Federal prosecutors have notified Donald Trump that he is a criminal target and likely to be indicted imminently in a probe into alleged classified documents – even as the Justice Department declined to delay charges to give time to investigate allegations of witness tampering submitted by the former president’s legal team, according to multiple people on Wednesday familiar with the case.
The sources directly familiar with the case told Just the News that DOJ declined to delay the planned indictment of Trump to investigate allegations that a senior prosecutor working on the case tried to influence a key witness by discussing a federal judgeship with the witness’ lawyer.
That allegation is still pending in a secret case before Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, the jurist who oversees the federal court in Washington, D.C., and the grand juries that convene in that courthouse, the sources said.
An historic federal indictment crafted by Special Counsel Jack Smith could be handed up by a federal grand jury against the 45th president as early as this week, the sources said.
Trump has already been indicted in a Manhattan court on charges he falsified business expenses to hide hush money payments to a porn star and has pleaded innocent.
Trump has portrayed both cases as part of a broader “witch hunt” and dual system of justice designed to derail his 2024 presidential candidacy.
This week, Trump argued Smith is a partisan and the federal case against him is being treated differently than one against President Joe Biden, who also was found with classified documents in his possession from his time as vice president.
“HOW CAN DOJ POSSIBLY CHARGE ME, WHO DID NOTHING WRONG, WHEN NO OTHER PRESIDENT’S WERE CHARGED, WHEN JOE BIDEN WON’T BE CHARGED FOR ANYTHING,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform in a post in which he also railed against the failure of DOJ to charge Hillary Clinton in 2016 over classified emails kept on her private email server.
“ONLY TRUMP – THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!” he added.
Federal prosecutors deny politics have been involved in their pursuit of Trump.
Smith’s prosecutorial team informed Trump’s legal team in recent days that the charges against the former president could include a violation of 18 U.S. Code Chapter 37 Section 793 that outlaws the “gathering, transmitting or losing” of national defense information. Other charges being considered involve alleged false statements and obstruction of justice, all claims the president and his team have robustly contested in public and in private.
No prior or sitting American president has ever been indicted in federal court, and if the grand jury accepts the prosecutors’ case it will touch off an unprecedented legal battle certain to work its way to the Supreme Court while lingering over the 2024 election in which Trump handily leads the GOP field by as many as 50 points in some polls.
According to multiple sources familiar with the ongoing probe, all of whom talked to Just the News on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media:
Trump’s lawyers have prepared a robust defense based on months of legal research, anticipating Smith might pursue charges. Trump’s lawyers are prepared to argue that a president had broad powers under the Constitution to keep documents or declassify without any fanfare documents from his presidency and take them with him upon leaving office.
They will rely heavily on a U.S. District Court case in Washington more than a decade ago involving former President Bill Clinton that concluded a president had broad and mostly unchallengeable power to determine which documents from his presidency can be kept personally and that any documents moved to Trump’s homes in Mar-a-Lago, Fla., and Bedminster, N.J., fall under that category.
An American Bar Association report in 2022 seemed to agree with Trump’s assertion that “guidelines support his contention that presidents have broad authority to formally declassify most documents that are not statutorily protected, while they are in office.”
Prosecutors plan to counter that authority does not extend to documents containing National Defense Information whose retention or release could jeopardize national security.
They have purportedly introduced to grand jury witnesses a recording Trump’s office made in 2021 during an interview with former chief of staff Mark Meadows’ biographers in which the former president allegedly talked about a document he described as classified and in his possession allegedly written by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley that outlined a war plan against Iran.
While prosecutors have not located an exact document matching Trump’s description, they found one with classified markings written by others laying out an Iranian battle plan that Trump returned to the National Archives more than a year ago.
Trump lawyers have developed evidence showing that information from that plan was leaked to a major magazine by a senior military officer and plan to use that as evidence that it no longer can be considered National Defense Information, according to people familiar with both sides of the case.
But one of the first disputes likely to be addressed is evidence the Trump defense team submitted to Boasberg in a secret court proceeding recently and to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco’s office Monday alleging a senior federal prosecutor working on the case discussed a federal judgeship with a defense lawyer for a key witness.
Monaco’s office informed the Trump team in the last 24 hours that it was rejecting a request to delay the indictment so the allegation could be investigated.
The lawyer was already in line for consideration by the Biden White House for a judgeship when the prosecutor allegedly raised the nomination while trying to get additional testimony from the lawyer’s client, according to sources familiar with the allegation.
The discussion raised concerns among defense lawyers that it was an effort to influence the witness, who has declined to change his testimony because he claims to have no other information about the movement of boxes and artifacts at Mar-a-Lago since he left the White House, the sources said.
UPDATE: Here are the 44 Republicans Who Stand with “We the People” and Won’t Vote for Biden & McCarthy’s Flawed Uniparty Bill | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hoft
On Tuesday night, the House Rules Committee on Tuesday voted to advance the McCarthy-Biden Fiscal Responsibility Act.
The 9-majority and 4-minority committee voted 7-6 to advance the bill with Reps. Chip Roy and Ralph Norman voted against the measure. “House Rules Cmte approves rule to govern floor debate on debt ceiling bill tomorrow. The vote was 7-6. Roy and Norman defected Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) votes yes on the rule. Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Ralph Norman (R-SC) were nays,” Fox News Congress reporter Chad Pergram reported. See below:
The full House of Representatives will vote on the bill Wednesday night.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry on Tuesday left open the possibility of filing a motion to vacate and get rid of McCarthy if the Speaker pushes through the debt deal.
Under new House rules, it only takes one member of Congress, from either party, to bring a ‘motion to vacate’ which forces a vote on removing the Speaker of the House.
It would only take a simple majority vote to remove McCarthy.
So far, 44 Republicans are a “no” vote on the Biden-McCarthy scam debt bill.
UPDATE: Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX), Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI), Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX), Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) will also vote against the bill.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) – “The McCarthy-Biden plan doesn’t stop, or even slow down, deficit spending. The plan doesn’t bend the spending curve down. The plan keeps us moving over the debt cliff with the GOP leadership’s mantra of “We’ll fight harder next year!” Americans deserve better.”
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) – “This is a lousy deal for the American people. When you read the text of the bill, none of the purported benefits are there!”
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) – “The debt limit deal is a bad deal for America. As the bill is currently presented, my vote will be NO on tomorrow’s anti-deal. Unit then, I hope the House will either amend it or kill it entirely.”
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) – “Nobody wants to default on our debt, but neither can we afford to keep spending money we don’t have. Very disappointed to see this bill increase the national debt by $4 trillion in half as many years and do very little to actually get our fiscal house in order. I will be voting NO. Enough is enough!”
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) – “This is just a bad deal. I won’t vote to add $4 trillion more to the deficit within the next 20 months. This is a plan for continuing the bipartisan bankruptcy in Washington D.C.”
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) – “After carefully reviewing the bill text and fielding phone calls from my constituents, I will not be supporting H.R. 3746.”
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) – “Absolutely no one wants to default but this current deal is unacceptable. I have read this bill twice and as the language currently stands, I will be voting no to raise the debt ceiling.”
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) – “The Biden Admin is openly admitting that they will take full advantage of the PAYGO waiver authority in the debt ceiling deal. They didn’t just steamroll us in negotiations. They’re laughing at the concessions that were made. NO Republican should vote for this nonsense.”
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) – “And while there are good pieces to the deal, it doesn’t go far enough. Supporting this legislation would send the wrong message about how seriously we must take our debt problem. For those reasons, I will vote against the bill.”
Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) – “Adding $4 trillion to our debt isn’t a deal “worthy of the American people. It’s a sell-out of the American people.”
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) – “This bill keeps all of Joe Biden’s policy, all of Joe Biden’s spending intact. This bill does nothing for the Green New Deal subsidies that are going to cripple our electric grid. To my Republican colleagues, vote no, vote no. And do the right thing. And let’s go find a better deal.”
Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) – “President Biden jeopardized our nation’s fiscal stability by refusing to come to the negotiating table for far too long. While the Fiscal Responsibility Act includes some positive economic policies, it does not go far enough to gain my vote.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) – “I will be voting NO on the Biden/McCarthy debt limit legislation this week.”
Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) – “This debt “deal” is bad for the country. It will increase our debt by at least 10% over 2 years without substantial reforms to our long-term fiscal situation—making an eventual default even more likely.”
Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) – “Republicans do not need to negotiate with ourselves” when it comes to the debt ceiling situation, but also said that McCarthy had “gone above and beyond” in his negotiations with Biden.
Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) – “I am voting NO on passing down trillions more in debt to our children and grandchildren while giving Democrats a blank check to pay for their radical agenda, including the weaponization of federal agencies. Its time to get our fiscal house in order and rein in wasteful spending.”
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) – “For these reasons and more, I will be voting NO on the Biden-McCarthy proposal to raise our nation’s Debt Ceiling. I urge my Republican colleagues to do the same.”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) – “I’m voting NO on the $4T debt bill. BTW If you’re on social security, with the current debt and irresponsible spending, social security will be gone within 10 years.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) – “Washington is broken. Republicans got outsmarted by a President who can’t find his pants. I’m voting NO on the debt ceiling debacle because playing the DC game isn’t worth selling out our kids and grandkids.”
Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) – “I will vote NO on increasing the debt on our children and grandchildren by $4 trillion because this deal does not contain anywhere near the CUTS and policy changes we need in order to stop Joe Biden’s war on the American people.”
Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) – “It sets the record high emergency spending as baseline, eliminates debt ceiling through 2025, clawbacks are weak. $1.3B of $80B for IRS under IRA and Biden’s EO for student debt is still in the deal. Encourage your Rep to vote NO if you care about Americans financial future.”
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) – “This “deal” is insanity. A $4T debt ceiling increase with virtually no cuts is not what we agreed to. Not gonna vote to bankrupt our country. The American people deserve better.”
Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) – “The Fiscal Irresponsibility Act is an insult to the American people. It adds $4 trillion to our existing $31 trillion national debt and continues to fund the Democrats’ and Biden Administration’s radical agenda. I will NOT be supporting this deal crafted by the Swamp!”
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) – “I think [McCarthy’s debt ceiling deal] is a betrayal of the power sharing arrangement we put in place that would protect the House GOP to make sure we could advance the ball forward.”
Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) – “I am voting NO on the debt ceiling deal which does nothing to reform Washington’s spending addiction or address the core drivers of our nation’s nearly $32 trillion (and growing!) national debt.”
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) – ““We have to stop this out of control spending, that’s what this bill seeks to do, and I’ll look to have everything that’s in it, in some future deal.”
Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) – “I cannot in good conscience vote for a deal that continues to kick the can down the road at the expense of our kids and grandkids. This is a huge missed opportunity to turn our nation away from a fiscal cliff and I urge my colleagues to vote NO on the Biden-McCarthy agreement as it currently stands.”
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) – “It’s very simple. When you come to Washington, you do what you say you’re going to, If you say you’ll get rid of 87,000 agents, you do it. You don’t play a shell game…at best this outcome funds the same leftist, woke, weaponized government at 99%.”
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) – “No Deal”
Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) – “Biden’s debt ceiling deal surrenders almost EVERYTHING Republicans fought for in the Limit, Save, Grow Act. Americans deserve better. I am voting NO on this bill.”
Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) – “For too long Washington has kicked this can down the road ignoring hard choices while putting future generations at risk. Now, at $31.8 trillion in debt, we are feeling the effects of Washington’s insatiable appetite for overspending as inflation is driving up prices and is eating away at the American dream and our quality of life.“
Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va) – “I came to Washington four years ago to drain the Swamp, not to make it deeper. That’s why I CANNOT in good conscience vote for a roughly $4 trillion debt increase “deal,” which can only be characterized as a capitulation to the Liberal Left.”
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) – “Doesn’t add up to me. So today I’m going to vote against this new deal. It falls way short of what I expected and had hoped for to do something to send us back on a path to bring down the national debt, not to allow it to grow even further.”
Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) – “Although I appreciate the hard work put into negotiating a debt ceiling deal with the president, I cannot in good conscience vote for the current version of the debt ceiling bill.”
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) – from TGP reader, “I just called my representative – Rep. Pete Sessions office in Washington, DC & his assistant said he is against the Biden-McCarthy debt limit deal & is going to vote NO tonight.”
Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) – “The latest debt limit deal is a missed opportunity that: Adds $4 trillion to our national debt. Keeps $1.2 trillion in unreliable green energy giveaways. Forces 87% of Americans without federal student loan debt to pay for those that do. That’s why I am voting NO.”
Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) – “I’m a NO on this $4 trillion debt limit deal. Why? Because the bill: – Won’t repeal billions for Biden’s weaponized IRS – Keeps in place Biden’s student loan bailout for gender studies degrees – Fails to ensure our defense spending keeps pace with Bidenflation.”
Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) – “I’m a no. While I was originally optimistic about some of the conservative wins found in the negotiated debt ceiling package, I have read the bill, heard from hundreds of my constituents, and ultimately cannot in good conscience vote for this legislation.”
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) – “The Limit, Save, Grow Act, passed by House Republicans, responsibly raised the debt limit while reining in spending. The Fiscal Responsibility Act simply does not live up to the expectations we set, and I cannot in good conscience vote for it. I will be a no vote.”
Potential Republican ‘no’ votes:
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX)
A simple majority – at least 218 votes if all members are present – will be needed for passage. The Democrats will all likely vote in favor of the passage, excluding AOC (D-N.Y.) and Greg Casar (D-Texas). Democrats have 212 seats in the House of Representatives.
Some of the Republican congressmen who have been outspoken in their support of the deal are Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL, Miami-Dade), Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY), Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), Rep. Mike Lawler (R-(NY), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL), Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), REp. Greg Murphy (R-NC), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
The deal includes keeping a portion of the $80 billion increase in IRS funding and the 87,000 additional agents tasked with going after middle-class families.
Only $1.9 billion of the $80 billion to fund 87,000 IRS agents were removed from the budget. 98% of the 87,000 agents are here to stay.
“Of the $80 billion Democrats appropriated to the IRS over ten years, the “deal” rescinds $1.9 billion. You read that right. That’s the kind of “get” that’s so good McCarthy agreed to increase the debt ceiling $4 trillion,” said Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC).
CALL YOUR REP NOW AND TELL THEM TO VOTE NO.
You can call Congress at 202.224.3121. Tell the Members to vote NO on the rule and vote no on the bill.
Let us know if your state’s representative will vote against the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Send us an email at [email protected].
Here is a visual from FOX News on 31 of the no-votes.
Several recent mainstream media reports reveal potential predictive programming being used to get the public ready for alleged right-wing or Russian attacks on the power grid.
CBS Mornings covered a recent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report warning far-right activists could be targeting the U.S. power grid as a way to disrupt the country and the government’s ability to operate.
Despite first claiming the attacks would be done by “right-wing” extremists, the actual DHS paper states individuals “adhering to a range of ideologies will likely continue to plot and encourage physical attacks…”
Another CBS fear campaign recently told viewers Russia could target the American power grid system to create chaos.
The entire U.S. could allegedly suffer a power blackout if just nine key power substations were targeted either physically or by hackers.
Of course, Infowars and Alex Jones have warned the global elite have prepared tools to intentionally turn off the U.S. power grid as part of the openly planned series of disasters ushering in the Great Reset.
Now, the same key players have been warning the next pandemic will be a “cyber” one where critical infrastructure is attacked.
Conservative journalist and activist Candace Owens discussed a government-induced power grid collapse in a recent viral video, saying, “The World Economic Forum is predicting a cyber pandemic is inevitable.”
Always ahead of the information curve, Infowars warned its followers back in December 2020 the next pandemic could be cyber.
In fact, we played footage of WEF founder Klaus Schwab eerily stating the cyber attack would make the COVID-19 crisis appear to be a “small disturbance in comparison” to a power grid collapse.
Alex Jones warned way back in 2010 the leftist green movement’s war on coal power and fossil fuels in general would lead to power grid failures.
Jones also exposed the WEF’s power grid collapse scheme during a recent live transmission of The Alex Jones Show.
Don’t miss a recent conversation between Alex Jones and the Health Ranger Mike Adams about the dangers of a cyber attack and how to best prepare to ensure your family stays safe.
Red Pilled TV looks into the rising trend of power grid attacks:
An ax to grind! Tucker Carlson is seen rebuilding his barn-turned-satellite studio after Fox News dismantled his remote set near Maine summer home – as loyalists quit the network to join his new secret venture
Exclusive DailyMail.com photos show Tucker Carlson hard at work at his satellite studio in Woodstock, Maine, as he prepares to launch his new media venture following his unexpected departure from Fox
The ousted host would have started broadcasting his nightly Fox talk show from the remote set for the summer by now, but instead is rebuilding the studio after it was dismantled by the network
‘Fox came in last week and got all their sh*t out of there,’ construction manager Patrick Feeney told DailyMail.com. ‘They took the set and everything, all the equipment, the chairs, the desk, the fake walls’
Workers from Fox News swooped in and dismantled Tucker Carlson’s Maine recording studio just as he was preparing to take his show to Twitter, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively.
And the studio – in a converted barn – will now have to be completely rebuilt after being left in shambles by the network’s crew.
‘Fox came in last week and got all their sh*t out of there,’ Patrick Feeney, who is managing the work, told DailyMail.com.
‘They took the set and everything, all the equipment, the chairs, the desk, the fake walls, everything.’
Now the conservative firebrand is helping work alongside a three-man construction crew at the studio in downtown Woodstock, DailyMail.com’s exclusive photos show.
Ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson was seen unloading equipment and materials out of his SUV as he carried out construction work at his now defunct satellite studio in Woodstock, Maine last week
Carlson, who was axed by Fox last month, has returned to his summer hometown where he would usually film his long-running nightly talk show remotely for the season, to repair and rebuild his studio after it was dismantled by the network
Sources tell DailyMail.com the political pundit is trying to get his studio back up and running as he prepares to launch his new venture
Carlson, 54, spends his summers in the rural town, 55 miles west of the state capital Augusta, where Fox had built a set in an old barn so he could broadcast the show remotely. He was due to start filming from the satellite studio within a few weeks when he was suddenly fired by the network on April 24.
Tucker has since given his own crew a new job, to get the studio back up and running. But the removal of the original set meant they had to repair the infrastructure.
‘There’s no hardware in place at all,’ Feeney said. ‘There’s not even an infrastructure for a TV studio for a long time.’
Feeney told DailyMail.com that his boss, who spends much of the year in Florida, had only recently returned to Woodstock, where he owns a house on a lake on the outskirts of town.
‘He just got back late last night after meeting with lawyers and all that stuff,’ he said. ‘As you can imagine, he’s very, very busy right now.’
The polarizing host was booted from his top-rated show Tucker Carlson Tonight in late April.
The company gave no official reason why they let their most-watched anchor go, but the decision came just six days after Fox settled with Dominion Voting Systems paying the company $787.5 million in a defamation lawsuit.
One of Tucker’s daughters was seen visiting her father at his studio to drop off packages, one of them being an ax
The political pundit was seen handling an ax and other equipment as he and a three-person construction crew got to work on the studio last week
Carlson was due to start filming at the satellite studio (pictured) for the season when he was abruptly fired on April 24. The network recently traveled to Woodstock to remove the set and the equipment, his local construction manager told DailyMail.com
The conservative firebrand was dressed for a day of work, sporting a checkered flannel, utility vest, pants, and flat bed clogs
One of his daughters was seen helping her father unload items from his SUV, including a brand new ax delivery
Soon after, some of the pre-trial discovery materials leaked, including a slew of incendiary text messages Carlson sent the day after the January 6 storming of the Capitol when he recalled seeing a mob of three white men attacking an ‘Antifa kid’ and said he initially wanted the victim to be killed.
Out of a job while still due to receive a hefty Fox salary through 2025, Carlson didn’t wait long to make his next move.
On May 10, he announced he is launching a new version of his show. He posted a three-minute video on his Twitter page captioned ‘We’re back,’ slamming the mainstream media while telling his followers: ‘Starting soon we’ll be bringing a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter.’
Variety reported last week that several Fox anchors have reached out to Carlson expressing their desire to join him when their contracts expire.
The publication also wrote that he is poised to launch the show within a month, with his former senior executive producer Justin Wells – who was fired at the same time as Carlson – on board.
Later in the day Tucker’s wife Susan also swung by the studio for a quick visit to drop off some more packages
There was a lot of work being done to the space throughout the day, with at least three workers coming in and out between sawing wood and working on other various projects
The removal of the original set meant the construction crew has to repair the infrastructure of the studio to get it back up and running
An insider told DailyMail.com that several Fox employees have already quit to join the startup. But according to Carlson’s own construction manager, the new show won’t happen within a month, at least if they’re relying on Woodstock to be the hub.
And as far as he knows, details of any new venture are still being worked out and there is no date yet for launch.
‘We just came to clean it up and get it looking like something again,’ Feeney said. ‘There’s no imminent venture. We’re just getting ready in case something does happen.
‘There’s nothing we’re doing other than cleaning the place up, shoring up the walls, making it look good again.’
A three-man construction crew could be seen last Thursday in the garage sawing wood, extending electrical wires and repeatedly entering the once-and-future studio, while banging away with hammers.
Carlson spent much of his day inside working the phones, dealing with fallout from Fox and plotting his new endeavor.
At one point, he emerged to greet his wife Susan, who drove up to the building in an SUV hauling crates.
Carlson, 54, was dressed down in a brown vest with the sleeves to his red Oxford shirt rolled up, grabbed an axe and drill from the trunk, along with several boxes.
Carlson spent much of his day inside working the phones, dealing with fallout from Fox and plotting his new endeavor
The refurbishing of the set comes as Tucker prepares to launch his own, new media venture following his departure from Fox
A three-man construction crew could be seen Thursday in the garage sawing wood, extending electrical wires and repeatedly entering the former and future studio, while banging away with hammers
He sorted through the items, bringing some into the building and discarding others in a nearby dumpster.
The cable commentator spends summers in the small town near the Sunday River ski resort with his wife. The couple has four children, including son Buckley who is due to get married this month.
Carlson was busy preparing for the wedding as he dealt with work. He also fitted in a fishing trip. He declined an interview request.
Before the Twitter announcement, Carlson’s attorney Bryan Freedman sent an aggressive letter to Fox arguing that the $25million noncompete provision in his contract is no longer valid, which would in turn allow him to launch a competing show, or media entity.
‘We bring some other things too, which we’ll tell you about,’ Carlson stated on the video. ‘But for now we’re just grateful to be here. Free speech is the main right that you have. Without it, you have no others.’
Afterwards, Elon Musk – who purchased the platform last October – clarified that he had not signed a deal with Carlson, and like other creators on the platform, the political host would generate his own revenue from advertising.
For all of 2022, Carlson averaged 3.03 million viewers, second only to Fox’s ‘The Five’ as the most popular program on cable television
The Fox News star was due to start filming locally in his studio in just a couple weeks when he was fired on April 24
Both Susan and their four kids have tried to stay out of the limelight over the years, and none of them use social media
‘I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators,’ Musk tweeted.
It has also been revealed that Carlson had a conversation with Musk about working together.
The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX chief executive added that he would like to see others, especially those who lean left, follow Carlson’s lead.
The Twitter show would seem to violate Carlson’s contract with Fox, but his attorneys’ claim in their letter that Fox breached the contract first.
Carlson’s contract technically runs through January 2025, and Fox reportedly wants to keep paying him until then, which would prevent him from starting a rival show.
Freedman’s letter indicates that Fox employees, including ‘Rupert Murdoch himself,’ broke promises made to Carlson ‘intentionally and with reckless disregard for the truth.’
Specifically, the letter alleged that Fox broke an agreement with Carlson not to leak his private communications to the media and not to use Carlson’s private messages ‘to take any adverse employment action against him.’
Tucker Carlson seen doing construction work on his former satellite studio after Fox departure
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Thursday by a federal judge who also accepted a government recommendation to enhance the charge to “terrorism” in relation to his role in the January 6th debacle.
This is the longest Jan. 6 sentence thus far and the first case where a judge applied the government-recommended enhancement for terrorism.
The sentencing is the first successful seditious conspiracy conviction by an American jury since 1995.
Rhodes was accused by D.C. District Judge Amit Mehta of fomenting “revolution.”
“What we absolutely cannot have is a group of citizens who – because they did not like the outcome of an election, who did not believe the law was followed as it should be – foment revolution,” Mehta said before handing down Rhodes’ sentence. “That is what you did. You, sir, present an ongoing threat and peril to this country.”
While the Oath Keepers in D.C. were all unarmed, the judge cited a “stockpile” of guns and ammo in a hotel outside the district as proof they planned on staging a revolution.
Rhodes responded to Mehta after being sentenced, telling the judge he is a “political prisoner” and saying, “Like President Trump, my only crime is opposing those who are destroying our country.”
Judge Mehta answered, “You’re not a political prisoner. You’re here because 12 jurors in D.C. who acquitted you of multiple counts found you guilty of sedition.”
Surely the D.C. jury where less than six percent of the population votes Republican couldn’t have been biased!
One prosecutor involved in the case said Rhodes’ sentence was intentionally lengthy in order to set an example and “ensure the respect for the rule of law that is essential to the survival of our democracy.”
Rhodes also noted “no Oath Keeper took part in any of the fighting” on Jan. 6 and violence that day was “all done by other people.”
“I believe this country is incredibly divided, and this prosecution – not just mine but all the J6ers – is making it worse,” he told Mehta. “I believe every J6er is a political prisoner and all of them are being grossly overcharged. It is going to make people feel like this government is even more illegitimate than they did before.”
Another Jan. 6 participant, Richard “Bigo” Barnett of Arkansas who famously put his feet on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) desk, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on Thursday.
GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump vowed earlier this month to pardon a large portion of January 6 political prisoners.
Watch Rhodes joining The Alex Jones Show in January 2022 and check out some other Oath Keepers-related content below:
Because Infowars relies on YOUR SUPPORT in order to continue funding the operation, we urge you to visit the Infowars Store to do your part in the battle against globalism by purchasing great products such as dietary supplements, books, t-shirts, survival gear and much more. Thanks!
… And so it will come to pass, as many refused to believe.
Tomorrow, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will follow a sequence of events to launch the Sea Island billionaire strategy for a 2024 Republican nomination bid. This plan has been constructed for several years; that’s how I was able to predict the organization of the effort ten months ago and the exact date of the launch six months ago.
The sequence of the launch also tells a story. The sequence of tomorrow is priority driven. Each group is assisting in the launch sequence based on their importance to the Ron DeSantis campaign. That’s how this GOPe stuff rolls.
(1) DeSantis will first meet with the billionaire donors at the Four Seasons Hotel for an exclusive campaign launch (the donors). (2) Then DeSantis we be hosted by Twitter CEO Elon Musk for an exclusive Twitter Spaces announcement (social media, influencers). Then DeSantis will participate in a first of many Fox News promotions, hosted by Trey Gowdy in the 8pm hour formerly occupied by Tucker Carlson (Rupert Murdoch). Immediately following the Fox News interview, DeSantis will be hosted by Mark Levin at 8:30pm (the Israeli lobby).
Sea Island, Social Media influencers, Murdoch then Israel. That’s the background of the DeSantis coalition as it relates to the priority of their role in the campaign. These are the groups behind the management team of Ron DeSantis {Go Deep}.
As you can see above, Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch were together in February coordinating the big picture. Musk and Murdoch participating in the details of the RdS launch is not accidental. Murdoch has paid for DeSantis (book advance via Harper Collins) and is using his media platforms (NY Post, WSJ and Fox News Corp) to assist. Elon Musk is using his influence and platform to assist. This provides scale to the financial interests in 2024. Machiavelli would blush.
Elon Musk is to Ron DeSantis in 2024 as Bill Barr was to Robert Mueller in 2019.
Let me start the rest of this analysis with the good news. Ron DeSantis will fail in his effort to win the 2024 nomination – with one caveat – as long as Donald Trump is in the race. Despite what the professional political class will say, Ron DeSantis cannot beat Donald Trump, period! The only way DeSantis can win the nomination is if Donald Trump is not in the race; that’s the caveat.
It is important to remember, the goal of the professional Republican apparatus is not to help DeSantis win; the goal is to remove Donald Trump.
The professional Republican club hate Donald Trump because he represents the base voters of the Republican Party, and the GOPe hate the base of the party much more than they hate Democrats. Exponentially more.
At a local level, many professional Republican club members hate the MAGA base. At the state level most professional Republican club members hate the MAGA base. At the national level, the entire apparatus of the RNC and the business end of Republican politics hate the MAGA base. They hate MAGA with as much, if not more, intensity than they hated the Tea Party predecessor.
The GOPe hate Donald Trump because he represents a coalition inside the American electorate that stands against the interests of the professional Republican class.
You can put any other smaller detail or nuance to it, but that larger dynamic is the reality. Every professional political institution on the Republican side of the UniParty hates Trump because he represents, We The People.
Professional Republicans will support Democrats before they permit MAGA to take over the Republican Party. The billionaire Sea Island donors synergize with the professional Republicans on this key and consequential point. Getting rid of Donald Trump is job #1; winning the election in 2024 is irrelevant to them. Both the GOPe and the donors who fund them are ambivalent to the 2024 outcome beyond the removal of Trump.
This reality is why it is more important for MAGA to defeat the professional Republicans than defeat Democrats. The GOPe must be defeated first, then the confrontation with the Democrats can commence.
The good news is the base of the Republican Party now know this. It has been a painful period of acceptance, but a solid majority of the Republican voters now understand we are abhorred by the people who are funding Ron DeSantis to destroy us. When The Last Refuge was formed, this reality was only understood by a few. Now, we are the majority, and we have the awakening that Donald Trump brought to our nation to thank for that.
Additionally, I hope you can see why I spent so much time laying the groundwork for this conflict. When you know what the GOPe are going to do, the best way to defeat them is to pour sunlight on the agenda before they trigger the outcomes. There is no other way to awaken people as fast, as to predict what seems bizarre and then watch it unfold exactly as described. The tripwire approach is what brings people to the understanding and more painful acceptance. [August 2022 Outline]
The people behind Ron DeSantis have been preparing this 2024 landscape for several years. Everything about the DeSantis campaign is built upon a foundation of lies, manipulation and fraud. The teams that have assembled to support DeSantis are financed and paid well for their efforts. There are trillions at stake, and DeSantis will have more money than any political candidate in the history of U.S. politics. Again, this is a reference point for the scale of our corrupt state.
The DeSantis management and branding team have been designing this rollout for years. As an example, many of the events RdS attended in the past three years were intentionally produced to gather file footage video that you will see in 2024 campaign commercials that have yet to be broadcast. I will point them out as they surface.
Fox News is going to be ugly! That entire operation is going to use dark arts to manipulate those who still have not awakened to the nature of the real enemy.
Another positive sign that DeSantis will fail stems from the more recently created plan B and plan C from the Sea Island group. Brian Kemp (GA) and Glenn Younkin (VA) are two very recent examples of the shift. If the professional Republicans were confident, they would not create insurance policies. Just keep following the money and you will see it.
Remember, watch the Republican Governors Association (RGA) and their moves. This approach will be new to political followers, as the RGA will join in the attack against Trump and the MAGA base. The RGA is funded by the same donor activity as the Republican National Committee. Both groups will attempt to walk the fine line of attack, without looking like they are attacking – but it will be obvious. Consider this a major tripwire.
Team DeSantis will have every strategic point on paper in their favor, and they will have a lot of money; but they do not have the truth. Their campaign is built upon a foundation of lies.
I would not be me if I did not say, be angry – but be strategic with that anger and do not worry.
Do not listen to the dark whispers on your shoulder. Foreboding sucks. Don’t let anyone steal your peace of mind. Live your best life while pushing back against the manipulations and schemes. We are the majority. We are MAGA. We are a broad and diverse coalition of solid working class people who are comfortable in our skin, comfortable in our faith, comfortable in our beliefs and unwavering against all pressure.
Internally and externally be fearless against the lies. Don’t let lies and fraud pass without confrontation. Our strength is in the truth of our position. We have no pretenses and no reason to fear sunlight. Those who manipulate, scheme and use deception as a political strategy carry the weaknesses that stem from it.
Ron DeSantis will not win the nomination if we continue to spotlight the truth. Just remember to stay right with a loving God, and live your best life while doing it. Also, forgive yourself if you get a little salty at times; it happens.
No matter how much everyone’s gushing for DeSantis, we cannot erase the following facts from his background.
After high school, DeSantis attended Yale University to earn a degree in history. He joined the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
In 2001, DeSantis received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors and honors from Yale University.
After spending a year as a history lecturer at the Darlington School, he earned a Juris Doctor degree with honors from Harvard Law School. He received this degree in 2005.
In 2004, while DeSantis was in the middle of his sophomore year at Harvard Law School, he was honored to be enlisted as an officer in the United States Navy and given a position in the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG). 2005 was the year he graduated from the Naval Justice School. Later that year he received orders to serve as a prosecutor in the JAG Trial Service Office Command South East, located at Naval Station Mayport, Florida.
In 2006 he was awarded the rank of Lieutenant after being promoted from the position of Lieutenant Junior Grade. He was employed by the Commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) and his duties included direct contact with inmates at the Guantanamo Bay Joint Detention Facility.
In 2007, DeSantis reported to the Naval Special Warfare Command Group in Coronado, California. There he was assigned to SEAL Team One and deployed to Iraq in 2007 as Legal Advisor to SEAL Commander, Special Operations Task Force-West in Fallujah. He served in this capacity for the duration of the troop surge.
In April 2008, DeSantis returned to the United States and shortly after his return was assigned to the Naval Region Southeast Legal Service. His appointment as Special Assistant United States Attorney to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida was made possible by the United States Department of Justice.
2010, DeSantis served as a defense attorney until discharged from that capacity. At the same time, he agreed to accept a reserve rank in the US Navy Reserve as a lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
The Bronze Star Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal are just a few of the honors DeSantis has received throughout his service.
As of 2022, he was still serving in the United States Navy Reserve.
Christina DeSantis, Ron Desantis’ 30 year old sister, died in 2015 from completely unforeseen causes. Although more than five years have passed since her death, her family has not commented further on the circumstances of her death.
Much More on Christina DeSantis:
Ron DeSantis was a Congressman at the time of 30 year old Christina DeSantis’s death in 2015. Strangely, there was virtually zero media coverage of the death of the sister of a U.S. Congressman.
Christina DeSantis’s Linked-In lists her employer at the time of her untimely death as KPMG Volcker Solution. Volcker Wikipedia:Paul Adolph Volcker Jr. (September 5, 1927 – December 8, 2019) was an American economist who served as the 12th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987. During his tenure as chairman, Volcker was widely credited with having ended the high levels of inflation seen in the United States throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.[citation needed] He previously served as the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1975 to 1979.
Coutts Bank: is a London-headquartered private bank and wealth manager. Founded in 1692, it is the eighth oldest bank in the world. Today, Coutts forms part of NatWest Group‘s wealth management division.[3] In the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, Coutts Crown Dependencies operates as a trading name of The Royal Bank of Scotland International Limited. Money laundering rule breaches: In March 2012 Coutts was fined £8.75m for breaches of money laundering rules after “serious” and “systemic” problems in handling the affairs of “politically exposed persons“, customers entrusted with a prominent public function, requiring money-laundering checks.[29] The Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined Coutts because of an “unacceptable risk” that the bank could have been handling the proceeds of crime for a three-year period up to November 2010 after failing to properly deal with “politically exposed” customers.[29] Following an industry-wide review in 2010, the FSA found that Coutts was not conducting robust-enough checks on such high-risk customers and was not monitoring relationships with them properly. The FSA reviewed a sample of 103 high-risk customer files, and identified deficiencies in 73 of them.[29] The FSA’s acting director of enforcement and financial crime, Tracey McDermott, said that “Coutts’s failings were significant, widespread and unacceptable. Its conduct fell well below the standards we expect and the size of the financial penalty demonstrates how seriously we view its failures”.[29] Coutts’s bonus system rewarded bankers for opening accounts, providing an incentive to bring in new business without too much scrutiny, and the bank’s anti-money laundering team, required to identify high-risk customers, failed to identify enough “politically exposed persons”.[29] In two cases reviewed by the FSA, bankers did not conduct appropriate checks on the customers, and failed to identify serious criminal allegations against them. There were five cases where sources had provided “adverse intelligence” such as allegations of criminal activity, but all the accounts had been approved by Coutts.[29]A spokesperson for Coutts said that there was no evidence that money laundering took place as a result of its deficient controls, and said that “We recognise our systems weren’t totally adequate in the past and we’ve taken steps to improve these”. Coutts would have been fined £12.5m if it had not agreed to settle at an early stage in the investigation.[29]
Ron Desantis Was A Member of St. Elmo Society
DeSantis was a member of St. Elmo Society, a secret society at Yale University. It was founded in 1889 as an independent entity for seniors within the nationally chartered fraternity, Delta Phi (&Delta &Phi), Omicron Chapter (1889-1925).
St. Elmo is a non-profit organization that provides supplementary education to its members through various activities and interactions. It is the hope that these methods will inspire new meaning to the students’ Yale education. In return, the delegation must commit itself to by-laws, rules, and guidelines set forth by the Corporation’s Board of Governors.
The name “St. Elmo” was first used in 1889 at the Omicron Chapter of Delta Phi at Yale University, and was based on the historical interconnection of St. Elmo and the Knights of Malta. The cross of the Knights of Malta had been adopted as the emblem of Delta Phi in 1833.
The Badge of The Delta Phi, pictured above, has been worn by members of The Delta Phi Fraternity continuously since its adoption in 1833. This badge, based on the Maltese Cross worn by the Knights of St. John (later, the Knights Hospitaller and finally the Knights of Malta), has many symbolic meanings to members of the fraternity. This design was also to give birth to one of the most enduring traditions of Delta Phi: the use of the name St. Elmo in association with the fraternity.
The name St. Elmo has been in use by some chapters of the fraternity for over 100 years (longer than many other nationals have existed). The practice started at Omicron (Yale), who sought a distinctive name for their home. Once again, hearkening back to the Knights of Malta, who were mariners, the men of Omicron appropriated the name of St. Elmo, the patron saint of mariners. The practice caught on and at many campuses the names Delta Phi and St. Elmo have become synonymous adding yet another layer of tradition to this unique story.
Delta Phi has remained an exclusive fraternity. Rather than engaging in the wholesale expansion policies that have marked the operation of other Greek letter fraternities, the brothers of Delta Phi choose to establish chapters only at the finest schools and usually with proximity to other chapters. It grants its chapters a substantial degree of local autonomy – allowing them to develop their own traditions and policies within the scope of a larger institution.
On Jun. 14, 2022 (Tuesday) DeSantis was listed as a member of St. Elmo Hall (secret society) at Yale, but the next day, Jun. 15, 2022 (Wednesday) his name disappeared.
DeSantis was listed on St. Elmo’s Wikipedia page last year: (see Wayback Machine)
In a speech in Doha on Monday, veteran New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh alleged that the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) had been infiltrated by Christian fanatics who see themselves as modern-day Crusaders and aim to “change mosques into cathedrals.” In particular, he alleged that former JSOC head Gen. Stanley McChrystal — later U.S. commander in Afghanistan — and his successor, Vice Adm. William McRaven, as well as many other senior leaders of the command, are “are all members of, or at least supporters of, Knights of Malta.” What was he talking about?
Not exactly clear. There’s not much evidence to suggest that the Knights of Malta are the secretive cabal of anti-Muslim fundamentalists that Hersh described. (For the record, when contacted by Foreign Policy, McChrystal said that he is not a member.) But they are certainly an anomalous presence in international politics and have provoked their share of conspiracy theories over the years.
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta is a Roman Catholic organization based in Rome with around 13,000 members worldwide. The group was founded in 1048 by Amalfian merchants in Jerusalem as a monastic order that ran a hospital to tend to Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land. At the height of its power, the order was also tasked by Rome with the additional military function of defending Christians from the local Muslim population. The Knights of St. John were just one of a number of Christian military orders founded during this period — including the fabled but now defunct Knights of Templar.
When the Sultan of Egypt retook Jerusalem in 1291, the Knights of St. John went into exile, settling in Rhodes 20 years later. In 1523 they were forced from Rhodes by the Sultan’s forces and settled in Malta, which they ruled until they were dislodged by Napoleon’s army in 1798. The order settled in Rome in the mid-19th century, where it remains to this day.
Despite its name, the Knights haven’t had any military function since leaving Malta. Instead, the order has gone back to its charitable roots by sponsoring medical missions in more than 120 countries.
When the order was founded, knights were expected to take a vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience upon joining. Nowadays, obedience is enough. Membership is still by invitation only, but you no longer have to be a member of the nobility. In recent years, the organization has become increasingly American in membership. The leader of the order, referred to as the prince and grand master, is elected for life in a secret conclave and must be approved by the pope.
Despite having no fixed territory besides its headquarters building in Rome, the order is considered a sovereign entity under international law. It prints its own postage stamps and coins — though these are mostly for novelty value — and enjoys observer status at the United Nations, which classifies it as a nonstate entity like the Red Cross. The Knights maintain diplomatic relations with 104 countries. The order does not have official relations with the United States, though it has offices in New York, for the United Nations delegation, and Washington, for its representation at the Inter-American Development Bank.
Because of its secretive proceedings, unique political status, and association with the Crusades, the order has been a popular target for conspiracy theorists. Alleged members have included former CIA Directors William Casey and John McCone, Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca, and GOP fixture Pat Buchanan, though none have ever acknowledged membership. Various theories have tied the Knights to crimes including the Kennedy assassination and spreading the AIDS virus through its clinics in Africa.
In 2006, a newspaper article in the United Arab Emirates claimed that the Knights were directly influencing U.S. policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, reprising their role in the Crusades. Following the article, Islamist websites in Egypt urged followers to attack the order’s embassy in Cairo, forcing the organization to issue a statement denying any military role.
To be fair, the Knights have been involved in their fair share of political intrigues. In 1988, the charge d’affaires at the order’s embassy in Havana confessed to being a double agent, reporting to both the CIA and Cuban intelligence. According to journalist Jeremy Scahill’s book Blackwater,Joseph Schmitz, a former executive at the company who also served as inspector general for the U.S. Department of Defense, boasted of his membership in the Knights in his official biography. The defense contractor now known as Xe’s chief executive, Erik Prince, reportedly espoused Christian supremacist beliefs, and its contractors in Iraq used codes and insignia based on the order’s medieval compatriots, the Knights of the Templar. However, there’s no evidence to suggest the Knights of Malta had any direct influence over the company.
So while the group is, for the most part, a charitable organization with little resemblance to the sinister portrait painted by its detractors, an image-makeover might be in order as it finishes off its 10th century.
In a speech billed as a discussion of the Bush and Obama eras, New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh delivered a rambling, conspiracy-laden diatribe here Monday expressing his disappointment with President Barack Obama and his dissatisfaction with the direction of U.S. foreign policy.
“Just when we needed an angry black man,” he began, his arm perched jauntily on the podium, “we didn’t get one.”
It quickly went downhill from there.
Hersh, whose exposés of gross abuses by members of the U.S. military in Vietnam and Iraq have earned him worldwide fame and high journalistic honors, said he was writing a book on what he called the “Cheney-Bush years” and saw little difference between that period and the Obama administration.
He said that he was keeping a “checklist” of aggressive U.S. policies that remained in place, including torture and “rendition” of terrorist suspects to allied countries, which he alleged was ongoing.
He also charged that U.S. foreign policy had been hijacked by a cabal of neoconservative “crusaders” in the former vice president’s office and now in the special operations community.
“What I’m really talking about is how eight or nine neoconservative, radicals if you will, overthrew the American government. Took it over,” he said of his forthcoming book. “It’s not only that the neocons took it over but how easily they did it — how Congress disappeared, how the press became part of it, how the public acquiesced.”
Hersh then brought up the widespread looting that took place in Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. “In the Cheney shop, the attitude was, ‘What’s this? What are they all worried about, the politicians and the press, they’re all worried about some looting? … Don’t they get it? We’re gonna change mosques into cathedrals. And when we get all the oil, nobody’s gonna give a damn.’”
“That’s the attitude,” he continued. “We’re gonna change mosques into cathedrals. That’s an attitude that pervades, I’m here to say, a large percentage of the Joint Special Operations Command.”
He then alleged that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who headed JSOC before briefly becoming the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and his successor, Vice Adm. William McRaven, as well as many within JSOC, “are all members of, or at least supporters of, Knights of Malta.”
Hersh may have been referring to the Sovereign Order of Malta, a Roman Catholic organization commited to “defence of the Faith and assistance to the poor and the suffering,” according to its website.
“Many of them are members of Opus Dei,” Hersh continued. “They do see what they’re doing — and this is not an atypical attitude among some military — it’s a crusade, literally. They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians. They’re protecting them from the Muslims [as in] the 13th century. And this is their function.”
“They have little insignias, these coins they pass among each other, which are crusader coins,” he continued. “They have insignia that reflect the whole notion that this is a culture war. … Right now, there’s a tremendous, tremendous amount of anti-Muslim feeling in the military community.””
Hersh relayed that he had recently spoken with “a man in the intelligence community… somebody in the joint special operations business” about the downfall of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia. “He said, ‘Oh my God, he was such a good ally.’”
“Tunisia’s going to change the game,” Hersh added later. “It’s going to scare the hell out of a lot of people.”
Moving to Pakistan, where Hersh noted he had been friendly with Benazir Bhutto, the journalist told of a dinner meeting with Asif Ali Zardari, the late prime minister’s husband, in which Hersh said the Pakistani president was brutally disdainful of his own people.
Hersh described a trip he made to Swat, where the Pakistani military had just dislodged Taliban insurgents who had taken over the scenic valley, a traditional vacation area for the urban middle class. Hersh said he asked Zardari about the tent cities he saw along the road, where people were living in harsh, unsanitary conditions.
“Well, those people there in Swat, that’s what they deserve,” the Pakistani president replied, according to Hersh. Asked why, Hersh said Zardari responded, “Because they supported the Taliban.” (Note: Hersh’s conversation is not recounted in his 2009 New Yorker article on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, presumably because it coudn’t be verified.)
The veteran journalist also alleged that the CIA station chief in Islamabad, who was recently recalled after his name surfaced in Pakistani court documents and in the lively Pakistani press, had actually been fired for disputing the plans of Gen. David Petraeus, who took over the Afghan war last summer after General McChrystal was summarily dismissed.
“When Petraeus issued a very optimistic report about the war in December that he gave to the president,” Hersh said, the station chief “just declared it was bankrupt… internally. He just said ‘This is completely wrongheaded. The policy’s wrongheaded.’ Off he goes. Out he goes.”
“I’ve given up being disillusioned about the CIA,” Hersh said. “They’re trained to lie, period. They will lie to their president, they will lie certainly to the Congress, and they will lie to the American people. That’s all there is to it.”
Hersh was speaking on the invitation of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, which operates a branch campus in Qatar.
The Knights of Malta ALL have diplomatic immunity. They can ship goods across borders without paying duty or undergoing customs check. Does that ring any bells? In any case, that is power.
The Knights of Malta is held up by a backbone consisting of nobility. Nearly half of the 10,000 members belong to Europe’s oldest and most powerful families. This cements the alliance between the Vatican and the “Black Nobility.” The Black Nobility is mostly the rich and powerful of Europe. The head of the Black Nobility is the family that can claim direct descendancy from the last Roman emperor. Maybe now you can see that things are beginning to fall into their proper place. Membership in the Knights of Malta entails obedience to one’s superior in THE ORDER and ultimately to the Pope. Therefore, a U.S. ambassador who is also a member of the Knights of Malta faces a conflict of interest. Why is this fact ignored? President Bush appointed Knight of Malta Thomas Melledy to the post of U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican.Bill Cooper / <cite>Behold A Pale Horse</cite>
The Knights of Malta is a world organization with its threads weaving through business, banking, politics, the CIA, other intelligence organizations, P2, religion, education, law, military, think tanks, foundations, the United States Information Agency, the United Nations, and numerous other organizations. They are not the oldest but are one of the oldest branches of the Order of the Quest in existence. The world head of the Knights of Malta is elected for a life term, with the approval of the Pope. The Knights of Malta have their own Constitution and are sworn to work toward the establishment of a New World Order with the Pope at its head. Knights of Malta members are also powerful members of the CFR and the Trilateral Commission.Bill Cooper / <cite>Behold A Pale Horse</cite>
It should also be noted that Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. is a Knight of
Malta.
Meet Ron DeSantis’ Media Guru, Christina Pushaw. She worked in the Nation of Georgia to get a George
Soros Sock Puppet elected President.
She then went to the United States and failed to register as a Foreign Agent, for many years. But, instead of being prosecuted as her contemporary was, the DOJ let her register with ZERO penalty. This DOJ.
So clearly, she is NOT their enemy, but rather a Friend of George Soros.
DeSantis’ press secretary registers as foreign agent, cites prior work for former Georgian president
About Pete Santilli
Pete Santilli is a talk show host, investigative journalist, consumer advocate and former U.S. Marine. Follow Pete @TRUTH: https://ift.tt/LVqRbfk Follow #SBN: https://ift.tt/HTvmdW5 Link Tree: https://ift.tt/mUKe8u6
A 30-ton shipment of explosive chemicals traveling from Wyoming to California by rail disappeared en route, officials say
https://ift.tt/4A1QvFd
A 30-ton shipment of ammonium nitrate disappeared from a railcar, KQED reported.
The chemical is used to make both fertilizer and explosives.
The chemical’s supplier said that it thought the shipment, which was in pellet form, fell from the railcar.
Officials are investigating the disappearance of a 30-ton shipment of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used to make both fertilizer and explosives, PBS affiliate KQED reported.
A railcar loaded with 60,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate from explosives company Dyno Nobel left Cheyenne, Wyoming, on April 12, heading to California, according to KQED, which cited an incident report from the company. But two weeks after leaving Cheyenne, the railcar arrived at a rail stop in the Mojave Desert where it was found to be empty, per the report.
Ammonium nitrate is used as an agricultural fertilizer, to manufacture first aid products such as cold packs, and in explosives for the mining and construction industries, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.
It was also the primary explosive used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people and was at the time was the worst terror attack in US history, and there have been incidents of supplies of the chemical exploding when not stored correctly.
The National Fire Protection Association says that because ammonium nitrate can accelerate fires and explosions, it can present a “significant explosive threat,” but needs another element to destabilize it first.
Dyno Nobel said that it thought the chemical, which was in pellet form, fell from the covered hopper car it was transported on, similar to what coal is transported on, KQED reported.
“The railcar was sealed when it left the Cheyenne facility, and the seals were still intact when it arrived in Saltdale,” a Dyno Nobel spokesperson told KQED. “The initial assessment is that a leak through the bottom gate on the railcar may have developed in transit.”
Union Pacific, which transported the railcar, told Insider it was in the “early stages” of an investigation into the lost freight.
“The fertilizer is designed for ground application and quick soil absorption,” a spokesperson for Union Pacific told Insider. “If the loss resulted from a rail car leak over the course of transportation from origin to destination, the release should pose no risk to public health or the environment.”
“At this point in the investigation, we do not believe there is any criminal or malicious activity involved,” the spokesperson added.
A Federal Railroad Administration representative told Insider that it was investigating whether the railroad or shipper committed any federal violations under the Department of Transportation’s regulatory authority.
Dyno Nobel told KQED that it had “limited control” over the railcar while it was in transit and that it was being moved back to Wyoming for inspection. It added that it would work to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The California Public Utilities Commission told KQED that it was also investigating.
Last Saturday the Washington Post published an exposé of classified American intelligence documents showing that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, working behind the back of the Biden White House, pushed hard earlier this year for an expanded series of missile attacks inside Russia. The documents were part of a large cache of classified materials posted online by an Air Force enlisted man now in custody. A senior official of the Biden administration, asked by the Post for comment on the newly revealed intelligence, said that Zelensky has never violated his pledge never to use American weapons to strike inside Russia. In the view of the White House, Zelensky can do no wrong.
Zelensky’s desire to take the war to Russia may not be clear to the president and senior foreign policy aides in the White House, but it is to those in the American intelligence community who have found it difficult to get their intelligence and their assessments a hearing in the Oval Office. Meanwhile, the slaughter in the city of Bakhmut continues. It is similar in idiocy, if not in numbers, to the slaughter in Verdun and the Somme during World War I. The men in charge of today’s war—in Moscow, Kiev, and Washington—have shown no interest even in temporary ceasefire talks that could serve as a prelude to something permanent. The talk now is only about the possibilities of a late spring or summer offensive by either party.
But something else is cooking, as some in the American intelligence community know and have reported in secret, at the instigation of government officials at various levels in Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Estonia, Czechoslovakia, and Latvia. These countries are all allies of Ukraine and declared enemies of Vladimir Putin.
This group is led by Poland, whose leadership no longer fears the Russian army because its performance in Ukraine has left the glow of its success at Stalingrad during the Second World War in tatters. It has been quietly urging Zelensky to find a way to end the war—even by resigning himself, if necessary—and to allow the process of rebuilding his nation to get under way. Zelensky is not budging, according to intercepts and other data known inside the Central Intelligence Agency, but he is beginning to lose the private support of his neighbors.
One of the driving forces for the quiet European talks with Zelensky has been the more than five million Ukrainians fleeing from the war who have crossed the country’s borders and have registered with its neighbors under an EU agreement for temporary protection that includes residency rights, access to the labor market, housing, social welfare assistance, and medical care. An assessment published by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports that the estimate excludes roughly 3 million Ukrainian refugees who escaped from the war zone without a visa into any of the 27 European nations that have abolished border control between each other under the Schengen agreement. Ukraine, though not in the EU, now enjoys all the benefits of the Schengen pact. A few nations, exhausted by the 15-month war, have reintroduced some forms of border control, but the regional refugee crisis will not be resolved until there is a formal peace agreement.
The UNHRC reports that free travel from Ukraine into the Baltic states and EU states in Western Europe “makes it particularly difficult to determine exactly how many Ukrainians have reached the EU in the last few months, and where they are now.” The report says the “vast majority” of the Ukrainian refugees are women and children, and one third of them are under the age of eighteen. Seventy-three per cent of the refugees of working age are women, many with children.
A February analysis of the European refugee issue by the Council on Foreign Relations found that “tens of billions of dollars” in humanitarian aid were poured into Ukraine’s neighbors during the war’s first year.
“As the conflict enters its second year with no end in sight,” the report says, “experts worry that host countries are growing fatigued.”
Weeks ago I learned that the American intelligence community was aware that some officials in Western Europe and the Baltic states want the war between Ukraine and Russia to end. These officials have concluded that it is time for Zelensky to “come around” and seek a settlement. A knowledgeable American official told me that some in the leadership in Hungary and Poland were among those working together to get Ukraine involved in serious talks with Moscow. “Hungary is a big player in this and so are Poland and Germany, and they are working to get Zelensky to come around,” the American official said. The European leaders have made it clear that “Zelensky can keep what he’s got”—a villa in Italy and interests in offshore bank accounts—“if he works up a peace deal even if he’s got to be paid off, if it’s the only way to get a deal.”
So far, the official said, Zelensky has rejected such advice and ignored offers of large sums of money to ease his retreat to an estate he owns in Italy. There is no support in the Biden Administration for any settlement that involves Zelensky’s departure, and the leadership in France and England “are too beholden” to Biden to contemplate such a scenario. There is a reality that some elements in the American intelligence community can’t ignore, the official said, even if the White House is ignoring it: “Ukraine is running out of money and it is known that the next four or months are critical. And Eastern Europeans are talking about a deal.” The issue for them, the official told me, “is how to get the United States to stop supporting Zelensky,” The White House support goes beyond the needs of the war: “We are paying all of the retirement funds—the 401k’s—for Ukraine.”
And Zelensky wants more, the official said.
“Zelensky is telling us that if you want to win the war you’ve got to give me more money and more stuff. He tells us, ‘I’ve got to pay off the generals.’ He’s telling us”—if he is forced out of office—“he’s going to the highest bidder. He’d rather go to Italy than stay and possibly get killed by his own people.”
“All of this talk is being reported and is now flying around inside the American intelligence community, but, as usual,” the official said, “it’s not clear to the intelligence community what the president and his foreign policy aides in the White House know of the reality” of the European discussion about finding a way to end the war.
“We are still training Ukrainians how to fly our F-16s that will be shot down by Russia as soon as they get into the war zone. The mainstream press is dedicated to Biden and the war and Biden is still talking about the Great Satan in Moscow while the Russian economy is doing great. Putin can stay where he is”—in power—“despite his failure to wipe Ukraine off the map as an independent state. And he thought he would win the war with just one airborne division”—a sardonic reference to Russia’s failed effort in the first days of the war to seize a vital airport by parachuting in an attack force.
“Europe’s problem,” the official said, in terms of getting a quick settlement to the war, “is that the White House wants Zelensky to survive while there are others”—in Russia and in some European capitals—“who say Zelensky has got to go, no matter what,”
It’s not clear that this understanding has gotten to the Oval Office. I have been told that some of the better intelligence about the war does not reach the president, through no fault of those who prepare the often contrary assessments. Biden is said to rely on briefings and other materials prepared by Avril Haines, director of National Intelligence, since the Biden Administration came into office. She has spent much of her career working for Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, whose ties to Biden and agreement with him on matters pertaining to Russia and China go back decades.
The one saving grace for some in the community, I have been told, has been CIA Director William Burns.
Burns was ambassador to Russia and deputy secretary of State and is seen as someone “who has come around” in opposition to some of the White House’s foreign policy follies. “He doesn’t want to be a rat on a sinking ship,” the official told me.
On the other hand, I have been told, it’s not clear to those in the CIA who prepare the President’s Daily Brief that Joe Biden is a regular reader of their intelligence summary. The document is usually three pages. Decades ago I was told—by someone who begged me not to write about it at the time—that Ronald Reagan rarely read the PDB until Colin Powell, then in the White House, began reading it to a video recorder. The tape would then be played for the president. It’s unclear who, if anyone, might take the initiative as Biden’s Colin Powell.
The CIA programs spanned some four decades. Starting as a paramilitary operation that provided funding and equipment for such anti-Soviet Ukrainian resistance groups as the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (UHVR); its affiliates, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), all Nazi Banderists. The CIA also provided support to a relatively anti-Bandera faction of the UHVR, the ZP-UHVR, a foreign-based virtual branch of the CIA and British MI-6 intelligence services. The early CIA operation to destabilize Ukraine, using exile Ukrainian agents in the West who were infiltrated into Soviet Ukraine, was codenamed Project AERODYNAMIC.
A formerly TOP SECRET CIA document dated July 13, 1953, provides a description of AERODYNAMIC: «The purpose of Project AERODYNAMIC is to provide for the exploitation and expansion of the anti-Soviet Ukrainian resistance for cold war and hot war purposes. Such groups as the Ukrainian Supreme Council of Liberation (UHVR) and its Ukrainian Insurgent Army (OUN), the Foreign Representation of the Ukrainian Supreme Council of Liberation (ZPUHVR) in Western Europe and the United States, and other organizations such as the OUN/B will be utilized». The CIA admitted in a 1970 formerly SECRET document that it had been in contact with the ZPUHVR since 1950.
The OUN-B was the Bandera faction of the OUN and its neo-Nazi sympathizers are today found embedded in the Ukrainian national government in Kiev and in regional and municipal governments throughout the country.
AERODYNAMIC placed field agents inside Soviet Ukraine who, in turn, established contact with Ukrainian Resistance Movement, particularly SB (intelligence service) agents of the OUN who were already operating inside Ukraine. The CIA arranged for airdrops of communications equipment and other supplies, presumably including arms and ammunition, to the «secret» CIA army in Ukraine. Most of the CIA’s Ukrainian agents received training in West Germany from the US Army’s Foreign Intelligence Political and Psychological (FI-PP) branch. Communications between the CIA agents in Ukraine and their Western handlers were conducted by two-way walkie-talkie (WT), shortwave via international postal channels, and clandestine airborne and overland couriers.
Agents airdropped into Ukraine carried a kit that contained, among other items, a pen gun with tear gas, an arctic sleeping bag, a camp axe, a trenching tool, a pocket knife, a chocolate wafer, a Minox camera and a 35 mm Leica camera, film, a Soviet toiletry kit, a Soviet cap and jacket, a .22 caliber pistol and bullets, and rubber «contraceptives» for ‘waterproofing film’. Other agents were issued radio sets, hand generators, nickel-cadmium batteries, and homing beacons.
An affiliated project under AERODYNAMIC was codenamed CAPACHO.
CIA documents show that AERODYNAMIC continued in operation through the Richard Nixon administration into 1970.
The program took on more of a psychological warfare operation veneer than a real-life facsimile of a John Le Carré «behind the Iron Curtain» spy novel. The CIA set up a propaganda company in Manhattan that catered to printing and publishing anti-Soviet ZPUHVR literature that would be smuggled into Ukraine. The new battleground would not be swampy retreats near Odessa and cold deserted warehouses in Kiev but at the center of the world of publishing and the broadcast media.
The CIA front company was Prolog Research and Publishing Associates, Inc., which later became known simply as Prolog. The CIA codename for Prolog was AETENURE. The group published the Ukrainian language «Prolog» magazine. The CIA referred to Prolog as a «non-profit, tax exempt cover company for the ZP/UHVR’s activities». The «legal entity» used by the CIA to fund Prolog remains classified information. However, the SECRET CIA document does state that the funds for Prolog were passed to the New York office «via Denver and Los Angeles and receipts are furnished Prolog showing fund origin to backstop questioning by New York fiscal authorities».
As for the Munich office of Prolog, the CIA document states that funding for it comes from an account separate from that of Prolog in New York from a cooperating bank, which also remains classified. In 1967, the CIA merged the activities of Prolog Munich and the Munich office of the Ukrainian exiled nationalist «Suchasnist» journal. The Munich office also supported the «Ukrainische Gesellschaft fur Auslandstudien». The CIA documents also indicate that US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents may have interfered with AERODYNAMIC agents in New York. A 1967 CIA directive advised all ZPUHVR agents in the United States to either report their contacts with United Nations mission diplomats and UN employees from the USSR and the Ukrainian SSR to the FBI or their own CIA project case officer. CIA agents in charge of AERODYNAMIC in New York and Munich were codenamed AECASSOWARY agents. Apparently not all that taken with the brevity of MI-6’s famed agent «007», one CIA agent in Munich was codenamed AECASSOWARY/6 and the senior agent in New York was AECASSOWARY/2.
AECASSOWARY agents took part in and ran other AERODYNAMIC teams that infiltrated the Vienna World Youth Conference in 1959. The Vienna infiltration operation, where contact with made with young Ukrainians, was codenamed LCOUTBOUND by the CIA.
In 1968, the CIA ordered Prolog Research and Publishing Associates, Inc. terminated and replaced by Prolog Research Corporation, «a profit-making, commercial enterprise ostensibly serving contracts for unspecified users as private individuals and institutions».
The shakeup of Prolog was reported by the CIA to have arisen from operation MHDOWEL. There is not much known about MHDOWEL other than it involved the blowing of the CIA cover of a non-profit foundation. The following is from a memo to file, dated January 31, 1969, from CIA assistant general counsel John Greany, «Concerns a meeting of Greaney, counsel Lawrence Houston and Rocca about a ‘confrontation’ with NY FBI office on January 17, 1969. They discussed two individuals whose names were redacted. One was said to be a staff agent of the CIA since 8/28/61 who had been assigned in 1964 to write a monograph, which had been funded by a grant from a foundation whose cover was blown in MHDOWEL (I suspect that is code for US Press). One of the individuals [name redacted] had been requested for use with Project DTPILLAR in November 1953 to Feb. 1955 and later in March 1964 for WUBRINY. When the Domestic Operations Division advised Security that this person would not be used in WUBRINY, Rocca commented that ‘there are some rather ominous allegations against members of the firm of [redacted],’ indicating one member of that firm was a ‘card-carrying member of the Communist Party.’ The memo went on to say that Rocca was investigating the use of the individual in Project DTPILLAR concerning whether that person had mentioned activities in Geneva in March 1966 in connection with Herbert Itkin». Raymond Rocca was the deputy chief of the CIA’s Counterintelligence Division. Itkin was an undercover agent for the FBI and CIA who allegedly infiltrated the Mafia and was given a new identity in California as «Herbert Atkin» in 1972.
In 1969, AERODYNAMIC began advancing the cause of the Crimean Tatars. In 1959, owing to Canada’s large Ukrainian population, Canada’s intelligence service began a program similar to AERODYNAMIC codenamed «REDSKIN».
As international air travel increased, so did the number of visitors to the West from Soviet Ukraine. These travelers were of primary interest to AERODYNAMIC. Travelers were asked by CIA agents to clandestinely carry Prolog materials, all censored by the Soviet government, back to Ukraine for distribution. Later, AERODYNAMIC agents began approaching Ukrainian visitors to eastern European countries, particularly Soviet Ukrainian visitors to Czechoslovakia during the «Prague Spring» of 1968. The Ukrainian CIA agents had the same request to carry back subversive literature to Ukraine.
AERODYNAMIC continued into the 1980s as operation QRDYNAMIC, which was assigned to the CIA’s Political and Psychological Staff’s Soviet East Europe Covert Action Program. Prolog saw its operations expanded from New York and Munich to London, Paris, and Tokyo. QRDYNAMIC began linking up with operations financed by hedge fund tycoon George Soros, particularly the Helsinki Watch Group’s operatives in Kiev and Moscow. Distribution of underground material expanded from journals and pamphlets to audio cassette tapes, self-inking stamps with anti-Soviet messages, stickers, and T-shirts.
QRDYNAMIC expanded its operations into China, obviously from the Tokyo office, and Czechoslovakia, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Soviet Central Asia, the Soviet Pacific Maritime region, and among Ukrainian-Canadians. QRDYNAMIC also paid journalist agents-of-influence for their articles. These journalists were located in Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, Israel, and Austria.
But at the outset of glasnost and perestroika in the mid-1980s, things began to look bleak for QRDYNAMIC. The high cost of rent in Manhattan had it looking for cheaper quarters in New Jersey.
Assistant Secretary of State for European/Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, the baked goods-bearing «Maiden of Maidan,» told the US Congress that the United States spent $5 billion to wrest control of Ukraine from the Russian sphere since the collapse of the Soviet Union. With the recent disclosures from the CIA it appears that the price tag to the American tax payers of such foreign shenanigans was much higher.
