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September 6, 2023 - FOIA lawsuit reveals Hunter directly represented Burisma in its dealings with the Obama White House yet was not registered as a foreign agent

September 7, 2023 - The Deep State ‘Catch-22’ Trap of General Flynn

For anyone following the saga of Lt. General Michael T. Flynn (Ret.), the one theme that helps explain the case is: It Just Never Ends.

As reported by both UncoverDC and The Washington Pundit back in March 2021, the Defense Department Inspector General (DoD OIG) had concluded a “long-delayed investigation into Michael Flynn,” sending its findings to the Army “in a case that could bring tens of thousands of dollars in financial penalties for President Donald Trump’s first NSA (National Security Advisor).” The investigation centered around Gen. Flynn’s business dealings during his time as a private citizen in between serving as the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) under President Obama and his appointment as NSA by President Trump.

The story again made headlines earlier this year in May when Just The News (JTN) reported Gen. Flynn had received a notification letter from the Biden Pentagon stating the Dept. of the Army Office of the General Counsel had determined he had violated the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution and would be forced to repay proceeds out of his pension for allegedly unauthorized work on behalf of foreign governments performed as a private citizen after leaving the Army. Gen. Flynn would discuss the letter the day after the JTN article was published in an interview with John Solomon—the article’s author—and Amanda Head.

Gen. Flynn mentioned during the interview that DoD had declined to provide him with a copy of the OIG investigation report. In response to the investigation, UncoverDC filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and recently obtained a copy of the report. The details are quite eye-opening and expose what a partisan witch-hunt the entire investigation was from the very beginning. And believe it or not, it could have been a lot worse.

From the response letter to UncoverDC’s FOIA request for DoD OIG’s report of Gen. Flynn’s “Emoluments” investigation

The dates listed at the top of the report are the first thing that jumps out. DoD OIG “initiated an investigation” into Gen. Flynn in April 2017. This is less than two months after Gen. Flynn was forced to resign as President Trump’s NSA. It also has nothing to do with the allegations of lying to the FBI about his call with Russian Ambassador Kislyak and is separate from the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) investigation he would be subjected to by the Mueller Investigation. It demonstrates further how the Deep State was throwing everything—including the kitchen sink—at him around this time by weaponizing the full force of the U.S. government to “get Flynn” at all costs.

From the Jan 2021 DoD OIG “Emoluments” investigation report of Gen. Flynn

The report stems from a referral made by the House Oversight Committee to DoD OIG. Sadly, the House investigation was a bipartisan effort headed up by then-Republican Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and the Democratic Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD). Chaffetz—who now makes regular appearances on Fox News whining about his own targeting by the administrative state—went on to gleefully discuss the referral with Greta Van Susteren on MSNBC.

If you want to know how we arrived at the point of having an openly political and weaponized FBI raiding the homes of journalists, political opponents, and the former President of the United States, we present to you Exhibit A:

The DoD OIG investigation would be put on hold in June 2017, around the same time the Mueller Investigation set its sights with their multifaceted and ever-changing attempts to indict Gen. Flynn on something … anything. The DoD OIG investigation would remain on hold until President Trump ended the Mueller fiasco in November 2020 by granting Gen. Flynn his full Pardon of Innocence.

President Trump boarding Marine One for the final time on Jan 20, 2021

The one date that really jumps out is when the report was issued, Jan 27, 2021. Conveniently enough, one week after President Trump left office when he or his political appointees could no longer review or intervene to shut down this latest witch-hunt.

Before diving any further into the details of the DoD OIG report, it is important to highlight just how frivolous the basis of this investigation was, to begin with. The Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution can be categorized in the same sphere as violations of the Logan Act of 1799. No one with any knowledge of U.S. law takes either one seriously. They are simply used as a cudgel by partisan politicians to target their political opponents. As we will detail in a subsequent column, the use of the Emoluments Clause was a novel legal theory originally concocted by Obama official, Trump impeachment architect, and Brookings Institute Senior Fellow Norm Eisen to repeatedly harass President Trump, members of his family, and administration.

Attorneys Viva Frei and Robert Barnes broke down the news of the rekindled DoD OIG investigation when it was first reported by The Washington Post’s crack staff of “deeply sourced and relentless” Pulitzer Prize-winning Pee-Pee Hoax journalists back in March 2021. Barnes drops some very interesting nuggets that have not come out before.

The report indicates DoD OIG investigated Gen. Flynn on four separate allegations. It is unclear whether the Biden Pentagon will or is able to act on the other findings listed. For the purposes of this column, we focus on the one which the Dept. of the Army appears to be pursuing the General on related to his paid speaking engagement at a December 2015 Russia Today (RT) Gala.

From the Jan 2021 DOD OIG “Emoluments” investigation report of Gen. Flynn

RT 10-Year Anniversary Gala in Moscow (December 2015)

Defense attorney Sidney Powell addressed Gen. Flynn’s attendance at the RT Gala along with other accusations made in the DoD OIG report in numerous interviews throughout his Mueller Investigation trial.

As the JTN article details, Gen. Flynn made DIA fully aware of his planned trip to Moscow to speak at the RT event. This was confirmed by a signed affidavit from former DIA Senior Executive David Becker. Gen. Flynn contacted DIA ahead of time to let them know he expected to meet with “Senior Leadership of Russia,” including the Director of the GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate)—Russia’s main military intelligence agency and counterpart of the DIA. No less than 10 U.S. counterintelligence officials briefed Gen. Flynn on collection requirements and “intelligence threat[s]” potentially directed towards him. Immediately upon his return, he contacted DIA, was debriefed, and turned over all information he had collected while on his trip, including “a thumb drive of pictures and other information.” The encrypted thumb drive, the secure laptop used on the trip, and other secured devices used to collect Intel were likely all provided to him by DIA in advance of the trip.

From the signed affidavit by former DIA Senior Executive David Becker

The engagement itself was arranged by Leading Authorities, Inc. (LAI), which is the main speakers’ bureau used by nearly all public figures to book paid speaking engagements. Gen. Flynn was unaware President Vladimir Putin would be in attendance and was seated next to the Russian leader for only 10 to 15 minutes after Putin made the surprise appearance.

Gen. Flynn attended the RT Gala along with former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein who also had the trip arranged and was paid to give a speech by LAI. The appearance has been used to relentlessly smear Flynn as a secret agent for Russia. Stein also wound up being accused of being a “Russian asset” by Hillary Clinton, which is an epic backfire since Stein herself was one of the Trump-Russia Collusion Hoax originators.

Gen. Flynn seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 2015 RT anniversary banquet. Jill Stein is also pictured in the foreground wearing grey.

The DoD OIG report includes a “Description of Attached Relevant Documents” section—although the attachments were not included with the response to UDC’s FOIA request. Included in the list of attachments are copies of transcripts from the RT Gala from the U.S. Dept of State, Headquarters – Dept. of the U.S. Army (HQDA), and U.S. Army Human Resources Command (HRC). So multiple sections of the U.S. Dept. of State and the Dept. of Defense were keenly aware of Gen. Flynn’s attendance and speech for well over a year before it suddenly became problematic.

From the Jan 2021 DoD OIG “Emoluments” investigation report of Gen. Flynn

The real accusation seems to be a technicality that Gen. Flynn did not seek or receive “proper approval” before making the speech and receiving payment. Well, is that true? This is where the information Robert Barnes revealed might tell the real story. Listen again to the Barnes sound byte and then what Gen. Flynn seems to hint at in his JTN interview.

Did you catch it? Conventional wisdom—even by those coming to the defense of Gen. Flynn—has always been that he scheduled the RT speech himself through LAI and then reached out to the DIA for the intelligence briefings. So DIA was just taking advantage of the opportunity … “Well, since you’re going to be there anyways …”

If Barnes is correct, that does not seem to be the case at all. DIA came up with the idea and initiated the trip for Gen. Flynn in the first place. They put him up to it. Gen. Flynn seems to add credence to the theory in his JTN interview when he says,

I know there are classified documents that go along with everything I did. So you know, I mean release the damn classified documents. I won’t speak to those, but I know that they exist.

The next logical question is, “How would Robert Barnes know?”. He is just a constitutional attorney and has never even worked for the government. Barnes is a top defense attorney—who holds a law license in DC—and has represented a number of clients in highly politicized cases. In fact, he represented former FBI agent Robyn Gritz in her a sexual harassment complaint against former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. This is the case where Gen. Flynn personally intervened on behalf of Gritz. McCabe likely held a grudge against Gen. Flynn from that point forward and probably was a factor in McCabe leading the witch-hunt to take Gen. Flynn out.

Barnes also represented several individuals targeted by the Mueller Investigation due to their association with Gen. Flynn and even informally advised the General during his criminal trial. At one point, Barnes was considered to take over as Flynn’s defense counsel from Covington & Burling, LLP before recommending Sidney Powell, who would be hired instead. So Barnes would have knowledge directly from Gen. Flynn and related sources within the Intel Community, as he has mentioned on different occasions.

Therein lays the Catch-22. The DIA under President Obama—the same man who fired Gen. Flynn for voicing opposition to the Iran Nuclear Deal and warning about the rise of ISIS—asks him to carry out an intelligence gathering operation. Being the American patriot he is, the General decides to put his country above politics and agrees. The mission proved to be wildly more successful than anyone could have hoped, with a top U.S. intelligence agent getting to sit with the President of Russia and collect invaluable information that our government can exploit in future dealings with one of our top geopolitical rivalries for years to come.

Six years later, the Pentagon—now under Joe “Hey … why don’t we try using the Logan Act Biden—can now use the RT mission to launch a new smear campaign against Gen. Flynn. They can bury the documents behind classification since they would reveal “sources and methods” of inserting a U.S. spy into a direct meeting with the President of Russia. These would be some highly classified documents within the possession of the U.S. government—unlikely to ever see the light of day. And they know Gen. Flynn can’t breathe a word about the true nature of the mission in his own defense. If he reveals they put him up to it, he risks criminal prosecution for violating his oath and disclosing classified information. So they can go on trashing the reputation of an American war hero, believing he just has to sit there and take it.

These people are truly sick and have no shame … but it’s not going to work.

Stay tuned for our follow-up column when we will deep-dive into the other allegations detailed in the DoD OIG report on Gen. Flynn, where we will expose how government officials continue to use fake news stories to justify their politicized investigations and targeting. (The Washington Pundit, 9/07/2023)  (Archive)

September 9, 2023 - Marco Polo posts an IRS pictorial directory naming agents who were involved in the Biden investigation

The IRS is the first of several agency pictorial directories we will publish.

The news this summer surrounding the U.S. pResident & his family has been dominated by the testimony & exhibits produced by Gary Shapley, a Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) from the IRS. Shapley was one of the lead agents of the “Sportsman” investigation, a code name which the FBI created for the federal inquiry into the U.S. pResident’s degenerate & corrupt second son.

Marco Polo takes the final clause of the First Amendment more seriously than perhaps any group in America — it is essential that we petition our Government for a redress of grievances. To properly do that, you need to know not only names but also faces, backgrounds, biases, etc of the feds involved. To that end, we present below our first rundown of who precisely at the IRS was/is involved in this total fiasco and miscarriage of justice: media.marcopolousa.org/pdf/irsdirectory.pdf

The corruption & bureaucracy is so expansive that only when faces are memorized can one begin to deeply understand the sins committed.

Next up: The DOJ, then the FBI, & finally the US Attorney’s office in Delaware.

(As always, we are attentive to — and abide by — 18 USC § 119.)

–Garrett Ziegler
Founder

Marco Polo (EIN: 61-199994) has established a legal defense fund to fight back against the egregious lawfare from Kevin Morris & Joey B’s other proxies, which you can find here: donorbox.org/mplegalfund

(MarcoPoloUSA/Substack, 9/09/2023)
(Archive)

September 11, 2023 - Benghazi hero agrees Hillary Clinton is ‘one of the most disgusting humans on the planet’ - ‘worse than her husband’

Mark Geist (Credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Shawn Ryan Show)

Mark “Oz” Geist, a member of the CIA Annex Security Team that fought during the 2012 Benghazi attack, agreed with host Shawn Ryan’s assessment of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a Monday appearance on “The Shawn Ryan Show.”

Ryan rattled off some facts about the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. mission and diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, saying Geist had been shot 22 times and saved dozens of lives in the process. The attack claimed the lives of four Americans, including then-U.S. Ambassador to Libya John Christopher Stevens.

“It was, once again, one of the most incompetent times of American leadership,” Ryan said. “And, um, I know it strikes a chord with you. I can’t even imagine.”

Ryan said the Benghazi attack and lack of accountability resonated with at least half of the country.

“I think, at the time [Obama got elected] — and this is the opinion of Mark Geist — Hillary Clinton saw her chance to put together a coalition and go after ‘the bad guy,’” Geist said, referring to then-Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. “That’s when Ambassador Stevens … in 2011, was pushed into Benghazi, along with a team to put together the coalition of militias to fight against Gaddafi.”

“And Hillary Clinton put together the coalition of foreign countries  — Germany, Italy, France, the U.S. and a few others — those were the big four, to get rid of Gaddafi. … I remember hearing that Gaddafi’s sons, this was in 2011, were in D.C. trying to negotiate with the U.S. to allow their father to exile to a third country.”

Geist said that, in his opinion, Clinton “wanted to have a platform to run on in 2016 that said, ‘Look what I did, I overthrew this country, I put this coalition together and we got rid of one of the worst bad guys in the world.’”

“Hillary Clinton is one of the most disgusting human beings on the planet,” Ryan said.

“Very much so,” Geist agreed.

“Always has been, always will be.”

“She’s worse than her husband,” Geist said.

(Read more: Daily Caller, 9/14/2023)  (Archive)

September 12, 2023 - House Subcommittee on Coronavirus Pandemic report: CIA bribed analysts to conceal Wuhan lab leak truth

New evidence provided by the Republican-led Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic shows that the CIA allegedly provided “monetary incentives” (no semantical elaboration provided) to its own analysts to abandon their conclusions that COVID originated in a dingy communist lab in China.

Via New York Post (emphasis added):

“The Central Intelligence Agency offered to pay off analysts in order to bury their findings that COVID-19 most likely leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, new whistleblower testimony to Congress alleges.

A senior-level CIA officer told House committee leaders that his agency tried to pay off six analysts who found SARS-CoV-2 likely originated in a Wuhan lab if they changed their position and said the virus jumped from animals to humans, according to a letter sent Tuesday to CIA Director William Burns.

Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) requested all documents, communications and pay info from the CIA’s COVID Discovery Team by Sept. 26.”

From the Subcommittee’s letter to CIA chief William Burns (emphasis added):

“The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (Select Subcommittee) and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) (together “the Committees”) have received new and concerning whistleblower testimony regarding the Agency’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

A multi-decade, senior-level, current Agency officer has come forward to provide information to the Committees regarding the Agency’s analysis into the origins of COVID-19. According to the whistleblower, the Agency assigned seven officers to a COVID Discovery Team (Team). The Team consisted of multi-disciplinary and experienced officers with significant scientific expertise. According to the whistleblower, at the end of its review, six of the seven members of the Team believed the intelligence and science were sufficient to make a low confidence assessment that COVID-19 originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. The seventh member of the Team, who also happened to be the most senior, was the lone officer to believe COVID-19 originated through zoonosis. The whistleblower further contends that to come to the eventual public determination of uncertainty, the other six members were given a significant monetary incentive* to change their position.”

*”Monetary incentive” is obviously an amorphous phrase that could mean any number of things from direct cash payments to promises of promotions. These claims necessitate further investigation – not by the CIA but by a trusted authority, to the extent that there is such a thing left anywhere in the public domain.

It’s increasingly common knowledge that COVID emerged as a joint CCP-US government partnership spearheaded by still-unindicted former NIAID head Anthony Fauci who used the Chinese lab to skirt a prohibition on dangerous gain-of-function issued by federal authorities in 2014.

Yet, were the CIA, Fauci, NIH, et al. to have had their way, the massive censorship effort undertaken to prevent the truth from emerging would have potentially obscured COVID’s true provenance forever – an attempted cover-up of unprecedented proportions that cries out for punishment of those conspirators responsible. (Read more: Armageddon Prose/Substack, 9/15/2023)  (Archive)

September 12, 2023 - Ex-FBI agent Timothy Thibault, accused of Biden laptop cover-up, meets with Congress

(Credit: Newsweek)

A former senior FBI official who has become a top target for Republicans in their Hunter Biden investigation met with the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning.

Timothy Thibault, who worked as an assistant special agent in charge in the FBI’s Washington Field Office, was seen entering the committee’s main meeting room at about 10 a.m. accompanied by two others. They did not take any questions.

Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and committee member Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) were also seen joining Thibault in the meeting.

Thibault’s appearance comes after House Republicans sent the former FBI official numerous letters while they were in the minority asking him to voluntarily appear for an interview with the committee, but they were met with pushback from Thibault’s legal counsel.

Committee Republicans have said they are investigating allegations made by FBI whistleblowers that Thibault worked to shut down a line of inquiry into Hunter Biden while Thibault worked at the FBI and that he pushed to inflate the number of cases of domestic violent extremism the FBI was handling.

His meeting with the committee comes against the backdrop of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announcing Tuesday that he directed Jordan and two other chairmen, Reps. James Comer (R-KY) and Jason Smith (R-MO), to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden based on allegations that he was inappropriately involved in his son’s business dealings when he was vice president.

Thibault, whose communication with the committee could now be used as evidence in the broader impeachment inquiry, left the FBI in August 2022 as allegations against him began to make headlines, though he said through his legal counsel at the time that the move was a planned retirement and nothing more.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who first made mention of Thibault last year, also accused the former FBI official of political bias and pointed to an example of Thibault reposting a comment on social media from the “Never Trump” Lincoln Project that said, “Donald Trump is a psychologically broken, embittered, and deeply unhappy man.”

(…) Committee Republicans have said they are investigating allegations made by FBI whistleblowers that Thibault worked to shut down a line of inquiry into Hunter Biden while Thibault worked at the FBI and that he pushed to inflate the number of cases of domestic violent extremism the FBI was handling. (Read more: The Washington Examiner, 9/12/ 2023)  (Archive)

September 13, 2023 - House Oversight Committee: 20 examples of Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s influence peddling schemes

There is mounting evidence that Joe Biden was involved in his family’s influence peddling schemes, including while he served as Vice President. However, Democrats and their corporate media allies continue to ignore this overwhelming evidence as they seek to distract the American people from the Biden family’s corruption. Below are over 20 examples of Joe Biden’s involvement.

1) In July 2023, former Biden business associate Devon Archer described how Joe Biden was “The Brand” and was used to send “signals” of power, access, and influence to enrich the Biden family from foreign sources.

2) Devon Archer alone was aware of at least 20 times in which then-Vice President Biden spoke on speakerphone with Hunter Biden’s foreign business associates. Democrats would have Americans believe that these phone calls with then-Vice President Biden were simply to discuss the weather.

3) In February 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden dined with oligarchs from Russia and Kazakhstan who funneled millions of dollars to Hunter Biden and his business associates.

4) In April 2015, then-Vice President Biden dined with Hunter Biden’s foreign business associates, including Ukrainian Burisma executive Vadym Pozharsky. Burisma was then being investigated by Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin for corruption.

5) Then-Vice President Biden had coffee with Hunter Biden’s Chinese business associate, Jonathan Li of BHR, in Beijing and wrote a college letter of recommendation for his daughter.

6) In 2015, then-Vice President Biden hosted Hunter Biden and Devon Archer and other business associates at the official residence of the Vice President. The topic of discussion was filling the top seat at the United Nations. The Kazakhstani government official who wanted the U.N. position attended both dinners at Café Milano with then-Vice President Biden.

7) Using the pseudonym “Robert L. Peters,” Vice President Biden was informed by his staff of a call in 2016 with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. Copied on that official email? Hunter Biden, who was sitting on the board of the Ukrainian company Burisma.

8) On December 4, 2015, Biden business associate Eric Schwerin wrote to Kate Bedingfield in the Office of the Vice President providing quotes to use in response to media outreach regarding Hunter Biden’s role in Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. Later that day, Ms. Bedingfield responded to Mr. Schwerin saying, “VP signed off on this[.]” According to Devon Archer, after a Burisma board of directors meeting in Dubai on the evening of December 4, 2015, Hunter Biden “called D.C.” to discuss pressure that Burisma asked him to relieve.

9) In May 2017, James Gilliar, a Biden family associate, emailed Hunter Biden and other associates to formalize how they would divide the profit from their deal with CEFC, a Chinese Communist Party linked energy company. Gilliar indicated Joe Biden would receive 10 percent, which has been confirmed by former Biden family associate, Tony Bobulinski.

10) On May 20, 2017, James Gilliar told Tony Bobulinksi, another business associate, “Don’t mention Joe being involved, it’s only when u are face to face[.] I know u know that but they are paranoid[.]”

10 more examples of evidence:

(Read more: House Oversight Committee, 9/13/2023) (Archive)

September 14, 2023 - Hunter Biden is indicted on three gun charges

(Credit: Inside Edition)

Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, has been indicted on felony gun charges in Delaware, according to a partially redacted court filing by Department of Justice (DOJ) special counsel David Weiss.

Biden was indicted Thursday on three counts for providing false statements and knowingly possessing the gun while he was addicted to drugs, in connection with the acquisition of a Colt Cobra revolver in October 2018the indictment states. He faces a maximum prison sentence of ten years for the first and third offenses, with the second offense holding a maximum of five years, according to a defendant information sheet.

“Robert Hunter Biden, provided a written statement on Form 4473 certifying that he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, the statement was false and fictitious,” the indictment reads. (Read more: The Daily Caller, 9/14/2023) (Archive)



Jonathan Turley breaks down the ‘conspicuous’ elements of the indictment:

“It’s conspicuous, as you’ve noted, as Chairman Comer noted, as to what was not charged. They were giving out FARA charges against Trump officials with great speed and alacrity. You know, they hit Paul Manafort with charges based on the same facts,” Turley told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “What the media is ignoring is these uncharged crimes do have one common possible motive. When you don’t declare yourself a foreign agent, when you don’t declare income, when you create these questionable international transfers, all of them can be effectively succeed in hiding that trail.”

“If you declare income, you got to say where the income came from. If you declare yourself a foreign agent, you have to explain what you’re doing for foreign governments and if you create this labyrinth of accounts through different shell companies and through different banks, it makes it hard for people to see those transfers,” Turley continued. “All of that fits a unified theory of an influence peddling scheme that involved potential criminal acts so I think it’s rather obvious that the one outlier, the gun charge, is the only thing that has been charged.”

September 14, 2023 - Fired FBI agent, Peter Strzok, wants an FBI unit to protect agents from Americans

Disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok, who now spreads disinformation on MSNBC, wants an FBI unit to protect agents from Americans. They already have all the power they need since they weaponized the department, but nonetheless, he wants more power to go after Americans. This shows you how dangerous a national police force is. He has the same idea your ordinary dictator has had.

Nicole Wallace is a partisan activist who sows anti-Republican discontent nightly on MSNBC. She thinks Americans terrorize the FBI. This is as the Biden administration terrorizes Americans. So ironic.

Wallace held a panel discussion, and one of the guests was the mundane, reliably anti-Republican Strzok. Mr. Strzok said we need a special unit to protect FBI agents from Americans.

“In my opinion, we’re not doing enough. I mean, look, when push comes to shove, absolutely, the FBI and DOJ need to band together and protect their personnel to allow them to do their job. They’re going to do it, but they need to be able to do it without fear for their lives. When the FBI was fighting Al Capone, there was not a unit dedicated to protecting FBI personnel, and the FBI was fighting organized crime families in New York and all around the US. There was not a unit dedicated to protecting FBI personnel.”

The FBI and DOJ classify everyday Americans, like parents at board meetings, as domestic terrorists. They call J6 rioters terrorists. This is who he’s talking about, along with Republican congressmen.

(Read more: Independent Sentinel, 9/14/2023) (Archive)

September 2023 - Ex FBI agent, Timothy Thibault, testifies FBI received evidence from second informant (Schweizer) in Biden case, but was labeled as disinformation and shut down

A retired FBI supervisor has revealed to Congress that the bureau’s Washington field office had a second “politically connected” informant providing information relevant to the Biden family investigation, but was asked to shut down the source in the fall of 2020 shortly before Joe Biden was elected president, Just the News has learned.

Retired Special Agent Timothy Thibault, the former No. 2 supervisor in the FBI’s Washington field office, told the House Judiciary Committee last week in a transcribed interview he was somewhat taken aback when he received the request from the lead agent in the Hunter Biden tax case in October 2020 to shut down the confidential human source (CHS).

“It shocked me a bit because I’m, like, the purpose of – a confidential informant is to support a case,” Thibault told investigators in portions of a transcript reviewed by Just the News.

Thibault did not further identify the source in his testimony, but best-selling author Peter Schweizer told Just the News Sunday that he believes he is the person described in the transcript based on past comments from Thibault and after The New York Times recently suggested the FBI had received information in the Hunter Biden case from a “right-wing author.”

Schweizer said the FBI approached him and he provided to agents evidence about possible criminality in fall 2020. He said there was no politics involved, just facts and he pushed back on the narrative of the Times, noting its journalists reported on the Hillary Clinton-funded Steele dossier submitted to the FBI in 2016.

“There are no ‘right wing facts’ or ‘left wing facts.’ There are only facts,” he said. “And of course they happily accepted the unsubstantiated and unsourced dossier from Hillary Clinton’s lawyer without reservation.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan summoned Thibault for the interview as he investigates allegations that U. S. Attorney, David Weiss and is team did not follow normal investigative procedures when probing Hunter Biden and his family’s overseas business dealings.

Thibault retired after revelations he had made anti-Trump posts on social media while an agent, and has been a target of sharp criticism from some Republicans, including Sen. Charles Grassley, (R-Iowa). (Read more: Just the News, 9/17/2023)  (Archive)

September 15, 2023 - House Judiciary Committee subpoenas FBI agent who allegedly lied about Hunter Biden laptop

Chan told the media the 2020 election was the most secure election in history. He added, “People are trying to dispel the disinformation and misinformation that is going on that there are things happening with the election. We don’t see any credible threats at this point.” (Credit: Fox News)

The House Judiciary Committee is sending a subpoena to FBI agent Elvis Chan Friday after the Department of Justice (DOJ) blocked him from testifying in front of the committee about the bureau’s response to the Hunter Biden laptop story, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller.

Chan was expected to testify to the House Judiciary over his involvement with the FBI’s pressure on social media companies to censor the Hunter Biden laptop archive and false statements he appeared to make in November 2022 testimony for the ongoing Missouri v. Biden censorship lawsuit.

He volunteered to interview in front of the committee with his personal counsel, according to the letter. Chan’s interview did not end up taking place because the Department of Justice (DOJ) brought agency counsel to the interview, despite Chan’s decision to be represented by his personal counsel. Witnesses cannot be represented by agency counsel and personal counsel during interviews, per committee rules.

The Daily Mail first reported on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) effort to shut down his testimony by bringing an agency counsel to his interview.

“Today, after an FBI employee traveled across the country to voluntarily participate in a scheduled interview, he was denied the right to have his chosen legal counsel accompany him,” the FBI said in a statement to the Daily Caller. “Upon arrival at the Capitol, Committee staff directed agency counsel to leave the premises, and the interview was unable to proceed.”

Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, shared internal Facebook documents in August showing that Chan lied during his previous testimony about his meetings with tech companies regarding the Hunter Biden laptop.

“Internal FB docs reveal that an FBI Special Agent made false statements in testimony about the FBI’s role in the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story,” Jordan tweeted.

Elvis Chan was the conduit between the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) and social media platforms ahead of the 2020 presidential election, according to internal documents known as the “Twitter files” and the House Judiciary Committee.

Chan and FITF Section Chief Laura Dehmlow met with Facebook on Oct. 14, 2020, when the Hunter Biden laptop story broke in the New York Post, she testified in July. The FBI told Facebook “no comment” on whether the laptop was real, despite their knowledge that the laptop archive was real. Hunter Biden’s laptop contents have been verified by the Daily Caller News Foundation, The New York Times, The Washington Post and other media outlets. (Read more: The Daily Caller, 9/15/2023) (Archive)

September 18, 2023 - DOJ gives Ray Epps the James Wolfe treatment – charged with one misdemeanor count; Judge Boasberg presides

Ray Epps whispers in Ryan Samsel’s ear who then carries out a breach of the police barricades on January 6, 2021. (Credit: public domain)

The man who was seen on multiple video tapes urging the January 6th crowd to storm the Capitol building, the previously well-known agent provocateur Ray Epps, has been charged by the DOJ with one misdemeanor count of “Disorderly or Disruptive Conduct.”

Worse still, the announcement from Main Justice comes via the format of an “information” {SEE HERE} which implies a plea deal was already reached as the charge was made public.  Now the DOJ can say they ‘arrested‘ the guy, and simultaneously flip the narrative as evidence he wasn’t a confidential human source.

This velvet glove arrangement bears striking similarity to the DOJ approach when Senate Intelligence Committee head of security, James Wolfe, leaked the Top-Secret Carter Page FISA application, and was only charged with one count of lying to the FBI about it. {Go DeepBut wait… it gets better.  The pre-selected DC judge is none other than, James Boasberg. {Go Deep}  You just can’t make this stuff up folks.

WASHINGTON — Ray Epps, a Jan. 6 participant whose removal from the FBI’s Capitol Violence webpage sparked conspiracy theories that he was a federal informant, was charged in connection with the Capitol attack on Tuesday.

Epps is charged with one misdemeanor count, disorderly or disruptive conduct on restricted grounds. He was charged by information, suggesting that he plans to enter a plea deal. Not long after he was charged, a virtual plea agreement hearing was set for Wednesday, Sept. 20 before Chief Judge James Boasberg. (read more)

He doesn’t even have to show up in court for the DOJ to have Judge Boasberg rubber stamp the issue.

(Conservative Treehouse, 9/19/2023) (Archive)

September 19, 2023 - DHS Mayorkas appoints primary Trump-Russia conspiracy agents as “expert group” to identify domestic terrorists and disinformation

If you put the individual names within this group in the search bar, you will discover their connection.  Most of them were the primary background operatives who pushed the Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy in ’16, ’17, ’18 and ’19.

With names like James Clapper (DNI), John Brennan (CIA), Tashina Guahar (DOJ-NSD), David Kris (DOJ-NSD, FISA), Paul Kolbe (CIA) and Benjamin Wittes (Lawfare), what you will find is that this specific group are functionaries of the corrupt intelligence apparatus that framed the Trump-Russia collusion nonsense.  This is the team now that will define for DHS how to focus their future targeting efforts.

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) Ken Wainstein, and Counterterrorism Coordinator Nicholas Rasmussen announced the establishment of the Homeland Intelligence Experts Group (Experts Group). The group is comprised of private sector experts who will provide their unique perspectives on the federal government’s intelligence enterprise to DHS’s I&A and the Office of the Counterterrorism Coordinator.

“The security of the American people depends on our capacity to collect, generate, and disseminate actionable intelligence to our federal, state, local, territorial, tribal, campus, and private sector partners,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “I express my deep gratitude to these distinguished individuals for dedicating their exceptional expertise, experience, and vision to our critical mission.”

“The Homeland Intelligence Experts Group is being formed at a time of unprecedented challenge, with the U.S. intelligence enterprise facing threats from a range of malign actors, to include foreign nation-state adversaries, domestic violent extremists, cyber criminals, drug-trafficking cartels and other transnational criminal organizations,” said Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis Ken Wainstein. “The Experts Group will be an invaluable asset as we navigate through this evolving threat and operating environment and continue to strengthen our efforts to protect the Homeland.”

“The homeland threat environment is more diverse, dynamic, and challenging than at any point in our post 9/11 history, with threats tied to an array of different terrorist and violent extremist ideologies and narratives,” said Counterterrorism Coordinator Nicholas Rasmussen. “The experience, expertise, and perspective offered by Experts Group members will undoubtedly put the Department in a strong position to confront this threat landscape, and we are grateful for the willingness of the Experts Group members to serve in this important capacity.”

The Experts Group will provide DHS with a wide range of views and perspectives, with a membership that includes former senior intelligence officials, journalists, and prominent human rights and civil liberties advocates. (read more)

Keep in mind, the organization of this group follows the announcement that DHS will be launching online “Enhanced AI” to assist the government in combating  information they deem dangerous to national security.   Put the two together, and I think we can see who will be doing the “defining” of what constitutes “dangerous”.

You will notice I use the term “definition” quite often.  That is because the root of every control mechanism is grounded upon defining things.  When you accept the terms ‘disinformation’, ‘misinformation’, and/or ‘malinformation’, you are buying into the process that permits definitions to determine your travel. Those who define both you and your destination, ultimately control your online experience.

Pay very, very close attention to the two underlined words in the following paragraph:

Take out the word “improper” and the admission is, DHS uses AI to profile, target and discriminate.  In the second sentence, DHS currently participates in systemic, indiscriminate and/or large-scale monitoring, surveillance, or tracking of individuals.  The only thing those sentences in the paragraph say, is that DHS will not allow AI to create improper outcomes within a system that already exists.

The assembly of a Homeland Intelligence Experts Group gives us the names of those who will be organizing the definitions.

Do not get alarmed, get informed. (Conservative Treehouse, 9/19/2023)  (Archive)

RESOURCES:

Using AI for Content Moderation

Facebook / META / Tech joining with DHS

Zoom will allow Content Scraping by AI 

AI going into The Cloud

U.S. Govt Going into The Cloud With AI

Pentagon activates 175 Million IP’s 👀**ahem**

Big Names to Attend Political AI Forum

DoD to use AI to monitor U.S. Internet for Disinformation

DHS Announces Guidelines for Using AI to monitor Americans.

DHS Announces “Expert Group”

September 20, 2023 - Former Capitol Police Chief Sund testifies he had 3 calls with Pelosi on Jan. 6 and has the proof – Pelosi said they never spoke

A House Oversight Subcommittee hearing with former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven A. Sund, September 19, 2023. (Credit: Cspan clipping)

On Tuesday, the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight held a hearing titled, “Oversight of United States Capitol Security: Assessing Security Failures on January 6, 2021.”

Rep. Barry Loudermilk heads the subcommittee. Former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven A. Sund testified before the committee.

Chief Steven Sund has been outspoken of Nancy Pelosi and her failures to secure the US Capitol that day.

It has been widely reported that President Trump asked for the National Guard three days in advance of January 6. But Pelosi turned him down.  She refused to call in the National Guard despite numerous warnings of possible violence.

Pelosi then refused to turn over information about her culpability in the security breakdown during the Jan. 6 riot for over a year to congressional investigators.

Steven A. Sund, the Capitol Police chief on that fateful day, not only confirms her culpability along with the rest of the Democratic leadership. Sund reported that Pelosi utilized him as a scapegoat and forced him to step down as Police Chief. We all know now she was just trying to obfuscate her own responsibility for the attack.

The day after January 6, Nancy Pelosi blamed Chief Sund for the security failures that day.  Pelosi insisted she never spoke with Chief Sund the entire day.

On Tuesday Chief Steven Sund refuted Pelosi. Sund told the subcommittee he spoke with Pelosi three times on January 6 (while she was running the building with her film crew.)

Rep. Bryan Steil: Chief Sund, in your transcribed interview, you mentioned that you met with the House Sergeant at Arms regarding the National Guard prior to January 6. Is that correct?

Chief Sund: Yes, sir.

Rep. Steil: And who is the House Sergeant Arms leading up to and on January 6?

Chief Sund: That would be Paul Irving.

Rep. Steil: And the House Sergeant Arms is appointed. By who?

Chief Sund: He was appointed at that time by Speaker Pelosi.

Rep. Steil: And in your transcribed interview, you mentioned that when you first brought up the National Guard to the House Sergeant at Arms in the days leading up to January 6, that Mr. Irving said he, quote, “didn’t like the optics,” end quote, is that correct?

Chief Sund: That is correct. He referenced being concerned for optics.

Rep. Steil: And on January 6, when he went to Mr. Irving to get his approval to call in the Guard, mr. Irving said he would, quote, run it up the chain. Is that correct?

Chief Sund: Sir. That was a telephone call. I didn’t see him in person when I first made that request.

Rep. Steil: The House Sergeant Arms is considered probably the most senior security official on the House side. When Mr. Irving says he has to, quote, run it up the chain, end quote, what did that mean?

Chief Sund: I took that to mean his leadership chain.

Rep. Steil: And who would be his leadership chain? He’s functionally the most senior security official on the House side, correct?

Chief Sund: Yes, sir. That was a telephone call. I didn’t see him in person when I first made that request.

Rep. Steil: The House Sergeant Arms is considered probably the most senior security official on the House side. When Mr. Irving says he has to, quote, run it up the chain, end quote, what did that mean?

Chief Sund: I took that to mean his leadership chain.

Rep. Steil:  And who would be his leadership chain? He’s functionally the most senior security official on the House side, correct?

Chief Sund: That’s his title. That’s part of the title. The senior law enforcement official for the House of Representatives. But he would have been referring to the leadership team that goes up to Speaker Pelosi.

Rep. Steil: So the political leadership team, meaning elected officials, not another security official, is that.

Chief Sund: That is correct, sir. He’s the top security official for the House.

Rep. Steil: So running up the chain would most likely, in your opinion, is through the Speaker’s office and possibly to Speaker Pelosi?

Chief Sund: That would be where it end, yes.

Rep. Steil: Okay, let’s park that there, and then let’s jump to a second set here. In a press conference on January 7, Speaker Pelosi called for your resignation on national television. Speaker Pelosi also stated that she had not talked to you since the initial breach of the Capitol. But according to your transcribed interview, you were on the phone with Speaker Pelosi a few times. Can you explain that discrepancy?

Chief Sund: Yeah, that is correct. I spoke to Speaker Pelosi three times that evening. And she went on national TV and said, I’d never spoken to her, but I spoke to her three times. Three times were – The first time was when I went over to brief Vice President Pence at the secure location, I had called House Sergeant Arms Irving, and told him I was going over to brief the Vice President. I was also going over to do a personal assessment of the Capitol. At that point, things were getting under control. Went over there, and briefed him on when we can get them back into chambers with Mr. Irving, being fully aware. He said he wanted to get Speaker Pelosi on the phone. He made a phone call from his cell phone at approximately 534, where I first briefed Speaker Pelosi. The second call was when I left that location. As I was walking away, I met up with Mr. Stinger, and we started walking over to the Senate to go brief the Senate when Jennifer Hemingway I believe it was Jennifer Hemingway handed me her cell phone, and it was Emily Barrett’s cell phone calling her, and it was Speaker Pelosi on the other line.

This was my second call with Speaker Pelosi questioning the information I’d given to Vice President Pence about when we can get back into chambers. I assured her that information was correct. I could get them back into chamber by 07:00 P.M., and the call ended. That was call number two. Call number three was 06:25 p.m.. I was over at the Senate from the secure location I mean, from where the Senate had been sequestered. And on a cell phone, using Robert Caram’s cell phone, they dialed leadership, who was over off site at a secure location, and I briefed all of leadership of the plans to get them back into chambers. That would have been call number three with Speaker Pelosi.

Rep. Steil: So you didn’t have one call. You didn’t have two calls. You had three calls. So Speaker Pelosi’s comments that she didn’t speak to you are inaccurate?

Chief Sund: That is correct, sir.

Chief Steven Sund later told the subcommittee he can provide documentation to prove what he was saying was accurate.

Why would Pelosi lie about such a statement if she was not worried about her own actions that day? This should be investigated.  Pelosi needs to be called in under oath.  In fact the January 6 Committee should have called her in to testify when they started their faux investigation.  They didn’t.  And now we are starting to find out why Pelosi was ignored by the horrible leftists on that fake committee. (Gateway Pundit, 9/19/2023)  (Archive)

September 20, 2023 - A collection of questions posed to Merrick Garland at House Judiciary Committee hearing



FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin covers the hearing:

 

September 20, 2023 - A massive J6 database surfaces, engineered by ‘Sedition Hunter,’ a DHS front group

The Gateway Pundit has obtained THOUSANDS OF HOURS OF J6 FOOTAGE from “Sedition Hunter” online crowdsourcing groups.

Sedition Hunters are typically Antifa activists who define themselves as part of an anonymous group that tracks, identifies, and reports Trump supporters and protesters who attended the January 6 protests in Washington DC to the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Defense attorneys representing J6 defendants have access to over 41,000 hours of January 6 footage but are prohibited from publicly disclosing the footage until it is exhibited in discovery in a defendant’s trial.

J6 defendants typically view their discovery for the first time during trial.

GOP members of Congress have refused to release the footage to the American people.

In June, when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green announced just three journalists were granted access to the footage, the Georgia Republican claimed groups like Sedition Hunters would use the footage to “hurt innocent people.”

But The Gateway Pundit has confirmed that Sedition Hunters have obtained nearly all the footage and have spent years documenting every aspect, angle, and dimension of the Capitol Riot.

Below is a copy of a spreadsheet compiled by Sedition Hunters containing links to thousands of hours of J6 CCTV footage, police body cams and more.

The document outlines minute-by-minute accounts linked to available video, from January 6th.

Open-Source Intelligence, Capitol Security Footage, Bodycams, J6 Deaths After J6 by Alicia Powe

The high-tech resources “hundreds of volunteer” Sedition Hunters have dedicated to cataloging thousands of hours of footage and tracking subjects with synchronized videos is shocking.

Their time invested in doxing demonstrators and creating highly advanced massive databases chronicling the events of January 6, akin to Nazis of Hitler’s Third Reich, is alarming

Yet, the evidence compiled by the left-wing reportedly government-contracted is already playing a significant role in helping the defense of political prisoners tangled in the Justice Department’s unprecedented j6 probe of conservative voters.

Many J6 prosecutions and indictments reference unnamed “confidential informants” of “known reliability” in reference to the Sedition Hunters group and those like it.

In practice, however, the government appears to be referencing its own agents posing as a citizens group to utilize illegally obtained evidence and use its high-end software and technology to conduct the mass surveillance and indictment of conservative voters.

Members of the intelligence community suspect footage they have compiled in several sophisticated databases was collected by the government through the Department of Homeland Security and its many contractors.

The feds utilized IMSI catchers, cellphone intercept technology, to identify and catalog every individual in the nation’s Capitol on January 6, a cyber security expert who analyzed the Sedition Hunters databases explained in an exclusive interview with The Gateway Pundit.

“The government appears to have provided IMSI-derived data to pseudo-investigative organizations like Sedition Hunters,” the intel analyst, who asked his name be withheld, said. “There’s great likelihood all of the organizations that work to identify J6 protesters are working with tips from the feds.

“Sedition hunters used IMSI-derived data to identify individuals on social media and across the internet platforms and scrape their images.”

The sedition hunter website Jan6Evidence.com contains a time-colored interactive map of every individual and group surrounding the Capitol building on Jan. 6. According to the website, the map was created by “contributors including data scientists, academic researchers, software engineers, and many others.”

“All are motivated by a desire to understand what happened on January 6 and why. Most wish to remain anonymous,” the website states.

The pseudo investigators, who also herald themselves as “Capitol Hunters” of the “Capital Terrorist Attack” did the bulwark of the groundwork for the FBI to secure more arrests, the cyber security expert argued.

“Sedition Hunters established the initial ‘probable cause’ for federal authorities to indict specific people who attended January 6th,” he said. “Establishing that critical first ‘link’ between grainy footage from security cameras and the names of specific people in the United States was necessary to start the criminal prosecution process.

“This fraud in making the initial identification is known within government circles as ‘parallel construction,’ where evidence is obtained illegally and admitted into court. It is laundered through other sources to help conceal the true source of the information. This law enforcement technique is used to obtain warrants, secure indictments, and make the critical first identification of a suspect.”

Approximately 1,146 defendants have been arrested in connection with the events of Jan. 6, 2021, according to the Department of Justice.

As the DOJ continues to expand its J6 probe, the sedition-hunting ‘citizen’ group continues to spoon-feed federal authorities information to bring charges to the estimated 80,000 protesters who attended the Stop The Steal protest.

Immediately after discovering a Sedition Hunter spreadsheet linked to hours of J6 footage, J6 defendant Eric Clark downloaded the entirety of the footage and began posting each segment from the riot on Twitter.

In the past week, Clark has already assisted four J6 defendants with isolating footage that will be used in their discovery to which they are barred access.

(Read more: The Gateway Pundit, 9/20/2023) (Archive)

September 21, 2023 - Jim Jordan issues second subpoena to FBI agent, Elvis Chan, who fled the country

FBI Agent Elvis Chan skipped a scheduled interview with Congress and Congress is not happy. Rep. Jim Jordan sends a letter to Elvis Chan along with a subpoena ordering him to appear at a future date. (Graphic Credit: Robert Gouveia Esq.)

Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is sending another subpoena to FBI agent Elvis Chan after he left the country when his scheduled interview Sept. 15 fell through, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller.

The House Judiciary Committee is demanding Chan appear for a deposition Oct. 5, 2023, to discuss his role on the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) ahead of the 2020 presidential election. House Judiciary subpoenaed Chan on Sept. 15 to give an interview Thursday after a dispute between committee investigators and the DOJ derailed his scheduled interview, the Daily Caller previously reported.

“Based on representations that the date of your deposition conflicts with the dates of your official travel, as an accommodation, the Committee is issuing you a new deposition subpoena that compels your appearance on October 5, 2023,” the letter reads.

House Judiciary notified Chan before his scheduled interview that he was allowed to be legally represented by either his personal counsel or an attorney from the Department of Justice (DOJ), according to emails shared Thursday on Twitter by the committee. The DOJ brought a staff attorney to the scheduled interview, even though Chan agreed to be represented by his personal attorney, and the interview fell apart as a result.

“Today, after an FBI employee traveled across the country to voluntarily participate in a scheduled interview, he was denied the right to have his chosen legal counsel accompany him,” the FBI previously told the Daily Caller in a statement. “Upon arrival at the Capitol, Committee staff directed agency counsel to leave the premises, and the interview was unable to proceed.” (Read more: The Daily Caller, 9/21/2023 )   (Archive)

September 23, 2023 - Zelensky taps 'Spirit Cooking' artist who cut pentagrams into her stomach, as new 'ambassador' for Ukraine schools

President Volodymyr Zelensky has an interesting collection of ambassadors and spokespersons for the country of Ukraine. Sarah Ashton-Crillo, a trans-identified male Floridian vet of the US Armed Forces was a spokesperson until just this week, when Ashton-Crillo was ousted.

Now, Zelensky has reportedly tapped Serbian experimental performance artist Marina Abramović to help rebuild schools in Ukraine. ‌”I have been invited by Zelensky to be an ambassador of Ukraine, to help the children affected by rebuilding schools and such,” Abramović said.

Abramović’s latest show, at the Royala Academy of Arts in London features “nude gates,” two naked male models, that attendees must traverse to enter the exhibit.

In an interview with the Modern Art Museum in Shanghai, she touted her accomplishment as “the first artist to support the Ukraine war against Russia and to give my voice. It is definitely a repetition of history.” Abramović grew up under communism behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.

Abramović has a storied career as a controversial performance artist. In one performance art piece, she sat for 700 hours staring at visitors who in turn stared at her. This was viewed by some 750,000. Another piece, called “Thomas Lips,” saw her carving a pentagram into her stomach with a razor, which she has said was not a pentagram but a five-pointed star. She has also burned pentagrams in her work.

Her piece “Rhythm 0,” which she premiered in 1974, saw Abramović stand before an audience for 6 hours and allow them to do anything they wanted to her. She offered 72 objects that they could use, from a feather to a gun. Her question for the piece was “What is the public about, and what are they going to do in this kind of situation?”

As she stood in the gallery, she allowed herself to be assaulted, cut with razor blades, her clothes cut off of her, thorns stabbed into her stomach. One person actually picked up the gun and pointed it at her head. Another person took it away. Many of her pieces have courted death.

When she was 29, she undertook a performance where she burned her body and her hair by lying in the middle of a burning star shape. “There was this one piece where I almost died lying in the burning star,” she told The New York Times in 2012. “My hair was burning; I was burned everywhere. In the morning, my grandmother was in the kitchen making breakfast. She saw me and thought she saw the pure devil and threw everything on the floor and ran away.”

She also held a dinner in which she had invited her friend Tony Podesta, who was the brother of John Podesta, who was running Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. She sent an email to Tony, inviting him to a “Spirit Cooking” dinner. This gained her accusations of satanism and being “part of a global paedophile ring.”

The email, revealed during a leak from WikiLeaks of Podesta’s hacked emails, read “Dear Tony, I am so looking forward to the Spirit Cooking dinner at my place. Do you think you will be able to let me know if your brother is joining? All my love, Marina”

InfoWars Alex Jones made the claim in 2016 that “‘Spirit Cooking,’ refers to ‘a sacrament in the religion of Thelema,’ which was founded by alleged ‘satanist Aleister Crowley.'” Jones further said that “‘Spirit Cooking’ involves ‘an occult performance during which menstrual blood, breast milk, urine, and sperm are used to create a ‘painting’.'”

Mike Cernovich wrote that “Clinton’s inner circle includes child traffickers, pedophiles, and now members of a ‘sex cult,’ the recent Podesta emails from Wikileaks reveals.” He said further that “Spirit Cooking also includes symbolic acts of cannibalism,” and offered a video that is no longer available.

“This is something I have been deeply bothered by,” she told The Guardian in 2020. “I’m an artist, I’m not a satanist. They Googled me, and I am perfection to fit a conspiracy theory.”

“Some may look at that video and see a piece of late-’90s performance art,” Intelligencer wrote at the time. “Others, apparently, see a secret society mocking conservatives by rubbing their noses in its satanic deviance (under the guise of self-expression).” (Read more: HumanEvents, 9/23/2023)  (Archive)

September 26, 2023 - Hillary Clinton’s official portrait is unveiled at State Department

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who served during the Obama administration, watched Tuesday as her official portrait was unveiled at the State Department, calling it an “incredibly emotional moment.”

“Looking out and seeing so many of you whom I was privileged to serve over my four years,” Clinton said before the portrait, painted by Steven Polson, was unveiled. “Now, 14 years ago, hard to believe, I knew there was something very special about this place and that having the singular honor of leading the State Department and USA ID would be an incredible, both personal and professional, experience.”

“Today, I was honored to return to the State Department and join Secretary of State Antony Blinken in unveiling my official portrait as 67th Secretary of State,” Clinton wrote Tuesday in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Today, I was honored to return to the @StateDept and join @SecBlinken in unveiling my official portrait as 67th Secretary of State.

We’re delighted to share it with the American public right here, in case you don’t make it in person to headquarters in Foggy Bottom anytime soon. pic.twitter.com/YcPymY77aq— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 26, 2023

As it was unveiled, Clinton quipped that she had not seen the portrait — which shows her standing in front of an American flag — in quite a while. (Read more: Breitbart, 9/26/2023)  (Archive)