one of Trump’s aides after posting similar tweets involving the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.

Flynn’s political tenure began long before Trump was campaigning for the U.S. presidency. In 2012, President Barack Obama promoted Flynn to director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, elevating him to one of the most powerful positions in U.S. military intelligence. During his time as head of the DIA, U.S. intelligence officials became concerned by Flynn’s contacts in Moscow. According to the New York Times, Flynn also made baseless assertions about Islam—he once incorrectly claimed that Islamic law, known as Shariah, is spreading in the United States—which his subordinates have labeled “Flynn Facts.” He was dismissed by Obama in 2014 and retired from the U.S. Army after 33 years of service later that year.

Michael Flynn seated two seats down from Vladimir Putin at RT gala in Moscow, Russia (Credit: Wikicommons)]

Following his retirement, Flynn founded the Flynn Intel Group Inc, a consulting agency that provided intelligence services for governments. In 2015, he attended a gala for the Russian state-owned RT media company in Moscow, Russia, where he was seated two seats down from Russian President Vladimir Putin and was paid $45,000 to give a talk during the event. Then, during the 2016 presidential campaign, it was revealed that Flynn was paid more than $500,000 to represent the interests of the Turkish government. While he did not work directly for the Turkish government, the firm that hired him is owned by a Turkish-American businessman with ties to Erdogan’s government. Flynn also failed to file paperwork registering as a foreign agent.

Despite his past role as a foreign agent and lobbyist for foreign interest in the U.S., when QAnon—a far-right, pro-Trump conspiracy theory that claims a cabal of elite pedophiles consisting of Hollywood actors, Democrats, and high-ranking officials are behind a global child sex-trafficking ring—was born was internet message boards in 2017, the retired general was seen as an ally to the cause. When he was being investigated by the FBI, many QAnon adherents expected him to be exonerated of all alleged crimes in the Russia probe. His delayed sentencing on several occasions only helped fuel the conspiracy theories regarding his innocence.

By July 2019, Flynn fired the attorneys who helped negotiate his plea agreement and hired Sidney Powell, a QAnon supporter who would later become known for filing the infamous “Kraken” lawsuit alleging widespread election fraud in the 2020 election. (Read Right Wing Watch’s in-depth reporting on Sidney Powell here). At Powell’s urging, Flynn moved to withdraw his guilty plea, citing a breach in the plea agreement, and further proclaiming his innocence. Then, following pressure from Trump who called for the charges against Flynn to be dropped, the Department of Justice filed motions to dismiss the case. The motion was then put on hold by the federal judge overseeing the case as he reviewed the request.

Despite the snag, Flynn would soon be a free man, ready to assume his figurative role as the QAnon general.

The Digital Soldiers [interesting grafix]

“IT IS MY Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon,” Trump tweeted on Nov. 25, 2020. “I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!”

The move had been expected. Trump had hinted back in March that he was “strongly considering” pardoning Flynn, despite the fact that the retired general had not yet been sentenced. The pardon was met with criticism from Democrats—Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it “an act of grave corruption and a brazen abuse of power” in her official statement—while Trump loyalists celebrated the decision to save a man they viewed as a political casualty. Even the White House described Flynn as an “innocent man” and the “victim of partisan government officials engaged in a coordinated attempt to subvert the election of 2016.”

In the weeks that followed, Flynn underwent a strategic public relations campaign, which included appearances on Fox News and the right-wing Epoch Times, public speeches (as seen at the Jericho March on Dec. 12), and even a few radio hits on “The Dan Bongino Show,” among others. His aim was not only to rehabilitate his own public image, but to stand in vehement opposition to Biden’s imminent presidency.

During media appearances, Flynn repeated baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud and Dominion Voting Systems, citing his lawyer Sidney Powell’s “Kraken” lawsuits. He alleged that “thousands” of Americans have come forward with grievances and proof regarding voter fraud and that transparency is required to ensure the sanctity of the election process. During a recent appearance on Fox News (his third since being pardoned), Flynn suggested that Americans will “not allow” Biden’s inauguration to go ahead in January 2021.

Flynn also encouraged Americans to boycott the upcoming Georgia Senate runoffs, despite the fact that the winners will help determine which party will control the Senate. “We have to get the last election right before we start talking about any other runoff election like they are down in Georgia. That’s a falsehood that people shouldn’t even be considering right now,” he said.

While much of Flynn’s arguments are rooted in references to QAnon-linked conspiracy theories, the former three-star general has also pandered to the group by appearing on podcasts hosted by QAnon influencers. During a Dec. 4 appearance on “The Matrixxx Groove Show,” a podcast that claims to have the “most red-pilled audience” and is popular within the QAnon community, Flynn revealed that the show’s “listeners have inspired us and allowed us to fight the deep, deep corruption that we face in our government.”

“The digital army that we have is unstoppable,” Flynn continued. “The digital soldiers that we have are committed, dedicated servants of our country.”

This is not the first time that Flynn has referenced the term “digital soldiers.” The general first used the term during a November 2016 speech to the Young America’s Foundation, where he bragged about being the general of an “army of digital soldiers” that waged an “insurgency” to “take over” information and the media. The term has since been adopted by QAnon adherents, many of whom view themselves as digital soldiers fighting against the forces of the so-called deep state.

Flynn has continued to reference digital soldiers during media appearances and on social media—it is one of the main hashtags on his Twitter bio, along with #TakeTheOath, which is also a reference to QAnon. During his interview with “The Matrixxx Groove Show,” he referred to digital soldiers as the “largest law firm in the world” because they would “enlighten the people of this country and also the tactical legal team that we have, eventually led by America’s guardian angel of justice, Sidney Powell.”

To close out his appearance on the show, Flynn hinted that he is on the run from the deep state, “I’m on the move. I gotta make sure I’m a moving target because these son-of-a-guns, they’re after me, in a literal and a figurative sense at some time.”

The general’s deepening ties to QAnon have been apparent for several months now, well before he was pardoned in November. On Independence Day, Flynn posted a video of himself alongside members of his family reciting the QAnon slogan “Where we go one we go all,” making Flynn the most prominent former U.S. official to publicly stoke QAnon.

Michael Flynn taking QAnon oath with family members (Credit: screenshot)]

Flynn’s overt show of support to the QAnon movement has only helped energize a community that has been struggling to stay on message in the wake of Trump’s election loss and Q’s limited drops. While QAnon adherents would have preferred to see Flynn exonerated instead of pardoned, as the latter suggests guilt, they have used the pardon as a sign that thing are going according to plan.

“Any anons apart from myself getting goosebumps now that Flynn is free?” an admin of a QAnon channel with thousands of subscribers asked on Nov. 28. (Anon refers to anonymous users.)“My whole body is in goosebumps.”

“I am anxious to see Gen. Flynn in action,” another replied.

The lionization of Flynn within the QAnon movement emphasizes his importance to the movement. For QAnon adherents, the idea that a three-star lieutenant general and former high-ranking U.S. official supporting their community validates their efforts and proves that the deep state exists. When he refers to them as digital soldiers, he is exciting the countless QAnon followers who feel compelled to take matters into their own hands and legitimizing their undertaking.

QAnon meme referencing digital soldiers (Credit: Telegram) band of bros]

The QAnon community was further electrified on Dec. 1 when Flynn retweeted a call for Trump to temporarily suspend constitutional order and declare martial law to have the U.S. military oversee a new presidential election—a topic that had been popular within QAnon circles in the weeks following the Nov. 3 election. One QAnon follower in a private QAnon channel called for martial law after stating that Americans have “no Supreme Court, no DOJ, no FBI to protect us from the Government,” while another suggested that worldwide martial law would “fix” the “fucking fake Media.”

Not only is Flynn an important figure within the QAnon conspiracy theory, he is also a key proponent of the movement. His willingness to pander to the dangerous far-right conspiracy theory, encourage its adherents to continue tumbling down their rabbit holes, and promote totalitarian militaristic policies such as martial law raises concerns about his potential to further radicalize Trump loyalists ahead of Biden’s inauguration.

After spending 33 years as a decorated combat veteran who retired from the military with three stars, Flynn has now assumed the role he seems to have long dreamed of: the star general leading a digital army in service to Q.

Tags: Barack Obama Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Lin Wood Michael Flynn Robert Muller Sidney Powell conspiracy theories Deep State Pizzagate QAnon

https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/trump-coup-2649538441

no lnx twt vid

Four chilling signs Trump's attempted coup is escalating

Bob Brigham December 18, 2020

President Donald Trump continues to refuse to concede that he lost the 2020 election to President-elect Joe Biden.

There were four major signs on Thursday evening that the Republican effort to overthrow the election is escalating.

The first sign was when former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn suggested on NewsMax Trump could use "military capabilities" to overturn the election in swing states hold do-over elections.[mart law used 64x]

The second sign occurred a short time later on Fox News when White House advisor Peter Navarro said President-elect Biden would be an "illegal and illegitimate president."

The third sign was when White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany argued on Fox News that Congress could use "alternate slates" of electors to steal the election.

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1339758838535180288

The fourth sign was Trump's Twitter account.

Trump complimented Senator-elect Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) for saying he would back Trump's efforts to overturn the election in Congress.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1339758142381551629

Trump then falsely claimed he won Wisconsin and that the vote was rigged.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1339759289234317312

And then Trump complained about the United States Supreme Court refusing to go along with his efforts to overturn the election.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1339759289234317312

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post scotus mult pathways to win 100%

do not vote runoff

nick fuentes destroy the gop

https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/flynn/

see proud boy / violence

Flynn, who pushed for Trump martial law, says Americans will 'not allow' Biden inauguration

David Edwards Raw Story December 13, 2020

Disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Sunday insisted that Americans will "not allow" President-elect Joe Biden's "false inauguration" to go forward.

Flynn, who has previously s...

an 1220

In his column for the Daily Beast, conservative commentator Matt Lewis expressed exasperation with evangelical leaders who are set to lead what has been dubbed the "Jericho March" in Washington D.C. on Saturday under the belief they can pray God into helping Donald Trump remain in the Oval Office for four more years.

Lewis, who wears his faith on his sleeve, has long condemned members of the Christian community who have attached them to the president who, by his actions and his deeds, has never exemplified any Christian values other than giving them occasional lip service.

As the Daily Beast columnist sees it, the group scheduled to appear are a motley crew who do not exemplify the best the evangelical community has to offer.

Writing that "some prominent members of the Christian church are undermining the church's witness," Lewis added, "For evidence, look no further than this Saturday, when former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn (who recently shared a message calling on Trump to declare 'limited martial law' and hold a new election) will give his first post-pardon speech at something called the Jericho March in Washington, D.C. Aside from Flynn, the roster includes other prominent MAGA names like Mike Lindell (the MyPillow guy), Eric Metaxas (a radio host who punched a protester and recently said, 'I'd be happy to die in this fight'), Ali Alexander (formerly Ali Akbar), and C.J. Pearson. Afterwards, the crowd will converge on the National Mall for the 'ROAR' prayer rally."

note that they coopt abe and always threaten violence in response to enemy attack big media chicomm

wa exmr; lofly727 is proude wife of am hero Lori, justice scales gold logo, i spoze a plea /demand for justice for him

former national security adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn promoted a petition this week that calls for the temporary suspension of the Constitution and a re-vote for the 2020 election.

“Freedom never kneels except for God,” the recently pardoned Flynn tweeted along with the petition advertising the We The People Convention.

#WeThePeople @SidneyPowell1 @LLinWood @DanScavino @LouDobbs @MariaBartiromo @marklevinshow @lofly727

Freedom never kneels except for God

— General Flynn (@GenFlynn) December 1, 2020

A letter alongside the petition urged President Trump to declare martial law to temporarily suspend the Constitution for the sole purpose of a national re-vote overseen by the military that “reflects the true will of the people.”

The letter also discussed the actions that President Abraham Lincoln undertook during the Civil War when he ordered newspapers to be shut down, arrested an Ohio congressman, signed an arrest warrant for a Supreme Court justice who ruled against him, and arrested citizens suspected of supporting the South.

The letter states that while those decisions are still being debated today, it is undeniable that Lincoln’s actions “saved the Republic” and are part of the reason he is viewed as one of the country's greatest presidents.

“You must also act, like Lincoln did, to silence the destructive media’s one-sided propaganda designed and proven to influence the election outcome, and end the unlawful censorship of Big Tech, to restore the confidence of the American People in our electoral process or we cannot continue as a nation,” the letter reads. “Failure to do so could result in massive violence and destruction on a level not seen since the Civil War. Limited Martial Law is clearly a better option than Civil War!”

The petition was also posted by attorney Lin Wood, who is part of the legal effort to overturn election results in several key states in response to allegations of rampant voter fraud.

“@realDonaldTrump should declare martial law,” Wood tweeted, arguing that the United States is on the brink of another Civil War.

Good morning.

Our country is headed to civil war. A war created by 3rd party bad actors for their benefit - not for We The People.

Communist China is leading the nefarious efforts to take away our freedom.@realDonaldTrump should declare martial law.https://t.co/h3Ym5ytMYt

— Lin Wood (@LLinWood) December 1, 2020

All major news outlets have called the presidential race for Joe Biden as Trump continues to mount legal challenges. The president has said he will leave office if he is not the winner after the Electoral College voters convene later this month. However, he and other Republicans, including Republican Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks this week, have also signaled the fight could continue after that.

https://billmoyers.com/story/a-deadly-attack-on-our-democracy/

december 2, 2020

Yesterday evening, Trump’s disgraced former National Security Advisor, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn– whom Trump recently pardoned after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak before Trump took office– retweeted a news release from a right-wing Ohio group called “We the People Convention.” That release contained a petition asking Trump to declare martial law, suspend the Constitution, silence the media, and have the military “oversee a national re-vote.”

The petition ends with a threat of violence, calling on Trump “to boldly act to save our nation…. We will also have no other choice but to take matters into our own hands, and defend our rights on our own, if you do not act within your powers to defend us.”

University of Texas School of Law Professor Steve Vladeck pointed out that “The Uniform Code of Military Justice defines as ‘sedition’ one who, ‘with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of lawful civil authority, creates, in concert with any other person, revolt, violence, or other disturbance against that authority.’…”

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley today pointedly distanced the military from talk of a coup. “Our military is very very capable… we are determined to defend the US Constitution,” he said. “No one should doubt that.” A defense official told Military Times that the idea of Trump declaring martial law and having the military re-do the election is “insane in a year that we didn’t think could get anymore insane.”

He spoke too soon. This afternoon the president released a video of himself making a speech he said was “maybe the most important speech I’ve ever made.” It was a 46-minute rant insisting, despite all evidence to the contrary, that he won the 2020 election. While he has lost virtually every court challenge he has mounted and his own Attorney General, William Barr, has said there was no evidence of fraud that would change the outcome of the election, Trump continues to insist that there was “massive” voter fraud, and called on the Supreme Court to “do what’s right for our country” including throwing out hundreds of thousands of Democratic votes so “I very easily win in all states.”

Joe Biden leads Trump in the popular vote with 80.9 million votes to Trump’s 74 million. Biden has won the Electoral College by 306 votes to Trump’s 232. These results are not close.

Let me take a step back here for a minute to emphasize that this is dangerous, unprecedented… and crazy. The president of the United States is trying to undermine an election for which there is no evidence there was any irregularity, in order to stay in power. He might be doing so for the money — he has raised $170 million so far on promises to challenge this election — or because he is worried about the lawsuits he can expect as soon as he is not protected by the presidential office.

Or, perhaps, he is simply escalating his rhetoric to continue to grab headlines as he feels the focus of the world slipping away from him and he cannot stand it. For the focus of the world is indeed slipping away from him.

The president has largely ceased to govern, nursing his grievances in the White House and emerging only to golf.

The coronavirus pandemic is burning out of control. A new estimate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that deaths from Covid-19 are likely much higher than official numbers suggest. Deaths in the United States were 19% higher from March to November of this year than normal. More than 345,000 people than normal have died in that period. This number includes deaths from other causes—drug overdoses, for example—but suggests that the pandemic has exacerbated death rates aside from those caused by Covid-19.

Today we hit a grim milestone, with at least 2,760 new deaths today from Covid. This is the highest daily death toll in America so far, passing the spring high-water mark. Coronavirus hospitalizations also reached a new high with more than 100,000 people admitted.

Democrats made a huge concession in their efforts to combat the pandemic recession today, dropping their call for a $2 trillion coronavirus package and accepting the new bipartisan $908 billion package as the starting point for negotiations with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The new plan calls for $300 a week in federal unemployment benefits from December 1 to at least March; $240 billion in Paycheck Protection Program assistance for small businesses (this will be touchy because we learned today that most of the money from the original PPP went to big businesses, including a number of chains); $160 billion for state and local governments; $51 billion in money for vaccines and healthcare; and a temporary liability provision to shield businesses from lawsuits related to coronavirus.

McConnell has already rejected this bipartisan measure, but Senator John Thune (R-SD), part of the Republican leadership, called the Democrats’ willingness to come so far down “progress.” For his part, Biden today agreed with Americans talking about the recession in a virtual roundtable that Congress must “pass a robust package of relief to address your urgent needs now,” but reminded them: “my ability to get you help immediately does not exist. I’m not even in office for another 50 days. And then I have to get legislation passed through the United States Congress to get things done.”

Still, for all that Trump’s posturing seems like a sign that he sees power slipping away from him as the country confronts the pandemic and the recession without him, his words are a deadly assault on our democracy by the man who swore an oath to defend it. This attack cannot be dismissed as Trump being Trump. It strikes at the very heart of who we are.

For all that attacking the election might be reality television for Trump, his supporters take it very seriously indeed. At a rally in Georgia, Trump’s ally, lawyer Lin Wood, insisted he had seen the “real” results of the election, and that Trump won “over 410” electoral votes. “He damn near won every state including California!” The crowd blamed Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, for the fact that the state’s recount did not go to Trump. “Lock him up!” they chanted.

Today, the Supervisor of Elections in Pasco County, Florida, Republican Brian E. Corley, said he felt compelled to speak out against those attacking the election. “Facts are stubborn things,” he wrote in a statement. It is a lie to say the election was fraudulent, he said, and “[w]ith every deep state conspiracy and illegitimate claim of fraud our democracy sinks deeper and deeper into divisiveness. As the world looks on, the greatest democracy in the world dares to risk the peaceful and orderly transition of power in favor of propagating unfounded claims of ‘rigged elections.’” “The people have spoken, and… the election is over.”

Tonight, the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office tweeted that their elections team was “threatened with execution by firing squad.” It said, “This has to stop. The wild, unfounded accusations amplified by [Trump] need to stop.”

But much of Republican Party leadership is not denouncing Trump’s behavior. Leaders are staying silent, although they are sidling away from him. It is noticeable that Vice President Mike Pence has been silent about Trump’s reelection accusations — he was on the ticket, too, after all — and although Trump has made it clear he intends to run again in 2024, Trump’s hand-picked Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel has invited about a dozen potential 2024 candidates to a meeting in January, signaling that she is not wedded to another Trump candidacy.

Meanwhile, Trump’s former lawyer Sidney Powell illustrated the growing divide between Trump supporters and the Republican Party when, after insisting that Trump lost in Georgia because the voting machines there are not secure, she urged voters to boycott January’s runoff Senate elections in the state. Those elections will determine which party controls the US. Senate.

While today’s Republicans are looking the other way as their president undermines our democracy, it has not always been this way. On this date in 1954, the Senate voted 67 to 22 to condemn the behavior of Senator Joe McCarthy, who lied and bullied and blustered to stay in power until finally, in televised hearings, lawyer Joseph Nye Welsh shook his head at McCarthy’s recklessness and cruelty and asked: “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

TOPICS: LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

TAGS: 2020 ELECTION, CORONAVIRUS, CORONAVIRUS RELIEF BILL, DONALD TRUMP, ELECTION MISINFORMATION, HC-RICHARDSON, JOE BIDEN, MARTIAL LAW, MICHAEL FLYNN, MITCH MCCONNELL, UNEMPLOYMENT

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON TEACHES AMERICAN HISTORY AT BOSTON COLLEGE. SHE IS THE AUTHOR OF A NUMBER OF BOOKS, MOST RECENTLY, HOW THE SOUTH WON THE CIVIL WAR: OLIGARCHY, DEMOCRACY, AND THE CONTINUING FIGHT FOR THE SOUL OF AMERICA. SHE WRITES THE POPULAR NIGHTLY NEWSLETTER LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

rt richter

QAnon movement gets assertive

Star MAGA attorney Lin Wood strutted across a stage in Georgia on Wednesday, riling up the crowd with a southern revival energy and, at one point, waving around a coonskin cap he had found in the crowd. He was in his element. And at one point, he inspired a “lock him up” chant aimed at the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp.

But within the pomp, Wood had a serious message for the audience: don’t vote for Republican Senate candidates in the state’s upcoming runoffs, unless they meet our demands.

"They have not earned your vote,” Wood said. “Don't you give it to them.”

Until then, most Republican officials were happy to ignore Wood’s hapless attempts to save the election for Donald Trump, which involved wild allegations of a deep, corrupt scheme to shift thousands of votes to Joe Biden. Telling his fans not to vote for Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, however, appeared to be a step too far. Within hours, Breitbart denounced Wood as a former Democratic donor in an attack that was picked up by the Trump campaign. Soon after, other conservatives were piling on too, with Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) accusing Wood of being a plant and Rush Limbaugh and Roger Stone distancing themselves from him.

The fault lines made clear just how contentious the post-election political environment has become for the Republican Party. And it underscored a new problem that it faces, mainly the rise of an aggressive, increasingly assertive QAnon wing. The GOP is now divided between conspiracy theorists and those who want to keep at least a toehold in reality.

Both Wood and former Trump lawyer turned professional conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell, who joined him on the stage, have built up their ties with QAnon believers. Wood includes a reference to the QAnon motto “Where we go one, we go all” in his Twitter bio, and recently endorsed a call for exactly the kind of military rule QAnon believers eagerly hope for.

Wood’s demand is also the quintessential QAnon demand: endless investigations until what he wants to come true finally happens. Wood and his supporters claim to want Perdue and Loeffler to back a special session of the Georgia legislature to investigate the 2020 election. But, since Georgia recounts have proven the race wasn’t affected by fraud, this demand really equates to the kind of endless investigations QAnon supporters crave.

At the end of the investigation, the thinking goes, there’ll be some kind of catharsis — in QAnon’s case, a violent “Storm” that features mass-arrests of Trump’s enemies, or, in Wood’s case, Georgia’s legislators assuring that the state’s electors be handed to Trump.

In the meantime, as long as the investigations are ongoing, QAnon believers won’t have to face reality: that no such arrests are coming and that Biden will be sworn into office.

That puts Republican officials in a bind: keep up the farce and order endless probes into the 2020 election, or face the wrath of QAnon believers and other Trump supporters living in their individual fantasy lands.

Wood’s intra-Republican fight has drawn in a number of other fringe groups. Interestingly, the influential “The Gateway Pundit” blog sided with him and accused Breitbart—the bane of the pre-Trump GOP establishment's existence—of carrying water for the Republican establishment. Columnist Michelle Malkin, who’s now palling around with racist college students in the “groyper” movement, slammed Crenshaw for attacking Wood.

At his rally, Wood even raised the prospect of pulling support more broadly from Republicans.

“Maybe it’s time to look beyond the Democrats and the Republicans,” Wood said, to cheers. “Maybe it’s time for the party of the people.”

Wood’s ambitions to shake up the GOP — or at least pressure it into meeting his demands — could extend for years. At one point in the rally, Wood donned a “FLYNN” cap, a reference to former Trump national security adviser and central QAnon protagonist Michael Flynn.

“How about Sidney Powell and Mike Flynn in 2024?” Wood said, floating the QAnon dream ticket.

Sidney Powell falls for The Voice parody

...

https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/trump-pentagon/

no lnx twt

Trump’s Pentagon nominee promoted calls for the president to declare martial law: report

Alex Henderson December 04, 2020

Scott O'Grady is a former fighter pilot who President Donald Trump has nominated for a senior position in the Pentagon. And according to CNN, he is also a Trump loyalist and far-right conspiracy theorist who has been echoing Trump's baseless claims of widespread voter fraud and shared tweets calling for martial law.

Trump supporters who have posted or forwarded tweets urging the president to declare martial law include attorney Lin Wood (who has been fighting President-elect Joe Biden's victory in Georgia) and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

According to CNN reporters Nathan McDermott, Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck, O'Grady "retweeted an account that shared an article that said former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had shared a petition that called for martial law. He then retweeted the same account which suggested that Trump should declare martial law."

That account said, "I don't know who needs to hear this, but calling for martial law is not a bad idea when there is an attempted coup against the president and this country happening right now."

O'Grady has a history of sharing unhinged tweets.

McDermott, Kaczynski and Steck report, "CNN's KFile reviewed O'Grady's tweets and media appearances and found that O'Grady shared other debunked election conspiracies and that he also degraded top military and intelligence officials. In a radio interview, he called former President Barack Obama and military generals 'sworn socialists' and advocated that the military justice system should bring back treason charges. He retweeted a tweet that called former Defense Secretary James Mattis a 'traitor.'"

On top of that, the CNN reporters note, O'Grady "tweeted that Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a star witness during the Trump impeachment hearings, should be charged 'for insurrection because he is a biased liberal political operative' and said, on a radio show, that it was 'disgusting' for Vindman to testify against Trump. He also spread a baseless claim that the whistleblower in the impeachment saga dated the daughter of House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff."

O'Grady has been nominated for assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. If he is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he would only remain in the Pentagon until the end of Trump's presidency. Inauguration for Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is set for January 20.

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General Flynn

@GenFlynn

#WeThePeople

@SidneyPowell1

@LLinWood

@DanScavino

@LouDobbs

@MariaBartiromo

@marklevinshow

@lofly727

Freedom never kneels except for God ??????

lin Wood

@LLinWood

Good morning.

Our country is headed to civil war. A war created by 3rd party bad actors for their benefit - not for We The People.

Communist China is leading the nefarious efforts to take away our freedom.

@realDonaldTrump should declare martial law.

https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/trump-dictator/

flynn dobbs oann

no lnx twt

Here's why Republicans who are calling for a Trump dictatorship should not be taken lightly — and aren’t going away

Trump condemned for White House 'dictator' statement to cast doubt on election results

The Conversation

Alex Henderson December 04, 2020

The United States dodged an authoritarian bullet when former Vice President Joe Biden, a centrist Democrat, became president-elect, winning 306 electoral votes and defeating defeated President Donald Trump by more than 6 million in the popular vote. But when Republican Lin Wood, a pro-Trump attorney who has been fighting the election results in Georgia, implores Trump to impose martial law and elections officials are receiving death threats for acknowledging Biden as president-elect, it is painfully obvious that there is a strong appetite for fascism in parts of the United States. And journalist Sasha Abramsky, in an article published by The Nation on December 4, warns that Republicans who are openly calling for fascism should not be taken lightly.

"We are less than seven weeks away from the inauguration, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't counting down the seconds," Abramsky writes. "For the last spasms of Trumpist rule are truly a sight and sound to behold. Trumpism is, at this point, nothing more than a blend of cultism and fascism — a violent, nihilistic howl against the pillars of American democracy unparalleled in presidential history."

Abramsky adds, however, that when "people surrounding Trump are calling for dictatorship," it "ought to send a chill up all Americans' spines." And Abramsky cites some specific examples of Trumpistas who haven't been shy about showing their authoritarianism.

"Trump campaign attorney Joe DiGenova said that Chris Krebs, the election security official whom Trump fired by tweet last month after he defended the integrity of the election, should be 'drawn and quartered' and 'taken out at dawn and shot,'" Abramsky observes. "Stalin couldn't have said it better himself when talking about his perceived enemies in the Soviet bureaucracy.

Former Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell…. retweeted a call to invoke the Insurrection Act, suspend the meeting of the Electoral College and set up military tribunals to deal with Trump's enemies. The following day, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, coming off a recent presidential pardon from Trump, urged his erstwhile boss to declare martial law, suspend the Constitution, and order new presidential elections under the supervision of the military."

Abramsky adds, "Far-right media personalities have joined the fascist clamor. Lou Dobbs of Fox Business recently called for Trump to take unspecified 'drastic action' against his enemies. The One America News Network has also suggested that Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act as a way to remain in office."

The journalist stresses that "when a fanatical movement's hold on power starts to diminish, the extremists have a tendency to eat their own." And Abramsky points to the recent attacks on Attorney General William Barr from the far right as a disturbing example.

Barr has been one of Trump's most aggressive defenders, often inspiring unflattering comparisons to the late Republican attorney Roy Cohn (who was an ally of Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s and represented Trump during the 1970s). But Barr, during an interview with the Associated Press, essentially acknowledged Biden as president-elect and said there was no evidence that widespread voter fraud swung the election in Biden's favor — and Trumpistas like Dobbs are furious with Barr for it.

It should be noted that far-right fascists don't necessarily come to power through a violent coup d'état or golpe de estado; sometimes, they are voted into office and try to gradually undermine a democracy's system of checks and balances. That has happened in Turkey with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and in Hungary with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and hopefully, Brazil's checks and balances will withstand the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Meanwhile, in France, far-right white nationalist Marine Le Pen (leader of the National Front) lost the country's 2017 presidential race but is likely to run for president again.

Most Americans rejected fascism in the United States' 2020 presidential election. But Abramsky warns that the appetite for fascism in the U.S. hasn't gone away.

"Trump's fascist yammering and the GOP Senate's collaborationist behavior isn't just a footnote to the 2020 election campaign," Abramsky warns. "Rather, it's a prologue to what could come next…. The GOP as an institution has entirely abandoned its commitment to the democratic process…. It's a hell of a warning shot as to how the Grand Old Party intends to conduct itself in the months and years ahead."

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Many Americans were shocked to wake up Wednesday to see former Trump National Security Adviser Mike Flynn calling for martial law so the U.S. military can hold a "do-over" election. Flynn is not alone, there is a large number of people promoting this lawless and unconstitutional behavior, all in service to Donald Trump.

Flynn and other far right wing "leaders," including pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood, are pushing a Tea Party group's statement "demanding that President Trump Invoke limited Martial law in order to allow the U.S. Military to oversee a new free and fair federal election if Legislators, Courts and the Congress do not follow the Constitution."

To be clear, there was no significant election fraud or voter fraud. Even Trump's own Attorney General Bill Barr made that declaration on Tuesday.

The far right has taken over the main Republican Party, and this is a direct result.

Many on social media are furious, especially since no Republican, especially President Trump, has called to put a stop to this dangerous incitement. Many are rightly criticizing these self-declared "patriots" – many of whom are coming close to appearing to embrace sedition – as astonishingly hypocritical.

Why?

They are 100 percent OK with suspending the U.S. Constitution because Trump legitimately lost, holding a military-overseen election "do-over" because Trump lost (by nearly 7 million votes), but wearing a face mask to prevent the spread of a deadly virus violates their "rights" and is "fascism."

Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell is challenging his GOP peers to denounce the hypocrisy:

angling for pardon? // stone?

https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/mike-flynns-lawyer-just-admitted-to-a-federal-judge-shes-discussed-his-case-with-trump/

an 1020

....

Undermining the Convictions

Finally, beyond using the power of his office to pursue Trump's perceived enemies, Barr has deployed the Justice Department to help Trump's convicted friends. It was the final step in wiping the Russia investigation from the history books altogether. But Barr's manipulations also have profound implications for the rule of law.

When Mueller closed up shop in 2019, then-U.S. Attorney Liu (whose office supervised the McCabe investigation) assumed control of several special counsel prosecutions and earlier referrals, including cases against Roger Stone and Mike Flynn. But after Liu failed to get McCabe indicted, Barr replaced her with his old friend and confidant, Timothy Shea (JD, Georgetown '91) — just as the Justice Department was finalizing its sentencing recommendation in Stone's case.

In 2017, Stone had lied to the House Intelligence Committee about his role concerning Trump campaign contacts with Russia. Then he threatened a witness who was going to expose him. A jury deliberated for about seven hours before convicting Stone on all seven counts of lying to Congress and witness tampering.

As Shea replaced Liu in the District of Columbia U.S. attorney's office, career prosecutors handling Stone's case filed a brief that followed federal sentencing guidelines recommending seven to nine years in prison. Immediately, Trump tweeted that Stone's plight was "horrible," "unfair," and a "miscarriage of justice." Hours later, an official at Justice Department headquarters said that the DC office's recommendation was "extreme" and "excessive" and that a new memorandum would outline the government's revised position.

Defending the rule of law, four of the federal prosecutors who signed the sentencing memorandum resigned immediately from the case. Jonathan Kravis (Yale, JD, '04) — one of Stone's prosecutors at trial — resigned from the Justice Department altogether. That left Shea and his assistant who was newly assigned to the Stone case to file a revised memorandum asserting that the government's previously recommended sentence "could be considered excessive and unwarranted."

The following day, Trump congratulated Barr for "taking charge" of the Stone case, "which perhaps should not even been brought."

Defenders of the rule of law fought back. Appearing on national television, the former chief of the criminal fraud section of the Justice Department, Andrew Weissmann (JD, Columbia, '84) — an appointee of President George H. W. Bush — said he could think of no instance where he had even heard of the attorney general reaching into a single criminal case to weigh in on a sentencing submission. Former Attorney General Eric Holder (JD, Columbia, '76) called Barr's direct intervention "unprecedented, wrong, and ultimately dangerous."

"Public confusion was the objective, because it led to public indifference"

The most damning criticism came from Donald Ayer (JD, Harvard, '75), who had served as President George H. W. Bush's deputy attorney general and Barr's boss at one point. On Feb. 17, 2020, Ayer wrote in The Atlantic:

"All of this conduct — including Barr's personal interventions to influence or negate independent investigations or the pursuit of criminal cases, and his use of the department's resources to frustrate the checks and balances provided by other branches — is incompatible with the rule of law as we know it…"

Ayer concluded: "Bill Barr's America is not a place that anyone, including Trump voters, should want to go. It is a banana republic where all are subject to the whims of a dictatorial president and his henchmen. To prevent that, we need a public uprising demanding that Bill Barr resign immediately, or failing that, be impeached."

Trump and Barr were undeterred. Trump attacked Stone's judge, Amy Berman Jackson (JD, Harvard, JD '79), calling her "the Judge that put Paul Manafort in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, something that not even mobster Al Capone had to endure." That was another Trump lie. Prison officials had made the decision about Manafort's federal housing. But Barr did not defend Jackson against Trump's attack, and the Judicial Code of Conduct prevented her from defending herself.

Instead, Barr gave an interview during which he sent Trump a message — the tweets were making it "impossible" for him to do his job. Since then, Barr's view of his job has become even clearer: obliterate all trace of the Russia investigation. Mike Flynn became a stunning example of Barr's methods.

Moving to Drop Charges After a Guilty Plea

On Dec. 1, 2017, Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. On Dec. 18, 2018, he again acknowledged his crimes in open court. Judge Emmett G. Sullivan (JD, Howard Univ., '71) did not hide his disgust.

"[Y]ou lied to the FBI about three different topics, and you made those false statements while you were serving as the national security advisor, the President of the United States' most senior national security aid. I can't minimize that," the judge said. "Two months later you again made false statements in multiple documents filed pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act. So, all along you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country, while serving as the national security advisor to the President of the United States. I mean, arguably, that undermines everything this flag over here stands for. Arguably, you sold your country out."

But after Barr became attorney general two months later, he appointed the U.S. attorney in St. Louis, Jeff Jensen (JD, St. Louis Univ., '98), to review Flynn's case. In June 2019, Flynn retained new a lawyer — Sidney Powell (JD, North Carolina, '78), a far-right conspiracy theorist. Powell wrote directly to Barr, urging him to conduct an internal review and throw out Flynn's conviction. A week later, Trump congratulated Flynn for retaining Powell, tweeting that she was a "GREAT LAWYER."

Shortly before the July 2019 trial at which Flynn was supposed to be a cooperating witness against his former business associate, he suddenly became uncooperative and prosecutors did not call him to testify. Powell then asked Judge Sullivan to nullify Flynn's conviction on the grounds that prosecutors had engaged in misconduct — claims that the judge rejected. As Flynn's sentencing approached in early January 2020, prosecutors withdrew their earlier recommendation of probation and urged Flynn's incarceration for as long as six months.

As with Roger Stone, things then changed abruptly and mysteriously in Flynn's favor. And as with Stone, Barr and his confidant, interim US Attorney for the District of Columbia Timothy Shea, made it happen. On May 7, Shea's office took the unprecedented step of moving to drop all charges against Flynn. Shea alone signed the motion with no line prosecutors joining. It included no affidavits or declarations supporting its many new factual allegations. No motion to vacate the government's prior, contrary filings and representations accompanied the filing.

The defenders of the rule of law stepped forward again. One of Flynn's prosecutors withdrew from the case and Judge Sullivan invited amicus briefs on the unusual motion. Then he assigned a former federal judge to oppose the Justice Department's move and to determine whether Flynn should be found in criminal contempt for lying to the court when he had pled guilty — twice.

Flynn's attorney sought a writ of mandamus in the District of Columbia circuit court of appeals. That, in turn, forced Judge Sullivan to hire an attorney, Beth Wilkinson (JD, Virginia, '87), to answer the mandamus petition. The circle was complete: A judge defending the rule of law now needed his own lawyer to defend himself.

In her brief on Judge Sullivan's behalf, Wilkinson wrote, "It is unprecedented for an Acting U.S. Attorney to contradict the solemn representations that career prosecutors made time and again, and undermine the district court's legal and factual findings, in moving on his own to dismiss the charge years after two different federal judges accepted the defendant's plea."

What began in March 2019 with Barr's false spin and outright lies to assuage a president's obsession with the Russia investigation had exploded into a multidimensionalassault on the rule of law itself. No limiting principle has guided Barr's abuses, but he has encountered resistance. Individually and together, attorneys — especially litigators — have stepped forward:

More than 1,000 former federal prosecutors from Republican and Democratic administrations signed an open letter stating that, but for the fact that Trump was a sitting president, Mueller's proof would have led to Trump's indictment for obstruction of justice.

In connection with Roger Stone's sentencing, more than 2,600 former prosecutors and other DOJ attorneys from Republican and Democratic administrations signed an open letter condemning Barr for "interference in the fair administration of justice," "openly and repeatedly flouting" the fundamental principle of "equal justice under law," and calling on Barr to resign. They wrote, "Governments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics; they are autocracies."

The president of the New York State Bar Ass'n issued a statement saying, "The intervention by senior Department of Justice officials in the sentencing of Roger Stone is an assault on a bedrock principle of the rule of law — the apolitical administration of justice. Our nation was founded on the principle that everyone must be treated equally in the eyes of the law…"

More than 2,000 former Justice Department officials from Republican and Democratic administrations signed an open letter stating that Barr had "once again assaulted the rule of law" in seeking the dismissal of Flynn's case. "Attorney General Barr's repeated actions to use the Department as a tool to further President Trump's personal and political interests have undermined any claim to the deference that courts usually apply to the Department's decisions about whether or not to prosecute a case," they wrote.

Judge Sullivan and the appeals court received numerous amicus briefs supporting the district court's exercise of judgment when deciding whether to accept the government's motion to dismiss the federal criminal charges against Flynn. Filings in support of the judge came from former federal judges, former Watergate prosecutors, legal scholars, and the New York City Bar Ass'n.

ABA President Judy Perry Martinez issued a statement declaring, "Public officials who personally attack judges or prosecutors can create a perception that the system is serving a political or other purpose rather than the fair administration of justice. It is incumbent upon public officials and members of the legal profession, whose sworn duty it is to uphold the law, to do everything in their power to preserve the integrity of the justice system."

What's next? Federal judges enjoy lifetime tenure that prevents Trump from purging the bench of his perceived judicial enemies. But Trump and his key Senate enabler with a law degree, Sen. Mitch McConnell (JD, Kentucky, '67), have boasted about filling federal judgeships at a brisk pace. Those judges must demonstrate their independence. With their actions, they have a unique opportunity to reaffirm that "equal justice under law" and "no one is above the law" are not empty platitudes, but guiding principles of our democracy.

Pundits often understate Barr's conduct as violating "norms." It is more accurate to say that he and Trump are at war with the rule of law. Federal judges and litigators throughout the country have become first-responders in the fight. The front lines have formed in courtrooms throughout the country, but lawyers away from the immediate field of battle are also making a difference.

So which side are you on?

In this war, there are no bystanders.

This article appears in the Fall 2020 issue of Litigation – The Journal of the Section of Litigation of the American Bar Association.

medium.com Jim Watkins

...WikileaksInfowars

QANON #Q Exposed Q Anon IDENTITY - 100% SOLVED - Patriots SoapBox 24/7 by UNIRocK

www.bitchute.com

Apparently, OANN was already waiting in the wings to TAKE OVER for InfoWars as the media mouthpiece for Q in 2018.

MICHAEL FLYNN

Michael Flynn is a racist lunatic whose deep, long-lasting connections to Russia are extremely well reported. Despite CONFESSING to participating in Russian interference, he is being protected AT ALL COSTS by Trump.

Government lawyer suggests Attorney General Barr had secret reasons for dropping Michael Flynn…

Attorney General William Barr may have had secret information that led the Justice Department to seek to drop its…

www.cnbc.com

Michael Flynn has deeply permeated the Qanon cult. Any casual stroll through Qwitter reveals a very large percentage of bios and handles with THREE STARS. This represents loyalty to Michael Flynn, a retired 3-star General. He is regarded as a hero and a demi-god, second only to Trump.

Michael Flynn has jumped into his role with both feet. He appears in numerous Drops, taken the Qanon “Oath” on VIDEO.

To celebrate the Fourth, Michael Flynn posts a pledge to conspiracy group QAnon.

[For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones' newsletters. Donald Trump's…

www.motherjones.com]

More recently, has written a truly batshit screed that is deeply connected to both his theocratic fascist beliefs and Qanon. The letter includes this call to his followers:

“We do not and should not ever allow anarchy and the evil forces behind it to operate on any street in our nation.”?—?Michael Flynn

Exclusive from Gen. Flynn: Prayer Alone Won't Do It This Time; It's Time To Act

We are witnessing a vicious assault by enemies of all that is good, and our president is having to act in ways…

www.westernjournal.com]

This raises the frightening possibility that Flynn is going to ascend, either AS Q, or associated with him, and INSTRUCT HIS FOLLOWERS to do god-knows-what.

Given that this twisted belief system incorporates guns, extreme religious views, obsession with pedophiles, and every other call to intense emotion imaginable, this is a powder keg. At a minimum, I expect Flynn will instruct his followers to interfere with voting on Election Day.

TRUMP

Donald Trump is not only aware of Qanon but has winked, nodded and ACTIVELY PROMOTED Qanon on Twitter.

On 8/14/20, he was asked whether he denounces Qanon, AND HE POINTEDLY AND REPEATEDLY REFUSED TO DO SO which was celebrated in the Qniverse despite the prior prediction that he would confirm their beliefs.

Trump refuses to answer question about QAnon while backing candidate who promotes its baseless…

President Donald Trump on Friday declined to answer whether he believes in the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, instead…

www.cnn.com

He has retweeted HUNDREDS of Q-related accounts. He is the ultimate God-King of Qanon and Qwitter may be the one place in the world other than a Cabinet meeting where he receives the adoration he requires in order to stay psychologically functional. This is in no way an exaggeration.

As he gets more desperate, Trump will make more direct calls to the Qanon cult, which is increasingly BECOMING HIS BASE. Pause here, and take that in.

Analysis | Nearly 600,000 people have voted for candidates who support QAnon

The Republican Party's candidate for the House in Colorado's 3rd District will be Lauren Boebert, who won Tuesday's…

www.washingtonpost.com]

Trump’s connections to Russia… well, you already know about those.

ANTIFA.COM HACK SHOWS THE PIPELINE IN ACTION

At 12:47PST on 8/12/20 @PrayingActress posted that the antifa.com website shows joebiden.com, with a declaration that this proves that “Joe Biden is using enemy combatants”.

To my knowledge, this is the first time that this crude DNS hack hosted FROM RUSSIAN SERVERS was seen on the internet.

@PrayingActress is almost certainly an alt of @PrayingMedic, a huge and notorious Qwitter account. In addition, this account appears to be on the inner circle of Q retweeters, a well coordinated network whose topology can be seen using public Twitter data collection and network visualizations.

This article clearly shows that this was a Russian intel operation.

'Antifa' website cited in conservative media attack on Biden is linked to - wait for it - Russia

WASHINGTON - At his press briefing Wednesday, President Trump, as he usually does, called for a question from Chanel…

news.yahoo.com

THREE HOURS LATER, Chanel Rion, the Russia-employed “reporter” from OANN in the WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING ROOM asked a leading question about the hack, including asking whether Biden should “renounce Antifa”. This was the second day in a row Rion was granted a question.

Here is a Q account celebrating the OANN question with a clip to the video. Chanel Rion has always been a promoter of Q, but this has elevated her to elite status in the Qommunity:

CONCLUSION

The above is a SMALL SUBSET of the available publicly available evidence that there is a serious and ongoing link between Jim Watkins, Russian intelligence, Michael Flynn, OANN, and the president of the United States.

This pipeline of disinformation will continue and may soon lead to escalating physical confrontation and violence.

Please pay attention and do your part.

ACTION REQUIRED

----MUST BE EXPOSED widely and loudly enough to take him and his website down by law enforcement.

Michael Flynn MUST BE EXPOSED. There is currently critical litigation happening regarding his case.

OANN MUST BE EXPOSED as a front for Russian propaganda.

The American public and the people brainwashed by this cult MUST BE INFORMED.

Those responsible for election security MUST TAKE THIS THREAT SERIOUSLY....

mojo

Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, posted a video on Independence Day in which he recites an oath for QAnon conspiracy theorists along with five others[vid]

flynn had been circling the QAnon world for months, but this takes his flirtation with the group a step further. As the QAnon conspiracy theory goes, powerful liberal politicos are running an underground child sex trafficking operation but will ultimately be exposed and charged for their crimes after “The Storm.” There is, of course, no evidence that such a scheme exists. The oath, which includes the QAnon slogan “Where we go one, we go all,” refers to “an oath to become ‘digital soldiers’ to defend the Constitution,” explains the Daily Beast‘s Will Sommer. In the last month, following other cryptic messages of support for the QAnon conspiracy, Flynn added #TakeTheOath to his Twitter bio. As Sommer reports:

Flynn plays a large role in QAnon mythos, where his guilty plea for lying to the FBI about his discussions with Russian officials has been spun to make him a persecuted victim of the deep state—or even, in some cases, as the mysterious “Q” himself. Many QAnon fans have added three star-emojis to their Twitter handles, in a nod to Flynn’s status as a retired three-star general. Pictures of books supposedly signed by Flynn with the QAnon slogan “Where we go one, we go all” are seen in the QAnon community as powerful “proof” that QAnon is real, although their authenticity hasn’t been proven.

Through it all, Flynn had publicly stayed silent on QAnon and his role in the conspiracy theory, while his son told QAnon believers to stop claiming his father was involved in their worldview. But sometime in the last month, Flynn edited his Twitter bio to add a QAnon hashtag: #TakeTheOath.

…Flynn himself actually coined the term “digital soldiers” years ago, in reference to United States cyberwar capabilities. But QAnon believers have recently become fixated on it, convincing themselves that Flynn was actually referring to them. The oath craze has gone so far that, on Saturday, QAnon believer and Republican Senate nominee Jo Rae Perkins posted a video of herself taking the oath to become a “digital soldier.”

Flynn’s message, though alarming, falls into a larger trend: QAnon online activity has been on the rise since the start of the pandemic. As my colleagues Ali Breland and Sinduja Rangarajan reported last month, Google Trends shows that QAnon search terms like “WWG1WGA” (where we go one, we go all) spiked in March as US businesses started to close. Wikipedia’s QAnon page saw a surge in pageviews in March and April. Mentions of QAnon on Twitter have also increased:

A Mother Jones analysis of nearly 500,000 tweets posted across one week in April found that the average number of tweets per day using the hashtag #QAnon increased by 160 percent as compared to the averages compiled over six months of 2019 by the Twitter user @conspirator0 (Twitter later limited searches of posts on its platform, making other comparisons difficult.) The highest daily number of QAnon tweets documented by the account in 2019 was 75,349. After the onset of the US’s coronavirus crisis, that figure nearly doubled, reaching a high of 147, 748 tweets on April 4, 2020.

Anecdotal examples bolster what the data shows. Internet communities that hadn’t previously done so are now associating with far-right conspiracies like QAnon, impending mass arrests of elites for running pedophile rings, and liberal megadonor George Soros’s supposed plots. Across Instagram, pseudoscience wellness influencers, lifestyle influencers, anti-vaxxers, at least one contributor to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop site, and other seemingly unrelated groups have all pivoted to spreading versions of these conspiracies that emerged on the far right.

new

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/11/michael-flynn-case-appeals-court-hears-arguments-over-trump-aide.html

attorney General William Barr may have had secret information that led the Justice Department to seek to drop its criminal case against Michael Flynn, a government lawyer said Tuesday.

Jeffrey Wall, the acting U.S. solicitor general, revealed the possible existence of that nonpublic information during a full appeals court hearing over whether Flynn’s case in federal court should be dismissed, as the Department of Justice has requested.

Several judges among the 10 who heard the oral arguments signaled they would likely allow a lower court to rule on whether to drop the criminal charge against Flynn.

The DOJ had provided multiple reasons for U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan to throw out its own case against Flynn, who had previously pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. in the weeks before Trump’s inauguration.

But Wall, who was representing the DOJ, told a full panel of judges on the appeals court in Washington, D.C., that Barr’s judgment on Flynn’s case came “in the context of nonpublic information from other investigations.”

“I just wanted to make clear that it may be possible that the attorney general had before him information that he was not able to share with the court,” Wall said, “and so what we put in front of the court were the reasons that we could, but it may not be the whole picture available to the executive branch.”

Rather than promptly grant the DOJ’s request to drop the charge against Flynn, Sullivan had appointed a former judge to make arguments for the position that the case should not be tossed. Sullivan also allowed other outside parties to weigh in on the question.

[vid]

in response, Flynn’s lawyers asked the appeals court to force Sullivan to grant the request to dismiss the case. A three-judge panel had ruled in favor of Flynn, but the full court later agreed to rehear the case in response to a request from Sullivan’s lawyers.

In the hearing Tuesday, Flynn’s lawyer, Sidney Powell, said that Sullivan has “discarded any semblance of the unbiased impartial adjudicator” he is expected to be.

Powell also said that Sullivan has the “now-glaring appearance of bias” for millions of Americans.

But Powell faced a highly skeptical-sounding group of appeals judges that aggressively questioned her argument that Sullivan had little power to do anything other than grant the Justice Department’s request to drop its prosecution of Flynn.

“The judge has to do some thinking about it, right? The judge is not simply a rubber stamp,” one of the judges asked Powell.

Beth Wilkinson, a lawyer for Sullivan, argued that he would follow the law as he pursued answers to his lingering questions before ruling on the request to dismiss Flynn’s case. She also noted that if Sullivan had been allowed to proceed with Flynn’s case as he intended, the proceedings may have ended much earlier.

“This matter could have been over on July 16, ironically, if the judge had been able to have his hearing,” Wilkinson said.

wapo

november 4, 2019

The fact that the two biggest controversies of the Trump presidency have revolved around Russia and Ukraine — two former Soviet republics in a state of perpetual conflict — might have seemed like a strange coincidence.

More and more, we’re learning it's not.

A trove of documents from Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation released over the weekend show that Trump’s Ukraine conspiracy theory appears to have been propagated by two top aides who were central figures in the special counsel’s investigation: Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn. The conspiracy theory also was apparently fertilized by Manafort associate Konstantin Kilimnik.

The three of them appear to have played a role in convincing Trump that Russia did not actually interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, despite what both Mueller and the U.S. intelligence community have concluded, and that it was actually Ukraine. Trump and his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani have since set about trying to get Ukraine to investigate the allegations, including by allegedly leveraging hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid and a much-sought Oval Office meeting for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The alleged corrupt quid pro quos are now at the center of the House’s impeachment inquiry of Trump.

To recap, that’s three people with controversial ties to Russia, two of whom are convicted criminals (Manafort and Flynn) and another who has been indicted (Kilimnik). Trump is apparently trying to prove their theory, to this day.

Rick Gates, a former Manafort deputy and Trump campaign aide, told investigators that the three of them were pushing the theory to Trump. According to the newly released Mueller documents, Gates told investigators that “Flynn was adamant the Russians did not carry out the hack” and that Flynn told Trump that U.S. intelligence “was not capable of figuring it out.” He also said that Manafort said the hack of Democratic emails “was likely carried out by the Ukrainians, not the Russians.” And Gates said Manafort’s theory was “parroted” from Kilimnik, who “also opined the hack could have been perpetrated by Russian operatives in Ukraine.”

Gates pleaded guilty to lying to investigators before he began cooperating with Mueller’s team.

mueller’s investigators concluded that Kilimnik, Manafort’s associate in Ukraine, had ongoing ties to Russian intelligence during this whole period. They have indicted him for witness tampering, although he is unlikely to ever face the charges, given that he is overseas.

But he is hardly the only one with a controversial relationship with Russia.

Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, has ties to Russia and Russian interests dating back more than a decade, as Philip Bump has documented. He was indicted after documents revealed nearly $13 million in undisclosed payments from a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine. The New York Times reported in July 2017 that Manafort was $17 million in debt to pro-Russian interests in Ukraine. He and Gates were also in business with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who sued them in 2018 for allegedly defrauding him to the tune of $19 million. There is evidence that Manafort signed a $10 million a year contract with Deripaska in 2006 to push a proposal that was pitched as something that “can greatly benefit the Putin Government,” and there is also evidence that Manafort took out a $10 million loan from Deripaska at one point.

flynn’s ties to Russia are more tenuous, but he has made a series of curious decisions involving himself with it. In 2013, as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in the Obama administration, he became the first U.S. official to visit Russia’s GRU, its military intelligence agency. Flynn then reportedly sought to invite GRU officers to the United States, even after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. After leaving the Obama administration, Flynn sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a gala in 2015 for the English-language Russian propaganda channel RT and was paid $45,000 for his trip. He was paid another $23,000 by Russia-tied entities that year, according to documents released in 2017.

When serving briefly as Trump’s national security adviser in early 2017, Flynn lied to Vice President Pence and investigators about his talks with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, claiming they had not discussed sanctions during the transition period even though they had. It was enough to cause Sally Yates, then acting attorney general, to warn the White House that Flynn was vulnerable to Russian blackmail. Flynn would later plead guilty to lying to the investigators.

So we have two men who have been convicted of offenses related to their Russia ties, have both lied to investigators about their interactions with Russian interests, and who apparently played a significant role in pushing a theory to Trump that Russia did not actually interfere in the 2016 election. They instead pointed the finger at Russia’s nemesis, Ukraine, and that has apparently stuck with Trump for more than three years. Flynn’s alleged effort to push Trump to be skeptical of the U.S. intelligence community in which Flynn served seems to have proven particularly long-lasting, despite Flynn’s conviction and his predilection for conspiracy theories such as Pizzagate.

And now Trump has pushed the theory so far, despite its baselessness, that it has put him on course for impeachment. Given that Russia’s goal has always been more about destabilizing the West rather than necessarily supporting Trump, it’s about the best that the Kremlin could have hoped.

Letter sent in ‘utmost confidentiality’ to Bill Barr set in motion intervention for Michael Flynn: report

an 720

https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/richard-grenells-flynn-unmasking-noninformation-campaign

Right-wing media froth over “Obamagate” and bully press to play along

WRITTEN BY MATT GERTZ

PUBLISHED 05/15/20 2:15 PM EDT

Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, a former Fox News contributor and Republican Party stalwart who was appointed to lead the U.S. intelligence community because of his loyalty to President Donald Trump, provided a document of his own devising to Congress on Wednesday. It promptly leaked to the press. Republicans, including Trump himself, immediately seized on the content in the document as evidence of vast Obama administration malfeasance. Fox hosts spent the next two days incessantly declaring that it vindicated their conspiracy theories, turning their attention away from the coronavirus pandemic. And more credible media outlets, buffeted by the partisan claims, responded with a flurry of stories, at times failing to properly contextualize the story.

Trumpists have declared Grenell’s document a smoking gun showing that disgraced former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty for lying to the FBI about his calls with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, was a victim of an Obama administration conspiracy, and Fox is hyping that narrative with wall-to-wall coverage. In reality, the document provides almost no information whatsoever. It is simply a list of senior Obama administration officials who received Flynn’s name after they followed the National Security Agency’s standard process and asked the agency to unmask the identity of an individual generically referenced in an NSA report they were authorized to read. It does nothing to establish that any of the individuals named acted improperly in any way -- or even how many unmaskings were related to the Kislyak calls.

We’ve seen misinformation campaigns, where false or deceptive information is distributed, and disinformation campaigns, when that distribution is done with the full knowledge of its inaccuracy. Grenell is engaged in a noninformation campaign. He deliberately crafted and propagated a data point so vague that it is virtually meaningless on its own. But pro-Trump partisans -- particularly at Fox -- have easily picked up, misread (deliberately or not), and promoted the point, aligining it with their wild assumptions. Those furious misinterpretations have in turn spurred attention from the mainstream press, driving the conspiratorial thinking into the broader public.

This is an intentional plan that corresponds with what the president wants from his director of national intelligence. “Trump hopes enough information will be released by his intelligence appointees to muddy the waters and lend a patina of confusion about what Mr. Obama may have done, according to people familiar with his thinking,” The New York Times reported Thursday. As the president struggles in reelection polling, Trump and his Fox propagandists are using the Flynn story to try to damage the credibility of former President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s 2020 opponent.

Grenell’s noninformation campaign is the latest salvo in a years-long campaign by Trump and his Fox propagandists to turn the Russia investigation inside out, presenting the Trump associates who pleaded or were found guilty under its auspices as victims and those involved in carrying out the probe as criminals.

With vast swathes of the federal bureaucracy in the hands of partisans selected for their loyalty to the president, including the DNI and Justice Department, we should expect more of these releases -- and perhaps more dangerous actions -- in the coming months, as Trump’s supporters try to push the political debate away from the ongoing pandemic that has killed more than 80,000 Americans so far in order to secure his reelection.

The Trumpist defense of Michael Flynn

Michael Flynn is a retired general who served as Trump’s national security adviser during the 2016 presidential campaign, the transition, and the early days of his White House tenure. At various points during that timeline, Flynn was also assigned by Trump to find the Hillary Clinton emails he had publicly asked Russia to procure; was under investigation by the FBI, which was concerned with whether he was serving as a witting or unwitting agent of the Russian government; was illegally acting as an unregistered agent of the Turkish government, for which he was reportedly involved in discussions of a kidnapping plot; and was seeking Trump’s approval for a plan to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia after working as a paid adviser for the group behind the proposal.

On December 29, 2016, the day the Obama administration placed sanctions on Russia in response to its interference in the presidential election, Flynn called Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and urged him that Russia not retaliate for those sanctions. Flynn was fired as Trump’s national security adviser after reports surfaced that he lied to Vice President Mike Pence about those conversations, which opened Flynn up to blackmail from the Russian government. He would later repeatedly plead guilty as part of Mueller’s probe to lying to the FBI about those calls before renouncing that plea last year.

The position on Flynn among Trumpists like Fox host Sean Hannity is that he is an American hero, that there was no good-faith reason to probe any of his actions during that period, and that anyone involved in such an effort was a participant in the broad-ranging Obama administration conspiracy to take down Trump, which the president terms “OBAMAGATE.”

Their argument features Flynn’s conversation with Kislyak in two ways: They argue that the FBI’s interview with Flynn was a nefarious “setup” and suggest that the leak about the conversation from a “senior government official” to The Washington Post’s David Ignatius for his 2017 column, which brought the call into public light, was an illegal attempt to take down Flynn and Trump by someone who had improperly “unmasked” his identity from intelligence intercepts.

William Barr’s Justice Department showed last week that the Trump administration is putting the force of the federal government behind Fox’s conspiracy theories when it filed a dubious and virtually unprecedented motion seeking to drop the government’s case against Flynn, citing the FBI’s interview tactics. And on Wednesday, Grenell tried to use his own power as the director of national intelligence to provide grist in support of the other fork of the Flynn defense.

“Unmasking” and what Grenell’s document shows

On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that Grenell had declassified and provided to the Justice Department what the paper described as “an Obama-era document related to President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn” and “a list of Obama administration officials who sought to learn the identities of Trump associates swept up in surveillance of foreign officials.” Later that day, Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson sent a letter to Grenell and Barr asking for the document. Grenell provided it to the senators on Wednesday, and it was immediately leaked to CBS News’ Catherine Herridge, a former Fox reporter whose work often promotes Republican talking points. Herridge then published the letter on Twitter. (The document did not turn out to be precisely what the Times had reported. It had been generated on May 4, not during the “Obama era,” and dealt solely with cases involving Flynn, not “Trump associates” more generally.)

In NSA reports derived from the legal surveillance of foreign targets, analysts anonymize (“mask”) the names of U.S. persons to protect their privacy. It is routine for senior officials to ask the NSA to reveal (“unmask”) those identities in cases where they believe that information is necessary to understand the intelligence. The NSA has a standard procedure for doing this, including a review of the justification of the person seeking the unmasking. For context, Trump administration officials sought and received the unmasking of U.S. persons from the NSA more than 10,000 times in 2019 and nearly 17,000 times in 2018.

The document is a list created at Grenell’s request of several dozen “officials who submitted requests” to the NSA between Trump’s election and the end of January 2017 to unmask an identity which turned out to be Flynn, as detailed in an attached memorandum to Grenell from NSA Director Paul Nakasone. It provides the names of the officials, which include then-Vice President Biden, Cabinet secretaries, and intelligence agency leaders, and the date on which their requests were processed. It is the second version of the document -- as Nakasone detailed, the list was originally provided in alphabetical order but revised to be chronological.

That’s it.

Contrary to the insinuations from the right-wing figures, the document provides no evidence that any single unmasking was related to Flynn’s calls with Kislyak. In fact, the record suggests none of them were the original unmasking that first discovered Flynn had made the call, as that one was done by the FBI from its own intercept, not the NSA’s. Nor does it show that Flynn was in some way targeted -- by definition, unmasking occurs when senior administration officials don’t know the name of an American referenced in an intelligence report.

Indeed, there is no indication in the document that anyone listed behaved inappropriately -- in fact, it makes clear that the Obama-era unmaskings happened by the book. “Each individual was an authorized recipient of the original report and the unmasking was approved through NSA’s standard process, which includes a review of the justification for the request,” it states. It also points out that the NSA cannot confirm that any of the persons who requested the unmaskings eventually saw the information.

Grenell’s noninformation plot

Grenell is totally unqualified for his post. While previous occupants of his position ran intelligence agencies, he at most was a consumer of their products during a brief stint as U.S. ambassador to Germany. What he brings to the table instead, along with unswerving loyalty to the president, is broad experience in public relations and shaping news cycles, which he honed as a spokesperson for Republican politicians and for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, a strategic communications consultant for domestic and foreign clients, a Fox contributor, and a notably unhinged Twitter troll.

Grenell personally requested, sought revisions to, declassified, and provided the document to Congress in precisely this form, showing precisely what he wanted to become public.

If he wanted the document to include more information -- by for example, including the actual documents for which Flynn’s name was unmasked, or summaries thereof -- it would. Without that, despite the right-wing chorus linking Grenell’s document to Flynn’s Kislyak calls, it doesn’t provide evidence that any single unmasking had anything to do with them. In fact the majority of the unmaskings predate the calls and thus could not be related. Indeed, it doesn’t even indicate that Flynn was a participant in the intercepts used in the intelligence reports in which his name was unmasked, as the New York Times’ Charlie Savage points out:

If Grenell had wanted the document to include less information -- by, for example, limiting the date range to after Flynn’s December 29 calls with Kislyak, which would reduce the list from 39 names to only eight -- it would.

What he produced is a very long list of names that maximized its impact, with no information whatsoever that any of them were involved in something the least bit inappropriate. That is, presumably, exactly what he wanted to do.

Perhaps Grenell has no evidence of wrongdoing, and few or none of the unmaskings reference the Kislyak calls (which is not implausible, as the FBI derived and distributed its own intercepts of the call with no masking as part of their already in-progress counterintelligence probe of Flynn). In that case, he’s declassified and released this information for a political purpose.

Perhaps he does have that evidence, but isn’t releasing it for now so he can continue to dribble documents out and generate more news stories as the presidential election approaches. In that case, he’s withholding that information for a political purpose.

Fox’s propagandists understand that their role in this noninformation campaign is to fill in the gaps left by the document with feverish, often fact-free speculation. Fox’s Tucker Carlson described Flynn’s unmasking as a “domestic spying operation” that was “hidden under the pretext of national security,” and that the Obama administration officials involved are “amoral creeps” who committed “felonies” and should be “punished.” His prime-time colleague Hannity opened his Monday show by asking, “What did Barack Hussein Obama know and when did he know it? Tonight, we will unravel the biggest abuse of power scandal in American history.” He also attacked Biden for “lying” about the story and claimed on Wednesday that if the officials involved in Flynn’s unmasking don’t face “justice,” “the great American republic will disintegrate before your eyes.” Despite how little information the Grenell document provides, they are convinced that it vindicates their conspiracy theories.

Meanwhile, Fox personalities are attacking the mainstream press for not obsessing over the story, with Hannity arguing that this proves they are “Democratic shills.” On Friday, Trump himself picked up that angle, praising the Fox morning show for “covering, supremely, the greatest political scandal in the history of the United States, OBAMAGATE,” while pillorying CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, and The New York Times as “Fake News” for failing to do so.

It’s no coincidence that Trump and Fox are trying to bully the mainstream press into giving the story more attention. They are counting on journalists to repeat the failures of the 2016 election and flood the zone with context-free scandal coverage that dirties up the president’s opponent. That’s the play Trump is calling, and the leaders of the Justice Department and intelligence community are eagerly supporting the effort, and will likely continue dropping noninformation and disinformation until Election Day.

https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/after-barrs-doj-drops-flynn-charges-right-wing-media-set-sights-sally-yates-and-barack

many lnx vids

After the Justice Department under Attorney General William Barr filed a motion to drop charges against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, right-wing media voices are stepping up a new campaign: to incriminate former President Barack Obama, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, and others for supposedly launching the Flynn investigation — and the wider Trump-Russia investigation in the first place.

Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI investigators aboutmultiple phone calls he had in late December 2016 with Russia’s then-Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak during the transition period between the 2016 election and President Donald Trump’s inauguration. During the call, Flynn had discussed the possible lifting of sanctions that Obama had just placed on Russia. (Flynn was fired by the White House when it was revealed that he also lied to Vice President Mike Pence about the conversation.)

The newest angle on the case from right-wing media hinges upon Yates’ recollection that Obama had “learned information about Flynn,” as he discussed in a White House meeting on January 5, 2017. Flynn’s pivotal interview with the FBI later occurred on January 24, 2017. (This element also ties into the search by both the Justice Department and right-wing media to find the government sources who leaked the details of Flynn’sphone calls to the media.)

Right-wing voices have claimed that Flynn was “set up” by the FBI agents who interviewed him, exposing him to perjury charges. Obama’s possible knowledge of the wiretapped calls, and his telling Yates that something was going on with Flynn, become a new hook for conservatives to accuse investigators of pursuing an illegitimate investigation against Trump and his aides. But the fact remains that he was interviewed as part of a legitimate inquiry, and he was caught telling lies to multiple people.

And with the Barr Justice Department now moving to throw out Flynn’s guilty plea, the hunt is on against Obama, Yates, and other officials — including presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

On May 7, the same day that Barr’s DOJ filed to drop the case against Flynn, Tom Fitton, head of the right-wing legal organization Judicial Watch, appeared on Fox Business’ Lou Dobbs Tonight and pointed the finger at Yates as well as Obama: “Now, Yates was obviously involved too, because she was pushing the Logan Act fraud on the White House as well to get Flynn fired. No clean hands here, Lou. No clean hands.”

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CitationFrom the May 7, 2020, edition of Fob Business’ Lou Dobbs Tonight

Fox News anchor Ed Henry appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to discuss how Yates found out that Obama was aware of the Flynn probe. “Remember, she was at the Obama Justice Department at the end,” Henry said, “and she is having a hard time processing this from Barack Obama. Why did he know that information about Flynn?”

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CitationFrom the May 7, 2020, edition of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight

Sean Hannity also called Thursday on his radio show for Barr to “investigate Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Department of Justice.” Later on his Fox News show, he interviewed Flynn’s attorney Sidney Powell. “Who would have told Barack Obama? And I'd like to know what he knew and when he knew it,” Hannity said. “I want to know what Biden knew and when he knew it.”

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CitationFrom the May 7, 2020, edition of Fox News’ Hannity

On the Friday morning edition of Fox & Friends, former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman further said that “Sally Yates may be key to” proving that Obama had directed the Flynn investigation. He also said that the Obama administration's “questionable sanctions” against Russia had been a “Trojan horse,” apparently setting up Flynn in order to go after Trump and stop his policies.

“It’s so true,” co-host Brian Kilmeade responded. “By the way, if you want to continue your policies, Hillary Clinton had to win the election. When she didn’t, they had to come up with a Plan B. This looks like their Plan B.”

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CitationFrom the May 8, 2020, edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends

And on the May 8 edition of Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy McCarthy — a staunch defender of presidential prerogatives for Trump — claimed new documents show that “the top officials of the Obama Justice Department and the Obama intelligence community were here pushing against what the FBI wanted to do in terms of handling the Flynn case.” Bartiromo responded by asking if “this goes all the way up to the Obama administration in terms of the coup to take Donald Trump down?”

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CitationFrom the May 8, 2020, edition of Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria Bartiromo

Trump himself appeared later on in the Friday episode of Fox & Friends for a phone interview, during which co-host Steve Doocy asked about Yates’ recollections of the meeting with Obama: “Have you thought about calling him up and finding out what he knew or calling Joe Biden up and asking him what he knew?”

“No I'd rather have it come out in papers,” Trump said — also seeming to allude to details of the wider Trump-Russia investigation, both before and after the election itself. “Why would I call them up? They tried to take down the president of the United States — a sitting, duly-elected president of the United States — before I even won, and this was going on — this was the fake dossier that was totally fake.”

Video file

CitationFrom the May 8, 2020, edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends

Trump also later added: “If this were a Republican, and if this were — 25 people would be in jail for 50 years already. They’d be in jail for 50 years, and it would’ve happened two years ago.”

Video file

CitationFrom the May 8, 2020, edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends

However, in the recent impeachment saga over Trump’s pressuring of Ukraine to investigate Biden’s son, Fox News and other right-wing media voices actually defended the idea that a president could personally order investigations of his opponents. In fact, it was Trump’s own impeachment attorney Alan Dershowitz who argued to the Senate that the president could pressure another party into investigating a political opponent, because that president’s election (or by implication, the defeating of the opponent) would be “in the public interest.”

But even by this right-wing media argument, this comparison would be incorrect. The Justice Department’s own inspector general report on the Trump-Russia investigation busted a number of right-wing media conspiracy theories, affirming for example that the entire probe resulting in Flynn’s charges had a legitimate beginning: The FBI received a tip that Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos said that “the Trump team had received some kind of suggestion from Russia that it could assist this process with the anonymous release of information during the campaign that would be damaging to [Hillary] Clinton (and President Obama).”

By contrast, Trump actually attempted to launch baseless investigations of his political rival — the same thing right-wing media are now twisting the Flynn saga to accuse Obama of doing.

he was in a deal that req elimination of sanctions? trms?

flipped? coop witness?

subpoena for his Biz records, fight over corp personhood

prolly neglected

post impeach purge 220; he has still not been sentneced (right after roger sent rollback by barr]

Barr installs outside prosecutor to scrutinize Michael Flynn case

Jake Johnson / Common Dreams

Attorney General William Barr has reportedly installed an outside prosecutor to scrutinize the criminal case against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

trumpista?!

https://www.salon.com/2019/10/29/former-trump-aide-who-now-works-for-devin-nunes-reportedly-leaked-ukraine-whistleblowers-name/

former Trump aide who now works for Devin Nunes reportedly leaked Ukraine whistleblower’s name

Derek Harvey, a former Trump adviser who now works for Nunes, outed the whistleblower who reported Trump's call

IGOR DERYSH

OCTOBER 29, 2019

Atop aide to Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., leaked documents identifying the Ukraine whistleblower’s name in an attempt to out him, The Daily Beast has reported.

Derek Harvey, a former adviser to President Trump who now works for Nunes on the House Intelligence Committee, handed notes to House Republicans identifying the whistleblower’s name ahead of closed-door depositions in the Trump impeachment inquiry in hopes of getting the name in the record of the proceedings, which Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff vowed to release, sources told The Daily Beast.

The allegation follows a Saturday Washington Post report that Republican lawmakers and aides have “repeatedly” used the whistleblower’s purported name during the secret depositions. The Post reported that Harvey was “passing notes the entire time” one former Trump official was being questioned, suggesting that he was feeding Republicans questions.

Mark Zaid, an attorney for the whistleblower, warned that exposing his client’s identity would put him and his family at risk.

“Exposing the identity of the whistleblower and attacking our client would do nothing to undercut the validity of the complaint’s allegations,” Zaid told The Daily Beast. “What it would do, however, is put that individual and their family at risk of harm. Perhaps more important, it would deter future whistleblowers from coming forward in subsequent administrations, Democratic or Republican.”

no lnx

619 about to be sentenced

politico

Trump applauds Flynn's hiring of FBI critic as new lawyer

By CAITLIN OPRYSKO 06/13/2019 08:03 AM EDT

President Donald Trump on Thursday hailed Michael Flynn's move to hire a lawyer who has been a fierce critic of the FBI’s investigation into the former national security adviser.

“General Michael Flynn, the 33 year war hero who has served with distinction, has not retained a good lawyer, he has retained a GREAT LAWYER, Sidney Powell,” Trump tweeted. “Best Wishes and Good Luck to them both!”

The message from Trump is one of the strongest indicators Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition, remains in the president’s good graces and hints that a pardon might still be within the realm of possibility.

Flynn continues to be a recipient of the president's public support despite having been fired for having lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with the Russian ambassador.

Last week, Flynn fired his legal team and hired Powell, a former Justice Department attorney who has publicly dinged the investigation into Flynn, accusing the FBI of spying on the retired Army general as part of a "setup," arguing he should withdraw his guilty plea and that his case should be dismissed.

Flynn's former legal team, which took a less hostile approach to his defense, attempted to advance such an argument late last year, earning his lawyers an admonishment from the judge handling his case.

Powell told POLITICO on Wednesday that Flynn would continue to cooperate with the government while he awaits sentencing.

Trump’s tweet comes less than a week after federal prosecutors released a voicemail left by former Trump lawyer John Dowd for one of Flynn’s attorneys just after Flynn withdrew from a joint defense agreement with the president in order to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller. In the voicemail, Dowd appeals to Flynn lawyer Robert Kelner for a "heads up" on information that could implicate the president and compromise "national security."

"Remember what we’ve always said about the president and his feelings toward Flynn and ... that still remains," Dowd said.

Though a transcript of that voicemail was included in Mueller’s report, the audio release has renewed speculation that the Trump team was dangling a pardon. Trump has appeared to hint at possible pardons for several of his former associates who were wrapped up in Mueller’s investigation, repeatedly refusing to rule them out for Flynn or for his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

scary dl? no lnx

op ed

The Western Journal

Exclusive from Gen. Flynn: This Is My Letter to America

By Michael Flynn

Published August 5, 2020

We are witnessing a vicious assault by enemies of all that is good, and our president is having to act in ways unprecedented in decades, maybe centuries.

The biblical nature of good versus evil cannot be discounted as we examine what is happening on the streets of America.

It’s Marxism in the form of antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement versus our very capable and very underappreciated law enforcement professionals, the vast majority of whom are fighting to provide us safe and secure homes, streets and communities.

When the destiny of the United States is at stake, and it is, the very future of the entire world is threatened.

As Christians, shouldn’t we act? We recognize that divine Providence is the ultimate judge of our destiny. Achieving our destiny as a freedom-loving nation, Providence compels us to do our part in our communities.

[TRENDING: Skateboarder in Biden's Backyard Hits Nominee's 'You Ain't Black' Comment, Explains Why He's on the Trump Train]

It encourages us in this battle against the forces of evil to face our fears head-on. No enemy on earth is stronger than the united forces of God-fearing, freedom-loving people.

We can no longer pretend that these dark forces are going to go away by mere prayer alone. Prayers matter, but action is required.

This action is needed at the local, state and federal levels. Action is also required in the economic, media, clerical and ecclesiastical realms.

Decide how you can act within your abilities. Stand up and state your beliefs. Be proud of who you are and what you stand for. And face, head-on, those community “leaders” who are willing to allow dark forces to go beyond peaceful protests and destroy and violate your safety and security.

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Churches and houses of worship must return to normal. We invite everyone of goodwill to not shirk their responsibilities and instead act in a fraternal fashion. If for no other reason or with no other ability, act in a spirit of charity.

We cannot disrespect or disregard natural law along with our own religious liberties and freedoms.

I am witnessing elderly people lose their connection to all that is good in their lives: connections to their faith, their families and their individual freedoms, especially the simple act of attending church, something they’ve been doing for decades.

Let us not be intimidated or fear those who cry out that we are in the minority; we are not.

Good is always more powerful and will prevail over evil.

[RELATED: Mary Beth Brown: COVID Gave Leftists the Perfect Opportunity To Steal Our Freedoms]

However, evil will succeed for a time when good people are divided from each other and their personal lives — children away from their teachers, preachers from their congregations, customers from their local businesses.

America will never give in to evil. Americans work together to solve problems.

We do not and should not ever allow anarchy and the evil forces behind it to operate on any street in our nation.

No one should have to fear for their very life because some dark, disturbed force is challenged by the very essence of what America stands for.

We are “one nation under God” and it is our individual liberties that make us strong, not liberties given to our government. Our government has no liberty unless and until “we the people” say so.

God bless America and let’s stand by everything that was and is good in our lives, in our communities and in our country.

Otherwise, America as the true North Star for humanity will cease to exist as we know it.

The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Michael Flynn

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Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn served as national security advisor to President Donald Trump

Tags: American left, antifa, Black Lives Matter, Christianity, conservatives, Donald Trump, faith, God, prayer