Yesterday someone said watch this video, it’s the most insane thing you’ll see all day.
They weren’t lying, it was.
Project Veritas strikes again, this time with a Pfizer exec. who spills the beans on his bosses. Once he realizes he’s been recorded, he losses it. đ
“Well I know one guy who isnât long for his job: Jordon Walker, Pfizer Director of Research and Development, Strategic Operations â mRNA.
He made the mistake of having a few beers with a Project Veritas journalist and bragging about what he is doing at Pfizer, and chatting about Pfizerâs mRNA vaccine strategies. None of what we see is flattering, and much of it is very disturbing. It will surely fuel both outrage directed at Pfizer, and dark suspicions regarding their vaccine strategy.
Itâs because of the latter that I want to be careful parsing his words. At lot of what he says is ambiguous; at times he speaks as if Pfizer scientists are considering doing something, and at times he says that they already are doing something.
That something is âdirected evolutionâ of the COVID virus, which is effectively the same thing as gain of function research. He called it the former and said it was to develop vaccines for new strains before they appear in the wild. That, of course, is the rationale for doing gain of function. It really is a distinction without a difference.”
âFrom what Iâve heard is they [@Pfizer scientists] are optimizing it [COVID mutation process], but theyâre going slow because everyone is very cautious⌠obviously donât want to advertise that you are figuring out future mutations.â #DirectedEvolutionpic.twitter.com/xaRvlD5qTo
“So who is Jordon Walker? And what does he do at Pfizer?
Well heâs not a janitor, thatâs for sure. Heâs an M.D. with a very fancy title at the company: Pfizer Director of Research and Development, Strategic Operations â mRNA. From what I can gather âDirectorâ doesnât mean âbossâ at Pfizer, but it does mean âimportant enough.â There are Directors and Senior Directors, so in military rank terms I would guess it means something like Major or Lt. Col. Neither a nobody nor a top dog.
Given his demeanor I am pretty sure he was never going to be CEO, even before getting splashed all over the internet as a villainous figure. While I am not sure I would be as dismissive as Robert Malone was in the Veritas videoâwe are seeing him looking his worstâhe is hardly reserved and careful with his words.
So what did we learn exactly from the video? I advise you to watch it carefully. Clearly Pfizer is doing some scary stuff, and contemplating scarier stuff, but nothing that we didnât already know and suspect was happening in the viral research world. Itâs clear that virologists are anxious to do gain-of-function research and constantly looking for ways to do it while skirting the laws and ethical restrictions on the practice.
And, as Walker himself acknowledges, it is risky and quite possibly (I think almost certainly) led to the development of the original COVID virus that has been ravaging the world.
Clearly he knows what he is talking about on this matter, given his position in R&D for mRNA vaccines. Pfizer scientists want to do âdirected evolutionâ to develop strains of the virus, with the goal of developing vaccines prior to those viruses circulating in the wild.
The Project Veritas reporter clearly pressed Walker on the obvious: wouldnât this be a great business model? Develop the virus, develop the vaccine, and by implication release the virus to sell the vaccine.
Walker did not say that. The Veritas reporter implied it. Given how explosive it would be to reveal a Pharma company intentionally infected people to rake in the dough, many people will read that into the conversation. It did not happen. Walker did say that developing vaccines prior to the virus appearing in the wild is a good business strategy, and it is. But he never made the leap to creating a pandemic in order to make money.
People are going to make that accusationâthat Walker and Pfizer are monstersâand the evidence doesnât lead you there, at least not from what we have seen so far.
What is revealed conclusively is bad enough.
His description of the revolving door between government and industry is spot on. Putting on my old political science professor hat, we call that the âIron Triangleâ of the policy making process:”
“One evening in May 2017, Charles âCharlieâ McGonigal was about to take the stage to give a talk to the Foreign Policy Association when he learned that less than four months into his presidency, Donald Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey.
At the time, McGonigal was one of the most senior officials in the FBI â special agent in charge [SAC] of the bureauâs prestigious counterintelligence division in New York City. He let the audience know how much he would miss his boss: âDirector Comey was probably one of the most loved leaders that we’ve had in a number of years commanding a leadership role in the FBI,â McGonigal told the crowd. âI think many of us who were nominated for leadership positions by him will forever hold him in esteem as we progress through our FBI careers.â
According to an indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the next significant step in McGonigalâs own FBI career was agreeing to work secretly for the powerful Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
In the stylized jargon of the Department of Justice indictments, complete with its idiosyncratic capitalization, the indictment states flatly how McGonigal was recruited by a former Soviet diplomat, Sergey Shestakov: âIn or about 2018, while McGONIGAL was still serving as SAC, SHESTAKOV introduced McGONIGAL via email to an employee and agent of Deripaska (âAgent-1â).â Prosecutors maintain that McGonigal collected $225,000 from a sometime âemployee of a foreign intelligence serviceâ while serving as special agent in charge of FBI counterintelligence efforts in the New York Office. McGonigal retired from the FBI later that year, in September 2018.
It has widely been noted this week that McGonigal was a key player in the âCrossfire Hurricaneâ investigation that targeted Trump and his advisers. But what about after he left the FBI? It turns out that McGonigal would still have a visible role in intelligence and threat assessment, often at conferences he participated in or organized, even while working for the Russians.
After he left the FBI in 2018, the indictment alleges, McGonigal and his Russian comrade continued efforts on behalf of Oleg Deripaska. âIn 2021,â it states, âMcGonigal and Shestakov conspired to provide services to Deripaska, in violation of U.S. sanctions imposed on Deripaska in 2018.â
McGonigal also took a job as a senior vice president of âGlobal Security and Life Safetyâ at the U.S. division of Brookfield, an international real estate company. In that capacity he co-chaired a âHomeland Security Task Forceâ assembled to meet the threat of âelection-related security issues.â At a remote task force meeting in October 2020, there were presentations by Michael Burgwald, assistant section chief of the FBIâs Domestic Terrorism Operations Section, Counterterrorism Division, and Branden Fuller, unit chief of the Strategic Engagement Unit in the bureauâs Counterterrorism Division.
At that conference, McGonigal boasted about his connections with U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies. âOur well-established industry relationship with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners and homeland security officials facilitates a robust information-sharing exchange that benefits both the commercial facilities sector and government officials,â he said. âWe rely on timely updates from them and they look to us for insight on threats to commercial real estate.â
At the same time, McGonigal was one of the intelligence community specialists issuing warnings about voting security and possible election violence.
In October of 2020 McGonigal participated in an Atlantic Council online seminar on the threat posed by Russiaâs domestic intelligence service, entitled âHow did Russiaâs security services capture the Kremlin?â McGonigal stated that what had happened in Russia âwould be akin to having in the United states the FBI as a rogue element operating at the behest of the highest bidder, engaged in criminal activities.â It is an analogy that now seems to cut too close to the bone.
Consider the description of McGonigalâs actions presented by prosecutors: âMcGonigal and Shestakov agreed to and did investigate a rival Russian oligarch in return for concealed payments from Deripaska. As part of their negotiations with Deripaskaâs agent, McGonigal, Shestakov, and the agent attempted to conceal Deripaskaâs involvement by, among other means, not directly naming Deripaska in electronic communications, using shell companies as counterparties in the contract that outlined the services to be performed, using a forged signature on that contract, and using the same shell companies to send and receive payment from Deripaska.â
If the charges against McGonigal prove true, his corruption of the FBI continued long after he left the bureau.
The indictment of a top FBI Russia hand for working hand-in-glove with the very Russians he was supposed to be monitoring may be the most shocking of the many astonishing embarrassments to befall the FBI since it put presidential candidate â and then president â Donald Trump in its crosshairs.
So far, the FBI has exhibited little sense of shame over its many missteps and sketchy actions characterizing its Trump-Russia investigation.”
“Charles McGonigal â the former FBI official who has been arrested and indicted by US authorities over his ties to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska â has quietly spent the past year working for another Russian-born billionaire, The Post has learned.
Aman Resorts, a five-star hotel chain owned by Vladislav Doronin â a martial-arts-trained property magnate who has been branded âRussiaâs answer to Donald Trumpâ â hired McGonigal in the spring of 2022 for a high-dollar job as director of security for Amanâs 34 locations around the world, according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
Indeed, sources speculated that when McGonigal was arrested at JFK Airport on Saturday he was returning from a business trip in Sri Lanka, where Aman operates a pair of swanky hotels.
Sources said McGonigal worked for Aman out of New York City, where the company opened its first property in August on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in the former Crown building, quickly earning the reputation as the most expensive property in the Big Apple with room rates starting at $2,400 per night.
An Aman spokesperson confirmed the company hired McGonigal last year, but maintained that his tenure began just a few months ago.
Mr. McGonigal was hired by Aman Group in the fall of 2022 as global head of security, based on his qualifications and similar role in the real estate industry, as well as his two decades with the Federal Bureau of Investigation,â the Aman rep said.
The company also said McGonigal is no longer working for Aman Group, but it it did not disclose when he left.
A former Aman employee who left the hotel group said that the office culture was more Russian than American and could be âdemandingâ and âuncomfortable.â
The company said: âAman Group was founded 35 years ago and has built its own distinctive culture enriched by its global presence in over 20 countries, reflecting the contributions from and collaboration with a diverse, international staff of 6,500 employees worldwide.
In September, Business Insider reported that federal prosecutors were looking at McGonigalâs involvement with Deripaska, a Russian billionaire who was sanctioned by the US and had allegedly turned to McGonigal to get the sanctions removed.
âBased on his background, we thought it was very strange that he was brought inâ â and that McGonigal stayed after reports surfaced that he was under investigation, one former Aman employee said.
âThe process was very obscure,â another source added. A corporate director of security at Aman âhad been in place,â but was reassigned and âno apparent reasons were given,â according to the source. âIt was then when Charlie showed up.â
Following McGonigalâs 2018 retirement from the FBI â where he was head of counterintelligence at the agencyâs New York office and had led the Trump âRussiagateâ probe into whether Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election â McGonigal was hired as a senior vice president for global security at real-estate giant Brookfield Properties.
He left that position in January 2022, Brookfield said. McGonigal â whose hiring at Aman raised eyebrows among hotel staffers, according to the sources â told Aman employees that he left Brookfield for âpersonal reasons,â a source close to the situation told The Post.
Former CIA, FBI and NSA officials are routinely hired by large companies that are targets of espionage and cyber threats, said Anthony Roman, president of risk management firm, Roman & Associates.
âItâs an easy and regular stop for these officials,â Roman said.
McGonigalâs attorney Seth DuCharme did not respond for comment. The Department of Justice also did not respond.”
It’s not really surprising that an incompetent president would nominate incompetent and unqualified activists posing as judges that check the right grievance boxes.
You can’t defend the law and constitution if you know nothing about either.
This is just pathetic, even for pathetic Biden.
Q: âJudge, tell me what article V of the Constitution does?â
Biden judicial nominee: âArticle V is not coming to mind at the moment.â
Sen. Patty Murray yesterday introduced Charnelle Bjelkengren as an "exceptional nominee" at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Murray said she supported Bjelkengren, who is black, because "a judiciary that reflects the diversity of this country." https://t.co/NR19hsaZ5q
Good reminder that understanding the constitution and being able to answer basic questions about it is not a requirement for Democrat-appointed judges. https://t.co/wHmpDZhywa
Once again the NYT sides with the un-American terrorists.
Two young New York lawyers lost their licenses to practice law after burning an empty police car during a protest days after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. One of them will be sentenced on Thursday, and he may also lose his foster children. https://t.co/WdBNzw1dSL
“I really believed that once the facts of this story came out it would be over. There was some room for questioning the story of what happened in the forest south of Atlanta initially. Police told one story and protesters told another.
According to police, they entered the forest to clear out protesters who are trespassing and preventing construction of an approved project. They found one man under a tent. They asked him to come out and instead he fired a gun and hit a Georgia State Trooper in the abdomen. The trooper was taken to a hospital for emergency surgery. The protester who fired the shot was killed by police.
The alternative story pushed by protesters and their supporters is that the victim had been unarmed and âmurderedâ by police. The trooper who was shot? They strongly suggested he might have been hit by friendly fire.
Since then the official police version of events has been confirmed by evidence and the protestersâ version has fallen apart. First, police released a photo of the gun found at the scene. Later they revealed the gun had been matched to the bullet removed from the trooperâs body. And in what should have been the final straw for the protestersâ version of events, police revealed that Manuel Esteban Paez Teran aka Tortuguita had purchased the gun in question in September 2020. It was his gun and with that the police version of events is conclusively found to be the real one.
And yet, progressive news sites continue to promote the forest defenders as if none of that mattered. Itâs a surreal thing to witness. Take, for instance this story at Vice titled âAtlanta Activists at âStop Cop Cityâ Arenât Backing Down After Police Kill Protester.â
The movement to stop the construction of a controversial police training facility in Atlanta gained international attention this past week, after sweeps of forest protest encampments resulted in dozens of arrests, terrorism charges, and the police killing of an activist.
Members of Atlantaâs burgeoning âStop Cop Cityâ movement were rattled after Georgia state police shot and killed Manuel âTortuguitaâ Teran, a 26-year-old queer environmental activist who had joined the protest encampment in Atlantaâs South River Forest. But the activistsâsome of whom were arrested and are now facing domestic terrorism charges and excessively high bail amountsâare showing no signs of backing down.
Notice whatâs not mentioned in the headline or the opening paragraphs. That isnât mentioned until paragraph six of the story and only then to be discounted.
The shooting occurred last week after Georgia State Patrol and other law enforcement agencies entered the South River Forest to conduct a SWAT operation to clear forest encampments, part of the policeâs escalating tactics to stifle the growing movement. Police say Teran refused to exit a tent and shot at the state troopers firstâa claim that has been fiercely contested by protesters who knew Teran and were present during the sweep.
And thatâs it. This story which was published today makes no mention of the gun, the ballistics or the fact that Tortuguita bought the gun used to shoot the officer. Itâs as if it isnât relevant to the story they are telling.
Hereâs another example. This one from the Daily Show which sent Roy Wood Jr. to meet the âforest defendersâ and aired a report this week. His visit to Atlanta apparently happened before the shooting but the report itself aired afterwards. So, for instance, this clip opens with news coverage of the violent march in Atlanta which took place days after the shooting.
At one point, Wood even makes a joke by asking one of the protesters where the âgun training stationâ is located within their camp. Heâs emphasizing their peaceful nature. And the Daily Show left this in even after a member of this group shot a cop and put him in the hospital requiring two surgeries.
At the very end of this clip, thereâs a brief acknowledgement in the narration of the shooting: âSince my visit to the Atlanta forest, police raids and arrests have only been more frequent, culminating in last weekâs shooting.â While heâs saying that this is what appears on screen:”
They will never stop harassing this man until the Supreme Court gets off it’s butt and does it’s job. They failed to do it the first time around, and now here we go again.
“Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips Loses Appeal Over Transgender Transition Celebration Cake
Itâs never really over in the culture war, is it? Perhaps on a second trip to the U.S. Supreme Court we will finally get a ruling on the merits of whether anti-discrimination laws can be used to compel speech with which the speaker disagrees on religious grounds.”
“Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips doesnât refuse to sell baked goods to anyone. What he objects to is baking cakes conveying a message with which he disagrees on religious grounds. So for a decade he has been the subject to unrelenting lawfare trying to compel him to express views celebrating gay and transgender messages he claims are against his religious beliefs.”
The first of these cases involved a wedding cake for a gay wedding.went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled in Phillipsâ favor on mostly procedural grounds, as we reported in 2018, Supreme Court Ruled in Favor of Colorado Baker Who Refused to Bake Wedding Cake for Gay Couple.
The Supreme Court opinion noted that the case was, in Phillipâs view, about religious freedom and forced speech:
Phillips claims, however, that a narrower issue is presented. He argues that he had to use his artistic skills to make an expressive statement, a wedding endorsement in his own voice and of his own creation. As Phillips would see the case, this contention has a significant First Amendment speech component and implicates his deep and sincere religious beliefs. In this context the baker likely found it difficult to find a line where the customersâ rights to goods and services became a demand for him to exercise the right of his own personal expression for their message, a message he could not express in a way consistent with his religious beliefs.
here was a second case was over a cake celebrating gender transition, Colorado goes after Masterpiece Cakeshop again â this time over âgender transitionâ cake:
On June 26, 2017, the very same day the Supreme Court agreed to take the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, Attorney Autumn Scardina called the cake shop to request a âgender transitionâ cake. The cake shop declined, so on July 20, 2017, Scardina filed a complaint, with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission:
I believe I was unlawfully discriminated against because of my protectcd class(es) in violation of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA). 1.) On or about June 26. 2017, I was denied full and equal enjoyment of a place of public accommodation. Specifically, the Respondent refused to prepare my order for a cake with pink interior and blue exterior, which I disclosed was inttended for the celebration of my transition from male to female. Furthermore. 1hc Respondent indicated to me that to prepare such a cake would be against their religious beliefs. 2.) I believe I was discriminated against because of my protected class(cs).
That case was dropped, Masterpiece Cakeshop wins again â CO drops prosecution for refusal to bake âgender-transition cakeâ.
But itâs never really over, is it? There was a third case, in June 2019, Masterpiece Cakeshop Sued A Third Time, Ostensibly Over âGender Transitionâ Cake. The complainant was the same woman as in case no. 2, but suing herself instead of the State of Colorado bringing the case:
Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado is once again the target of a lawsuit. This time, the family-run bakeshop is being sued not by Colorado but by the complainant, Attorney Autumn Scardina, in the dropped suit filed by the stateâŚ.
Round 3 now appears to be in progress: Scardina has now filed suit against the bakery and is seeking âdamages on claims of Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act violations and deceptive and unfair trade practices.â
Phillips lost Round 3 in June 2021, Colorado Judge Fines Masterpiece Cakeshop For Refusing To Bake Gender Transition Cake
On June 15, 2021, state court judge A. Bruce Jones rendered the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (pdf.), imposing a $500 fine for violation of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.
The Judge rejected the legal defense of freedom of religion and freedom from compelled speech:”
—-
“Perhaps another trip to SCOTUS will happen. The high court looks very different than it did back in 2018, it is much more favorable to religious freedom and has a 6-3 majority on that topic. So maybe the second visit to SCOTUS will result in a ruling on the merits of whether anti-discrimination laws can be used to compel speech with which the speaker disagrees on religious grounds.”
The only take-away is for us to remember that they lie
That is what they do. They lie and lie and lie and hope they can convince the powerful of their lies. They hope the doctors let women die so they can use the dead women in their articles about how bad things are.
I have to admit that I wouldn’t have an answer if asked what’s in the Constitution’s Article V. But I’m not nominated to be a federal judge. I do know generally what I, II, and III are about.
And to worsen matters, some will use this to justify rioting.
CONTENT WARNING!!!!!!
Graphic video.
Memphis Police has released the videos of the arrest of #TyreNichols, who was allegedly killed by five black cops who were fired and arrested. The videos are expected to spark mass riots. This is an angle from a pole. #BLMhttps://t.co/ahsiFa84fEpic.twitter.com/UuFBJJeTGZ
I don’t understand why some groups are allowed to make such threats. I also don’t understand why they are allowed to post signs telling people to bring rocks, etc. to a ‘peaceful’ protest.
This includes a brief video of the attack. (For those concerned about how graphic this may be, we see Pelosi pulling away, and then DePape raise the hammer and strike, but Pelosi had just moved out of the doorway at the time, so the actual strike is not seen, but the immediate aftermath is.)
Wandering Views 
Yesterday someone said watch this video, it’s the most insane thing you’ll see all day.
They weren’t lying, it was.
Project Veritas strikes again, this time with a Pfizer exec. who spills the beans on his bosses. Once he realizes he’s been recorded, he losses it. đ
—–
Oh that’s for sure.
“Project Veritas: Pfizer isn’t going to like this at all”
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/01/26/project-veritas-pfizer-isnt-going-to-like-this-at-all-n526450
“Well I know one guy who isnât long for his job: Jordon Walker, Pfizer Director of Research and Development, Strategic Operations â mRNA.
He made the mistake of having a few beers with a Project Veritas journalist and bragging about what he is doing at Pfizer, and chatting about Pfizerâs mRNA vaccine strategies. None of what we see is flattering, and much of it is very disturbing. It will surely fuel both outrage directed at Pfizer, and dark suspicions regarding their vaccine strategy.
Itâs because of the latter that I want to be careful parsing his words. At lot of what he says is ambiguous; at times he speaks as if Pfizer scientists are considering doing something, and at times he says that they already are doing something.
That something is âdirected evolutionâ of the COVID virus, which is effectively the same thing as gain of function research. He called it the former and said it was to develop vaccines for new strains before they appear in the wild. That, of course, is the rationale for doing gain of function. It really is a distinction without a difference.”
“So who is Jordon Walker? And what does he do at Pfizer?
Well heâs not a janitor, thatâs for sure. Heâs an M.D. with a very fancy title at the company: Pfizer Director of Research and Development, Strategic Operations â mRNA. From what I can gather âDirectorâ doesnât mean âbossâ at Pfizer, but it does mean âimportant enough.â There are Directors and Senior Directors, so in military rank terms I would guess it means something like Major or Lt. Col. Neither a nobody nor a top dog.
Given his demeanor I am pretty sure he was never going to be CEO, even before getting splashed all over the internet as a villainous figure. While I am not sure I would be as dismissive as Robert Malone was in the Veritas videoâwe are seeing him looking his worstâhe is hardly reserved and careful with his words.
So what did we learn exactly from the video? I advise you to watch it carefully. Clearly Pfizer is doing some scary stuff, and contemplating scarier stuff, but nothing that we didnât already know and suspect was happening in the viral research world. Itâs clear that virologists are anxious to do gain-of-function research and constantly looking for ways to do it while skirting the laws and ethical restrictions on the practice.
And, as Walker himself acknowledges, it is risky and quite possibly (I think almost certainly) led to the development of the original COVID virus that has been ravaging the world.
Clearly he knows what he is talking about on this matter, given his position in R&D for mRNA vaccines. Pfizer scientists want to do âdirected evolutionâ to develop strains of the virus, with the goal of developing vaccines prior to those viruses circulating in the wild.
The Project Veritas reporter clearly pressed Walker on the obvious: wouldnât this be a great business model? Develop the virus, develop the vaccine, and by implication release the virus to sell the vaccine.
Walker did not say that. The Veritas reporter implied it. Given how explosive it would be to reveal a Pharma company intentionally infected people to rake in the dough, many people will read that into the conversation. It did not happen. Walker did say that developing vaccines prior to the virus appearing in the wild is a good business strategy, and it is. But he never made the leap to creating a pandemic in order to make money.
People are going to make that accusationâthat Walker and Pfizer are monstersâand the evidence doesnât lead you there, at least not from what we have seen so far.
What is revealed conclusively is bad enough.
His description of the revolving door between government and industry is spot on. Putting on my old political science professor hat, we call that the âIron Triangleâ of the policy making process:”
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This is what Russian collusion looks like.
“The Indictment of Charles McGonigal”
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/01/26/the_indictment_of_charles_mcgonigal_148780.html
“One evening in May 2017, Charles âCharlieâ McGonigal was about to take the stage to give a talk to the Foreign Policy Association when he learned that less than four months into his presidency, Donald Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey.
At the time, McGonigal was one of the most senior officials in the FBI â special agent in charge [SAC] of the bureauâs prestigious counterintelligence division in New York City. He let the audience know how much he would miss his boss: âDirector Comey was probably one of the most loved leaders that we’ve had in a number of years commanding a leadership role in the FBI,â McGonigal told the crowd. âI think many of us who were nominated for leadership positions by him will forever hold him in esteem as we progress through our FBI careers.â
According to an indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the next significant step in McGonigalâs own FBI career was agreeing to work secretly for the powerful Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
In the stylized jargon of the Department of Justice indictments, complete with its idiosyncratic capitalization, the indictment states flatly how McGonigal was recruited by a former Soviet diplomat, Sergey Shestakov: âIn or about 2018, while McGONIGAL was still serving as SAC, SHESTAKOV introduced McGONIGAL via email to an employee and agent of Deripaska (âAgent-1â).â Prosecutors maintain that McGonigal collected $225,000 from a sometime âemployee of a foreign intelligence serviceâ while serving as special agent in charge of FBI counterintelligence efforts in the New York Office. McGonigal retired from the FBI later that year, in September 2018.
It has widely been noted this week that McGonigal was a key player in the âCrossfire Hurricaneâ investigation that targeted Trump and his advisers. But what about after he left the FBI? It turns out that McGonigal would still have a visible role in intelligence and threat assessment, often at conferences he participated in or organized, even while working for the Russians.
After he left the FBI in 2018, the indictment alleges, McGonigal and his Russian comrade continued efforts on behalf of Oleg Deripaska. âIn 2021,â it states, âMcGonigal and Shestakov conspired to provide services to Deripaska, in violation of U.S. sanctions imposed on Deripaska in 2018.â
McGonigal also took a job as a senior vice president of âGlobal Security and Life Safetyâ at the U.S. division of Brookfield, an international real estate company. In that capacity he co-chaired a âHomeland Security Task Forceâ assembled to meet the threat of âelection-related security issues.â At a remote task force meeting in October 2020, there were presentations by Michael Burgwald, assistant section chief of the FBIâs Domestic Terrorism Operations Section, Counterterrorism Division, and Branden Fuller, unit chief of the Strategic Engagement Unit in the bureauâs Counterterrorism Division.
At that conference, McGonigal boasted about his connections with U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies. âOur well-established industry relationship with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners and homeland security officials facilitates a robust information-sharing exchange that benefits both the commercial facilities sector and government officials,â he said. âWe rely on timely updates from them and they look to us for insight on threats to commercial real estate.â
At the same time, McGonigal was one of the intelligence community specialists issuing warnings about voting security and possible election violence.
In October of 2020 McGonigal participated in an Atlantic Council online seminar on the threat posed by Russiaâs domestic intelligence service, entitled âHow did Russiaâs security services capture the Kremlin?â McGonigal stated that what had happened in Russia âwould be akin to having in the United states the FBI as a rogue element operating at the behest of the highest bidder, engaged in criminal activities.â It is an analogy that now seems to cut too close to the bone.
Consider the description of McGonigalâs actions presented by prosecutors: âMcGonigal and Shestakov agreed to and did investigate a rival Russian oligarch in return for concealed payments from Deripaska. As part of their negotiations with Deripaskaâs agent, McGonigal, Shestakov, and the agent attempted to conceal Deripaskaâs involvement by, among other means, not directly naming Deripaska in electronic communications, using shell companies as counterparties in the contract that outlined the services to be performed, using a forged signature on that contract, and using the same shell companies to send and receive payment from Deripaska.â
If the charges against McGonigal prove true, his corruption of the FBI continued long after he left the bureau.
The indictment of a top FBI Russia hand for working hand-in-glove with the very Russians he was supposed to be monitoring may be the most shocking of the many astonishing embarrassments to befall the FBI since it put presidential candidate â and then president â Donald Trump in its crosshairs.
So far, the FBI has exhibited little sense of shame over its many missteps and sketchy actions characterizing its Trump-Russia investigation.”
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And there’s more….
This guy is dirty, and the FBI knows it.
“Ex-FBI official Charles McGonigal worked for more than one Russian billionaire”
https://nypost.com/2023/01/26/ex-fbi-official-charles-mcgonigal-worked-for-more-than-one-russian-billionaire/
“Charles McGonigal â the former FBI official who has been arrested and indicted by US authorities over his ties to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska â has quietly spent the past year working for another Russian-born billionaire, The Post has learned.
Aman Resorts, a five-star hotel chain owned by Vladislav Doronin â a martial-arts-trained property magnate who has been branded âRussiaâs answer to Donald Trumpâ â hired McGonigal in the spring of 2022 for a high-dollar job as director of security for Amanâs 34 locations around the world, according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
Indeed, sources speculated that when McGonigal was arrested at JFK Airport on Saturday he was returning from a business trip in Sri Lanka, where Aman operates a pair of swanky hotels.
Sources said McGonigal worked for Aman out of New York City, where the company opened its first property in August on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in the former Crown building, quickly earning the reputation as the most expensive property in the Big Apple with room rates starting at $2,400 per night.
An Aman spokesperson confirmed the company hired McGonigal last year, but maintained that his tenure began just a few months ago.
Mr. McGonigal was hired by Aman Group in the fall of 2022 as global head of security, based on his qualifications and similar role in the real estate industry, as well as his two decades with the Federal Bureau of Investigation,â the Aman rep said.
The company also said McGonigal is no longer working for Aman Group, but it it did not disclose when he left.
A former Aman employee who left the hotel group said that the office culture was more Russian than American and could be âdemandingâ and âuncomfortable.â
The company said: âAman Group was founded 35 years ago and has built its own distinctive culture enriched by its global presence in over 20 countries, reflecting the contributions from and collaboration with a diverse, international staff of 6,500 employees worldwide.
In September, Business Insider reported that federal prosecutors were looking at McGonigalâs involvement with Deripaska, a Russian billionaire who was sanctioned by the US and had allegedly turned to McGonigal to get the sanctions removed.
âBased on his background, we thought it was very strange that he was brought inâ â and that McGonigal stayed after reports surfaced that he was under investigation, one former Aman employee said.
âThe process was very obscure,â another source added. A corporate director of security at Aman âhad been in place,â but was reassigned and âno apparent reasons were given,â according to the source. âIt was then when Charlie showed up.â
Following McGonigalâs 2018 retirement from the FBI â where he was head of counterintelligence at the agencyâs New York office and had led the Trump âRussiagateâ probe into whether Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election â McGonigal was hired as a senior vice president for global security at real-estate giant Brookfield Properties.
He left that position in January 2022, Brookfield said. McGonigal â whose hiring at Aman raised eyebrows among hotel staffers, according to the sources â told Aman employees that he left Brookfield for âpersonal reasons,â a source close to the situation told The Post.
Former CIA, FBI and NSA officials are routinely hired by large companies that are targets of espionage and cyber threats, said Anthony Roman, president of risk management firm, Roman & Associates.
âItâs an easy and regular stop for these officials,â Roman said.
McGonigalâs attorney Seth DuCharme did not respond for comment. The Department of Justice also did not respond.”
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Gee, why so tight lipped?
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On film orchestrating and directing protesters, and encouraging the breach of the capital, yet never charged, unlike parading GrandMas.
Because he’s the fed operative who ran their op.
Release it all R’s in Congress.
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It’s not really surprising that an incompetent president would nominate incompetent and unqualified activists posing as judges that check the right grievance boxes.
You can’t defend the law and constitution if you know nothing about either.
This is just pathetic, even for pathetic Biden.
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First the PELOSI Act, now the PENCIL Act, because of the pencil neck known as Schiff.
It is refreshing to see some pushback as opposed to hand wringing and pear clutching.
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Once again the NYT sides with the un-American terrorists.
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More trash from the media trash haulers.
“Media outlets keep promoting ‘forest defenders’ and ignoring that they shot a police officer”
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2023/01/26/media-outlets-keep-promoting-forest-defenders-and-ignoring-that-they-shot-a-police-officer-n526675
“I really believed that once the facts of this story came out it would be over. There was some room for questioning the story of what happened in the forest south of Atlanta initially. Police told one story and protesters told another.
According to police, they entered the forest to clear out protesters who are trespassing and preventing construction of an approved project. They found one man under a tent. They asked him to come out and instead he fired a gun and hit a Georgia State Trooper in the abdomen. The trooper was taken to a hospital for emergency surgery. The protester who fired the shot was killed by police.
The alternative story pushed by protesters and their supporters is that the victim had been unarmed and âmurderedâ by police. The trooper who was shot? They strongly suggested he might have been hit by friendly fire.
Since then the official police version of events has been confirmed by evidence and the protestersâ version has fallen apart. First, police released a photo of the gun found at the scene. Later they revealed the gun had been matched to the bullet removed from the trooperâs body. And in what should have been the final straw for the protestersâ version of events, police revealed that Manuel Esteban Paez Teran aka Tortuguita had purchased the gun in question in September 2020. It was his gun and with that the police version of events is conclusively found to be the real one.
And yet, progressive news sites continue to promote the forest defenders as if none of that mattered. Itâs a surreal thing to witness. Take, for instance this story at Vice titled âAtlanta Activists at âStop Cop Cityâ Arenât Backing Down After Police Kill Protester.â
The movement to stop the construction of a controversial police training facility in Atlanta gained international attention this past week, after sweeps of forest protest encampments resulted in dozens of arrests, terrorism charges, and the police killing of an activist.
Members of Atlantaâs burgeoning âStop Cop Cityâ movement were rattled after Georgia state police shot and killed Manuel âTortuguitaâ Teran, a 26-year-old queer environmental activist who had joined the protest encampment in Atlantaâs South River Forest. But the activistsâsome of whom were arrested and are now facing domestic terrorism charges and excessively high bail amountsâare showing no signs of backing down.
Notice whatâs not mentioned in the headline or the opening paragraphs. That isnât mentioned until paragraph six of the story and only then to be discounted.
The shooting occurred last week after Georgia State Patrol and other law enforcement agencies entered the South River Forest to conduct a SWAT operation to clear forest encampments, part of the policeâs escalating tactics to stifle the growing movement. Police say Teran refused to exit a tent and shot at the state troopers firstâa claim that has been fiercely contested by protesters who knew Teran and were present during the sweep.
And thatâs it. This story which was published today makes no mention of the gun, the ballistics or the fact that Tortuguita bought the gun used to shoot the officer. Itâs as if it isnât relevant to the story they are telling.
Hereâs another example. This one from the Daily Show which sent Roy Wood Jr. to meet the âforest defendersâ and aired a report this week. His visit to Atlanta apparently happened before the shooting but the report itself aired afterwards. So, for instance, this clip opens with news coverage of the violent march in Atlanta which took place days after the shooting.
At one point, Wood even makes a joke by asking one of the protesters where the âgun training stationâ is located within their camp. Heâs emphasizing their peaceful nature. And the Daily Show left this in even after a member of this group shot a cop and put him in the hospital requiring two surgeries.
At the very end of this clip, thereâs a brief acknowledgement in the narration of the shooting: âSince my visit to the Atlanta forest, police raids and arrests have only been more frequent, culminating in last weekâs shooting.â While heâs saying that this is what appears on screen:”
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They will never stop harassing this man until the Supreme Court gets off it’s butt and does it’s job. They failed to do it the first time around, and now here we go again.
“Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips Loses Appeal Over Transgender Transition Celebration Cake
Itâs never really over in the culture war, is it? Perhaps on a second trip to the U.S. Supreme Court we will finally get a ruling on the merits of whether anti-discrimination laws can be used to compel speech with which the speaker disagrees on religious grounds.”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/01/masterpiece-cakeshop-owner-jack-phillips-loses-appeal-over-transgender-transition-celebration-cake/
“Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips doesnât refuse to sell baked goods to anyone. What he objects to is baking cakes conveying a message with which he disagrees on religious grounds. So for a decade he has been the subject to unrelenting lawfare trying to compel him to express views celebrating gay and transgender messages he claims are against his religious beliefs.”
The first of these cases involved a wedding cake for a gay wedding.went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled in Phillipsâ favor on mostly procedural grounds, as we reported in 2018, Supreme Court Ruled in Favor of Colorado Baker Who Refused to Bake Wedding Cake for Gay Couple.
The Supreme Court opinion noted that the case was, in Phillipâs view, about religious freedom and forced speech:
Phillips claims, however, that a narrower issue is presented. He argues that he had to use his artistic skills to make an expressive statement, a wedding endorsement in his own voice and of his own creation. As Phillips would see the case, this contention has a significant First Amendment speech component and implicates his deep and sincere religious beliefs. In this context the baker likely found it difficult to find a line where the customersâ rights to goods and services became a demand for him to exercise the right of his own personal expression for their message, a message he could not express in a way consistent with his religious beliefs.
here was a second case was over a cake celebrating gender transition, Colorado goes after Masterpiece Cakeshop again â this time over âgender transitionâ cake:
On June 26, 2017, the very same day the Supreme Court agreed to take the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, Attorney Autumn Scardina called the cake shop to request a âgender transitionâ cake. The cake shop declined, so on July 20, 2017, Scardina filed a complaint, with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission:
I believe I was unlawfully discriminated against because of my protectcd class(es) in violation of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA). 1.) On or about June 26. 2017, I was denied full and equal enjoyment of a place of public accommodation. Specifically, the Respondent refused to prepare my order for a cake with pink interior and blue exterior, which I disclosed was inttended for the celebration of my transition from male to female. Furthermore. 1hc Respondent indicated to me that to prepare such a cake would be against their religious beliefs. 2.) I believe I was discriminated against because of my protected class(cs).
That case was dropped, Masterpiece Cakeshop wins again â CO drops prosecution for refusal to bake âgender-transition cakeâ.
But itâs never really over, is it? There was a third case, in June 2019, Masterpiece Cakeshop Sued A Third Time, Ostensibly Over âGender Transitionâ Cake. The complainant was the same woman as in case no. 2, but suing herself instead of the State of Colorado bringing the case:
Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado is once again the target of a lawsuit. This time, the family-run bakeshop is being sued not by Colorado but by the complainant, Attorney Autumn Scardina, in the dropped suit filed by the stateâŚ.
Round 3 now appears to be in progress: Scardina has now filed suit against the bakery and is seeking âdamages on claims of Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act violations and deceptive and unfair trade practices.â
Phillips lost Round 3 in June 2021, Colorado Judge Fines Masterpiece Cakeshop For Refusing To Bake Gender Transition Cake
On June 15, 2021, state court judge A. Bruce Jones rendered the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (pdf.), imposing a $500 fine for violation of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.
The Judge rejected the legal defense of freedom of religion and freedom from compelled speech:”
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“Perhaps another trip to SCOTUS will happen. The high court looks very different than it did back in 2018, it is much more favorable to religious freedom and has a 6-3 majority on that topic. So maybe the second visit to SCOTUS will result in a ruling on the merits of whether anti-discrimination laws can be used to compel speech with which the speaker disagrees on religious grounds.”
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Pro-aborts lie you say?
I’m shocked. đ
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I admire Phillips for staying in business and fighting. I would have shut down long ago.
What happened to “Live and let live”? As if there aren’t plenty of other bakeries they could go to, they have to pick on him. Grrr…
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I have to admit that I wouldn’t have an answer if asked what’s in the Constitution’s Article V. But I’m not nominated to be a federal judge. I do know generally what I, II, and III are about.
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This is just heartbreaking.
And to worsen matters, some will use this to justify rioting.
CONTENT WARNING!!!!!!
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Despite the victim and all the cops being black, the media is already blaming racism and white supremacy.
The left’s brown shirts are getting ready.
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I don’t understand why some groups are allowed to make such threats. I also don’t understand why they are allowed to post signs telling people to bring rocks, etc. to a ‘peaceful’ protest.
Treating anyone like that is disgusting.
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This includes a brief video of the attack. (For those concerned about how graphic this may be, we see Pelosi pulling away, and then DePape raise the hammer and strike, but Pelosi had just moved out of the doorway at the time, so the actual strike is not seen, but the immediate aftermath is.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/01/27/paul-pelosi-attack-video/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert
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