TeaBugger O'Keefe: Liberate the Tapes!! (No, Not THOSE Tapes!)
There’s a real irony in James O’Keefe’s latest explanation for why he committed an alleged felony in an attempt to embarrass Mary Landrieu. He is now calling for the FBI to release the tapes that he and his accomplices made while in Landrieu’s office.
We video taped the entire visit, the government has those tapes, and I’m eager for them to be released because they refute the false claims being repeated by much of the mainstream media.
As you recall, one of the reasons why O’Keefe managed to impugn ACORN even though they had not engaged in any illegal activity is because he edited his videos significantly. He has refused, repeatedly, to release that raw video.
The unedited videos have never been made public. The videos that have been released appear to have been edited, in some cases substantially, including the insertion of a substitute voiceover for significant portions of Mr. O’Keefe’s and Ms.Giles’s comments, which makes it difficult to determine the questions to which ACORN employees are responding. A comparison of the publicly available transcripts to the released videos confirms that large portions of the original video have been omitted from the released versions.
[snip]
Experienced forensic investigators would be able to determine the extent to which the released videos have been manipulated to distort, rather than merely shape, the facts and the conversations, as ACORN alleges.
So when O’Keefe wants to rebut the FBI’s affidavit alleging that he “by false and fraudulent pretense … did in fact enter [] real property belonging to the United States for the purpose of willfully and maliciously interfering with a telephone system operated and controlled by the United States,” he’s in favor of releasing his video tapes. But when O’Keefe seeks to sustain an inaccurate narrative about ACORN’s alleged corruption, he refuses to release his tapes.
Once again, this reveals O’Keefe’s attempt to limit the damage of his alleged crime. Here’s the part of his statement that doesn’t attack the MSM, with my interjections.
The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.
Note the careful wordplay here. O’Keefe claims that the government agrees that “nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines.” But that’s not quite the same as having the intent of “maliciously interfering” with her phone lines, which the FBI did allege. Now, for starters, given that Landrieu’s staffer stated that “BASEL [took] the handset of the phone and maipulate[d] it,” Basel did do something with the main phone in the office. Moreover, since the TeaBuggers never got to the phone cabinet, where they might be able to “cut or shut down” her phone lines, it may well be that the TeaBuggers never had a chance to do so, even assuming they’d be competent to do so. Sure, they didn’t try to do so. They were arrested before they got a chance to.
As an investigative journalist, my goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions, as I did last year when our investigations revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by ACORN. For decades, investigative journalists have used a variety of tactics to try to dig out and reveal the truth.
Note here how O’Keefe’s entire excuse depends on the veracity of the claim that he “revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by ACORN.” But of course he didn’t. He revealed that a couple of volunteers, part-timers, or other employees that ACORN didn’t directly control were way too credulous. He didn’t reveal anyone breaking the law (because no ACORN employee did anything in response to O’Keefe’s stunt). And O’Keefe specifically chose not to reveal that a number of other ACORN employees called the cops to report him and his accomplice.
In other words, central to O’Keefe’s excuse is a lie, a lie meant to obscure what he has and hasn’t “exposed.”
I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu’s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn’t want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. When asked about this, Senator Landrieu’s explanation was that, “Our lines have been jammed for weeks.” I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for “weeks” because her phones were broken. In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu’s district office – the people’s office – to ask the staff if their phones were working.
While I’m sure this kind of fiction works for many of O’Keefe’s biggest fans, it is a lovely example of the extent to which O’Keefe was framing Landrieu, rather than “exposing” anything about her conduct. First, even assuming the TeaBaggers who were having trouble getting through on Landrieu’s line were actually Landrieu’s constituents (of the TeaBuggers, only Flanagan is a Landrieu constituent), the belief that she, personally, was taking millions of federal dollars for her vote on the healthcare bill is backed by no evidence. Rather, the TeaBaggers were mischaracterizing the Louisiana Purchase, which actually involved Landrieu getting millions for her constituents.
And then, similarly, O’Keefe takes Landrieu’s explanation that her “lines have been jammed for weeks” (which was actually true of a great many members of Congress during this time frame) to mean that “her phones were broken.” Another false leap in logic designed, even after having been caught in a potential felony, to frame Landrieu inaccurately.
And then my favorite part of this whole explanation: “we decided to visit Senator Landrieu’s district office – the people’s office – to ask the staff if their phones were working.” First, I repeat my question: if the phones that–TeaBaggers had alleged–were jammed were in Baton Rouge, then why go to her NOLA office?
And nowhere in the FBI affidavit does it record the TeaBuggers “ask[ing] the staff if their phones were working.” Instead, it describes the TeaBuggers telling Landrieu’s staffer that they were there to fix something: “FLANAGAN and BASEL represented to her that they were repair technicians from the telephone company and were there to fix problems with the telephone system.” In other words, they never asked if something was broken. They simply asserted something was–and then “manipulated” the phone. Of course the entire clown outfit get-up would make no sense if they intended to “ask” if the phones weren’t working. Key to the narrative O’Keefe was spinning, then, was the claim that the phones weren’t working.
And if you were just asking if the phones were broken, why go to the telephone closet? And why have Dai on call with his walkie-talkie, in a car rather than Flanagan’s office practically next door? If you were just asking if the phones were broken, why delete all your friends on FaceBook after you get busted?
No, it’s clear that, at best, O’Keefe intended to pretend the phone was broken to film Landrieu’s staffers’ response.
On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building. The sole intent of our investigation was to determine whether or not Senator Landrieu was purposely trying to avoid constituents who were calling to register their views to her as their Senator. We video taped the entire visit, the government has those tapes, and I’m eager for them to be released because they refute the false claims being repeated by much of the mainstream media.
Once again, if your sole purpose was to “determine whether or not Senator Landrieu was purposely trying to avoid constituents,” it would involve no more than a question. Heck, you could even film the receptionist answering the damn phone to see how she was responding to real constituents. That would be a way to expose the truth, whatever that might be. But to do what O’Keefe and his accomplices did–even accepting the parts of his statement that aren’t obvious lies as reasonably accurate–necessarily involved the depiction of false narratives rather than the truth.
Just like his ACORN tapes did.
Which is why O’Keefe only wants select tapes released.
EW – you know better. This guy and his ilk are immune to logic. And they will lie when confronted with their illogic, scream when confronted with their lies, and fulminate when confronted with their screaming. And always make up shit.
No, this idiot will go on Hannity Monday, maybe for the full hour.
So don’t try to apply logic or reason to him – the only way this variety of shithead can be beaten with logic or reason is if you get him under oath, before a court reporter and a video camera, and parse his statements one at a time on the record, making him answer your questions.
I once had an adversary who insisted that the contract he’d signed wasn’t a contract, but was instead an agreement. Then, it wasn’t an agreement but was an offer that had been accepted. Then, after lunch, it wasn’t an offer that had been accepted, but rather a proposal that had been performed. And I had to parse through that knucklehead’s bullshit word by word and concept by concept and did. But that kind of parsing only works when it’s in the controlled environment of a courtroom or a deposition because the fulminators will just go off in any direction (or every direction) to avoid giving a direct answer to anything.
Needless to say, the form jury instructions for contract suits had the first phrase in the first sentence “A contract is an agreement….” He didn’t know that and his lawyer didn’t think I did.
I’d be surprised if he doesn’t go to jail a lot sooner than we expect. The judge will allow the “spoofing-just-kidding defense,” and the jury will be done with him in 37 minutes.
The irresistible parody defense, in which he was aided, abetted and, perhaps, suborned by 31 Republican Congressmen, is not like Scott Roeder’s defense of the unborn, but the judge ought to allow it.
He couldn’t help himself.
Maybe he wants the tapes released… because of other things that may have already been recorded before he began the most recent caper?
Things that he didn’t erase because he never planned on getting caught?
Shucks, probably just wishful thinking.
I wonder who actually wrote this statement.
He’s bluffing. This is all bluster. He must know that the “tapes” aren’t going to be released.
These guys should be labeled and treated as terrorists. It seems pretty clear that’s what they were trying to do, terrorize the Senator and her staff. The fact that they were disguised as repairmen should also be part of the narrative, if the cops arrested someone in a bank lobby with a ski mask on, what’s the difference? He never robbed the bank but only because he was arrested before he got the chance. Same as for junior and his pals here.
You’re not the only one making that argument. This is an interesting read on that point.
That’s from the article you linked. Did Lieberman get the boot and I didn’t notice?
More on his buddy Benjamin Wetmore, who allowed the “Gang who couldn’t bug straight” to stay with him.
http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Wetmore_Ben_228208485.aspx
The guy was a student at American University in Washington, and involved in both right-wing and standard publications there, active in the “Students For Life” group and was once arrested back in 2002 for bringing a video cam into a Tipper Gore speaker’s engagement that had a “no cameras” policy which he tried to disrupt. He was also involved in “Veritas” a North Dakota pro-life group. He wrote his History thesis on “counterinsurgency tactics in the Philippines and Cuba” . You know, the “use artillery on their villages and kill all the men until they submit” approach that was later reversed because it was not working. Wonder if he got that far in his thesis?
I’m sure the links to Dai and O’Keefe lies within this circle…the anti-abortion movement in Wash. DC area- funded by the conservative movement and supported by certain members of Congress and the former Executive Branch with plum jobs.
Don’t forget certain members of the Supreme Court.
Isn’t Veritas what O’Keefe said when he walked out of jail?
Note that the website listed as his on his Twitter page is veritasvisuals.com (not functioning now). He was just hyping his “brand”.
Do they keep photographic records of the bags that are screened before they enter a Federal Building? It would be interesting if items in those bags were jettisoned before being found by the Federal Officers that arrested them. Also Bmaz suggested earlier that the “electronic surveillance device” was a cheap walky talky? Was that an item found with Flanagan and Basel? Or was it the “receiver” noted in the complaint that Dai had with him? The implication in the complaint was that the gear Dai had was only a receiver (not a walkie-talkie) although Flanagan and Basel communicated using cell-phones or other device with someone outside. “It’s not working”. So WHAT was NOT working (the phone or their “pick-up”).
Also didn’t someone mention that Brietbart’s office was about two blocks away and about the same level as Landrieu’s office? That would be an ideal spot for picking up an FM bugging device.
Yep. And apparently he also tweeted it, as did at least two of his cohorts in crime. Seems to be a code-word. From the Students For Life website. “Published on: 1/1/2007 “SFLA Chairman Ben Wetmore went last Thursday to The American University and spoke to a class on “Dissident Media”.Ben was the former Director of Student Publications at the Leadership Institute, and spoke specifically about the North Dakota Veritas and the UCLA Advocate.”
“Ben Wetmore…President since 2006 and has been involved with SFLA since 2002.He has worked for the National Catholic Educational Association and the Leadership Institute.He has worked on a variety of campaigns, and has been involved with campus organizing for over four years, and campus activism in various forms for ten years.Ben was involved with starting campus newspapers and publications at the Leadership Institute, where he helped over 125 publications start in less than three years, and he helped train over a thousand activists in 46 states.Ben works at SFLA in fundraising and planning.(7/29/2007)”
“I tell students, ‘Don’t complain about the media – be the media,'” says Benjamin Wetmore, director of student publications for the Leadership Institute’s Campus Leadership Program. Still, it isn’t easy to print a conservative collegiate publication, given most campuses “force-feed students an unhealthy dose of liberal indoctrination,” Mr. Wetmore notes. “Leftists” at Cornell University in New York, he said, defunded the Cornell American, while administrators at Lynchburg College in Virginia “told security staff to throw out copies of the conservative Lynchburg Current.” “The Campus Leadership Program will help any student who wants to start a conservative newspaper – no matter how aggressive and thuggish the left is,” Mr. Wetmore assures. vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv” (4/12/2005).
“American University: Ben Wetmore, a student who runs a website critical of the administration, recorded an April 8, 2002 Tipper Gore speech which banned videotaping, although the audience was never informed of this.During her speech, campus police officers told Wetmore to hand over the tape.When he refused and engaged in a scuffle, he was arrested and campus disciplinary panel sentenced him to a year’s probation, 40 hours of community service, and removal from an elected office as dorm president.” (7/22/2002)
Wetmore, until recently, seems to have had his own website (surprise!) called benwetmore.com. The site now rolls over to Newsbusters.
Wetmore’s antics at AU were well known. While a senior (he graduated in ’02) and after, he ran a website called benladner.com. From this platform, he was able to snipe at Ben Ladner, AU’s president. Frankly, Ladner deserved it because he was living royally (paid house, cars, parties, catering budget, etc). But shows Wetmore’s roots.
Can you figure out how long benwetmore.com has been down? I see archives from October 09… Any more recent?
Ben Wetmore’s successor at AU’s Benladner.com was Ed O’Keefe.
I’m assuming there’s no relation to the O’Keefe filmmaker.
Ed O’Keefe is a journalist covering the Federal beat with the Post.
Did you try the Way Back Machine?
Not yet.
But it looks like Ben Wetmore took down his site very recently.
I bet that Ben Wetmore did more than provide a place for the “little buggers” to crash.
I think Ben Wetmore is connected to this as well.
I graduated in 03, but hey, who’s counting?
Ladner did deserve it, glad we can agree on something.
And the site’s been down since this madness started, but if you really want something, just ask.
-Ben
Hello Benwetmore.com…
The site was taken down very recently. He was working on something for the Pelican Institute, and the video workshop is mentioned. He was also working on an outline.
http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:unLi8Kvl3qUJ:www.benwetmore.com/+benwetmore.com&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
From Benwetmore.com (cached) main page….
Politics
writing:
-How to get a job in Politics (in progress)
-Recruitment
-Fight Back
Countermedia project (Countermedia.org) — [link is now dead]
speeches:
-How to reach and recruit ‘millenials’ (draft) – 1/31/10
articles:
-Healthcare confusions
-Setting up an org. structure
-Restructuring language
-6 steps to effective action
-5 goals for a 1st campus meeting
-8 considerations before a petition drive
-basics of effective tabling
-importance of setting political demands
-tactics: video sniper team
-activism event: Foto with a Fetus
-Stages of Radicalization
-Basics of Webpage Design
Very O/T (apologies). Remember those US Attorneys Bush fired? Nice video of a panel discussion they had at Arizona State University Law College. Participants: Paul Charlton of Arizona, Bud Cummins of the Eastern District of Arkansas, David Iglesias of New Mexico, Carol Lam of the Southern District of California, John McKay of the Western District of Washington
Since we just found a new clan of Monica Goodling-type embeds, your OT is not OT. More like a long fucked up train on a circular track.
Why no one tell me about this?
Yeah, I was wondering why our local legal expert didn’t attend.
I wish you had been there for I know you would have provided a good review of the panel’s discussion. (Actually, I was wondering if maybe you weren’t the emcee, since I was certain you’d be there.)
So why four GOP operatives, three from out of State, in LA, in Landrieu’s office at that time, after an episode of jammed phones. What American political party is really good at phone jamming and phony issues?
I meant to post this a couple of days ago when I looked at O’Keefe’s twitter page. The list of people followed for everyone’s twitter account appears to be in chronological order of when they were followed. O’Keefe’s first person he followed, if this logic is correct, is someone he clearly went to school with and worked with on the conservative alternative newspaper at Rutgers (The Centurion). I won’t put her name here, but here are two tweets she sent while the story was breaking:
And:
The tweets were sent on the morning of January 27. I wonder if the FBI talked to her? It’s interesting that they went quickly to talking to a fairly wide circle of people–I don’t think they’d do that for something they viewed as a simple prank.
I wonder what that hash tag stands for (#tcot). Doing a twit search on it is like looking under a rock on a conservative compost heap.
Tightly Wound On Tea?
(Take 2:) Tightly Coiled On Tea?
Sheesh!
Makes more sense than what I came up with Totally Co-Opted Teaparty.
It stands for top conservatives on twitter. Our side uses #p2 for progressive something. But when we tweak the conservatives we put #tcot in there to make sure they see it.
Thanks for the info. Especially #p2. It’ll be nice to have another source of current progressive thought.
One more suggestion. Take a look at the stuff in the media that O’Keefe doesn’t mention in his litany of complaints about the media getting the story wrong. He doesn’t deny that Kai had a “listening device” or that it was a walkie-talkie or PTT cellphone. There’s probably more.
Quoth PimpyBoy:
That’s an odd construction, and not accurate. What they said was that the TeaBuggers didn’t bug or wiretap, not that nobody did so. Freudian much?
Just picking through the cached bones of benwetmore.com…
Remember when O’Keefe said veritas upon being arrested?
Well, check this out:
Veritas RexJan 15, 2010 … Political commentary from a conservative viewpoint. Focus on Indiana and National Politics.
http://www.veritasrex.com/ – Cached – Similar
http://www.veritasrex.com/veritas_rex/2009/12/merry-christmas.html – CachedShow more results from http://www.veritasrex.com
Veritas Rex – Pro-Life BlogsVeritas Rex – . This is the aggregator for Prolifeblogs.com. Pro-life blogs aims to raise awareness and support for the pre-born and the sanctity of human …
http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/aggregator.php?sid=1017 – Cached
NOTE: On the Veritas Rex(Truth is King) website,check out the list of “sources “they cite..Family Research, Council,Focus on the Family, The Drudge Report..
Google Breitbart’s Wiki and see the Drudge connection.
Who is this kid? She’s as cute as a button and sharp as a tack but I can’t quite place that smile.
mercy! what a little doll.
Ben Wetmore – I’m one of James O’Keefe’s mentors…
Ben Wetmore… Video Tactics…
http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:P441rWUepF4J:www.benwetmore.com/cmedia/articles/tactics/0809_rules-of-videotaping.htm+site:benwetmore.com+benwetmore.com&cd=67&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
The difference between these 4 immature wannabes and Timothy McVey is funding. While other college grads can’t get jobs, these guys have ready-made jobs in Republican “grassroots” activist politics. Wonder if they are paying on their college loans?
Well, a couple of those guys were recipients of funds from the Leadership Institute,run by Morton Blackwell-ultra conservative Republican.
David Vitter ,Louisiana Senator ,just happens to be on the Board of Blackwell’s Leadership Institute.
I have posted info on this on the previous thread about “ODNI ….”,here at ew.
We cannot join the media in referring to these men as kids. They are old enough to serve in the military.
Thus, old enough to receive the maximum charges for their crimes.
Note: this was not a prank.
They know it too.
It may seem like I’m harping on this “the clowns have no explanation for trying to access the wiring closet” point, but there’s a good reason for it.
In my Seminal Diary on these clowns a couple of days ago now, I had a couple of picture links showing wiring closets.
It may be hard to see in the pictures, but wiring closets are typically really small. Perhaps about the size of 1 or 2 telephone booths or the size of your coat closet at home.
They typically have nothing in them except wires going to a “wiring panel”.
There is really nothing these clowns could have seen or done in the wiring closet except this:
1. Unplug phone line and/or data line wires.
2. Cut phone line and/or data line wires.
3. Wiretap phone lines and/or data line wires (I don’t believe these clowns ever came close to having the skills to do this).
4. Stand around and look.
Each one of these choices would have been illegal. 1 through 3 for obvious reasons.
Number 4 would even have been illegal since the wiring closet was locked and the clowns were impersonating phone company employees in their attempt to gain access to the wiring closet.
That seems to me to be attempting to “break and enter”, so if these clowns had ever got the wiring closet key and were going to merely “stand around and look”, they would have been “breaking and entering” into a locked, secure Federal facility.
O’Keefe & Co. can and will give no explanation for their attempt to gain access to the wiring closet simply because there is no “legal” reason for trying to do so.
These clowns can’t and won’t give an explanation simply because the only possible reasons they could give are ones that are “illegal”.
We also know that the noted polemicist film editor O’Keefe does not need authentic film of Senator Landrieu’s wiring closet to put it in his video. Film of any wiring closet would do for his purposes. I think you’re right that their purpose to access the closet was more than to get images of it.
Maybe it was to get images for their own use, not for exploitation like we saw with the Acorn videos. Maybe they wanted to walk away with pictures of the inside of the phone closet because the pictures would be a blueprint to what needed to be done to wipe out the phone service or bug the place in the future. It could have been research for the next step planned for a later time. That would also help explain why they took the phone apart in the senator’s office (getting an inside view) — and why they didn’t have bugging tools with them. Yet.
Add that in. Actually, it’s what I thought of in combining O’Keefe’s phone cam, which I thought might be a decoy, and the helmet cam one of the others was wearing, presumably the real one. It will be interesting to see where Dai was supposed to get messages from.
But the set-up would have to be as secure as the real job, no? A huge screwup from their perspective that could kill more than one other job if that is so.
Right. If the video wasn’t for their own use, who were they planning to distribute the video to?
That could also explain the deletion of friends on facebook.
Any chance that some wignut somewhere would be able to look at video shot by O’Keefe of the wiring closet and determine whether Landrieu and staff did something to their own phones, presumably to reroute teabagging activist callers to some communications abyss?
In real life, no, but it’s amazing what they do with birth certificates and Air National Guard documents. The only remotely plausible thing they could accomplish in there would be to pull some random wires and film people saying “Hey, is your phone down too?” For some, this would be proof of a vast conspiracy to silence the right. But I think even these bozos are sentient enough to realize that suspicion would immediately turn to the “phone guys” working in the closet. So I’m thinking they intended to be caught and bask in the media glow and depend on their connections to get off and possibly get bonus points if they video themselves getting roughed up a bit.
Interesting history on Madigan.
I had no idea that he served as counsel to Sen. Howard Baker on the historic Watergate Committee.
Consequently, O’Keefe and pals obviously are not pranksters. Otherwise, Okeefe would not need Madigan.
He is also on the “Superlawyers” list for high end white collar crime.
Who”s paying, is the key ask here.
klynn, was it ever established exactly which law school Wetmore is presently attending?
Upthread somewhere it was stated that Wetmore had worked for National Catholic Education Association.
Now, if you recall, there was quite a brouhaha just last December regarding Catholic bishops being accused of trying to write anti-abortion legislation.
And if I’m not mistaken the Catholic Bishops sent a letter to the President right around the same time Bachmann,Tony Perkins and the other Evangelicals were have their radio broadcast prayer conference to ask God to destroy health care reform.(That story and link is posted on the ODNI thread here at ew,prior to this one.)
I know Politico did a piece on the Bishops’ letters,I’ll see if I can find it
Doesn’t Madigan have a Catholic connection somewhere?
Bishops urge support of Nelson amendment – Live Pulse – POLITICO.comDec 7, 2009 … Bishops urge support of Nelson amendment. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a letter today to senators urging them to support …
http://www.politico.com/…/Bishops_urge_support_of_Nelson_amendment.html – Cached
Yes,
He got his JD from Catholic University.
You know the University across the street from Trinity. (/s but it really is across the street.)
And there is this bit:
ooowwee….Thanks muchly for that very interesting info.
Incidentally, the Nelson amendment that the Catholic Bishops wrote the letterabout,was defeated the next day. The gist was they were objecting to any health reform that would allow federal money to be spent on elective abortions.
As I have mentioned earlier, KO mentioned that the attorney for O”Keefe had ties to Dobson….he may have ties to other likeminded entities,also.
I do not know if the Evangelicals and Catholics are aligned on this, but politics and religion make strange bed”Buggers”.
Veritas Rex || ProLifeBlogs Truth is King
This blog is hosted by the Indiana Family Institute, a non-profit organization affiliated with Focus on the Family.http://www.prolifeblogs.com/review.php?sid=1017 – Cached
Here’s another article about Madigan worth reading.
That was wonderfully informative . Thanks so much.
BTW ,Hillary Clinton worked on one of the Watergate Commissions, also, if I’m not mistaken. Got the job through the recommendation of her Professor and Ted Kennedy, if my memory serves me correctly.
Incidentally, I am having difficulty finding any info on J.Garrison Jordan,Flanagan’s lawyer.
All I can find is he’s out of Hammond.
Now, it is a time honored tradition down south to take the surname of the mother and use as a first name. Example,Louisianian Campbell Brown…Campbell is a family surname.
As such, I wonder if the Garison could possibly relate to Jim Garrison-the late NOLA D.A .
There may be NO connection whatsoever-jus’ sayin’.
BTW< who is Basel's lawyer? He seems older than the others…and I am with you,it rankles me when they refer to these malefactors as "boys"…grrrr
Here is what I have so far on J. Garrison Jordan. (Interesting logo interpretation of the scales of justice.)
It is a private practice.
Based on what I read here at DU
Robert Flanagan could end up one of the fallguys.
Thanks for the links- I read over at DU that O’Keefe’s father was/is an electrical engineer.
Maybe the little “bugger” has a familiarity with electrical systems .
Who knows?
Electrical and phones are different enough from each other that I wouldn’t bet that it helps.
“BTW ,Hillary Clinton worked on one of the Watergate Commissions, also, if I’m not mistaken. Got the job through the recommendation of her Professor and Ted Kennedy, if my memory serves me correctly.”
Hillary worked for the House Judicary Committee during their 1974 hearings, and then the vote on the articles of Impeachment on Nixon. She had just completed Law School at Yale and had been working on a post degree project regarding children’s rights, and was recruited by one of her Yale Prof’s who had been asked to suggest staff for the Inpeachment Hearings.
Hillary’s previous DC background mostly involved Goldwater — remember, she was a Goldwater Girl, and after his defeat in 1964, she did an internship in DC which he sponsored. At the time she worked on the Judicary Committee’s impeachment effort, she was still “officially” a Republican, and on the committee she worked for John Doar, also a Republican from Richmond Wisconsin, but who had worked for Robert Kennedy in the Civil Rights Division of Justice during the early 1960’s when that Division was very much in the forefront given the growing protest movements. John Doar is an authentic Civil Rights Hero, having had his head bashed in once or twice trying to seperate the Movement People from the Klan types with tire irons and axes. (On one occassion he saved John Lewis’s life during the first Freedom Ride.) Judicary Chair Peter Rodino hired John Doar to run the Impeachment Hearings because he believed Impeachment demanded a Republican of Record Chief Counsel — and Doar looked around for staff that had some Republican Connections and could not be accused of being Partisan Hacks. That is how Hillary got the staff job.
Carl Bernstein’s biography of Hillary is very detailed on this phase of her life. And it is a very important period — she was already hooked up with Bill at this point, but was resisting moving to Arkansas to continue the relationship — but once Nixon resigned and the staff for impeachment disbanded, she packed all she owned in her VW bug, and drove cross country to Arkansas and made her decision on the relationship. (Bill was running for Congress fall of 74, lost, but she more or less managed the campaign.) It was only when she got to Arkansas that she registered as a Democrat.
Sara thank you for that background. I did not know all the details, but yes, I was aware she had been a Goldwater girl,originally.
The way I understood it is some factions wanted to keep Nixon in as long as possible, becuase that would make a Dem opponent far more attractive come election time.
I was under the impression that her Watergate interlude ended on a somewhat discordant note,however.
“The way I understood it is some factions wanted to keep Nixon in as long as possible, becuase that would make a Dem opponent far more attractive come election time.
I was under the impression that her Watergate interlude ended on a somewhat discordant note,however.”
No, The Judicary Committee Impeachment Hearings were pretty much on the schedule that Tip O’Neill had set once the hopper was filled with Impeachment Petitions after the Saturday Night Massacre in October, 1973. He allowed a month for Committee Study, pressed the vote in December for the committee to take up the resolutions, Rodino hired Doar at the end of December, they took six weeks to organize the plan, the existing evidence, and set the schedule, hearings began in March, they had to fight Nixon with Subpoenas, and by late July they were through the twenty some volumes of evidence, heard witnesses, and were ready to write Impeachment Resolutions. It was thorough and deliberate, but right on Tip’s schedule.
Hillary may have been disappointed it did not go to trial in the Senate, as she had been given a specific block of evidence to support as staff for the managers of the case, and Nixon’s resignation chopped off the process. She also had to make a major life decision — Move to Arkansas so as to Marry Bill Clinton and live Arkansas Razorback Politics, or put Career First and work her way up in an East Coast Lawfirm. Hillary finished Yale Law School just nine years after the first class that admitted women graduated — and Yale was a few years ahead of other major law schools on this score. There were still few major firms that had made women partners, women federal judges were still thin on the ground. By going to Arkansas Hillary had to put aside pioneering ideas, and assume the role of good-wife in the Arkansas Political Environment. The Nixon Resignation pushed her to make her decision, and it was a difficult one.
Loyola a Jesuit university.
Did someone send them on a wild goose chase to get rid of an overlarge and troublesome ego? To mask some other entire operation?
Well, there’s no explanation for this that also encompasses the magnitude of this fuckup, as it gets clearer. Legal overexposure on one side. Blogarmy divisions looking up things they o.w. never would have got around to on another. I love it!
Klynn @39
Thank you.
i was hoping someone would come up with info on o’keefe’s lawyer.
Turns out,
He’s not just a lawyer, not just a superlawyer,
He’s a republican-party lawyer.
Probably a damage control type of republican party lawyer.
I keep thinking about the new hampshire phone jamming case.
I do not believe for a moment that this was a spontaneous action, the result, say, of one too many puffs on a hookah.
This was a case of typical, calculated republican political thuggery.
Goebbels would have welcomed a talent like o’keefe – an energetic, never-to-be-denied, purblind partisan completely lacking in the capacity to make normal human moral judgments.
Yep,
I think I left out this link.
And this is interesting work by Madigan:
And WHO has also represented Chiquita in the past …..
our present attorney general-Eric Holder.
You know, I saw Howard Baker’s name come up as O’Keefe’s lawyer and shrugged at the time.
But you’re right, they hauled out the big guns.
I had some involvement in 2008 in a high-profile DNC v. RNC case and we didn’t have anybody involved who was as high-profile as Baker. (Should make this clear that RNC had no one with that much prestige out front on the case.)
This should be a flag, should get more consideration.
Though, to be fair, Bauer did eventually weigh in, though not to protect you guys directly.
He’s pretty big guns and was pretty impressive at the time.
That’s why I added the qualification about the RNC. They didn’t assign a big gun, as if they were trying to keep the situation on the down-low and minimize the problem, ultimately moving to an arm’s length position and letting the case die on the vine.
Of course they may have been surprised that for once in a long time, the DNC actually went nuclear early on them.
So what’s it say that they have somebody like Baker anywhere near teabuggers?
O/T: Well, well. We’ll all have to rush over and make our “donations” ($5,000 to $30,400) to attend a “raise a glass” dinner party in Washington on Feb. 9. Hosts are Tony and Heather Podesta. “Entertainers” are Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman, Edolphus Towns and Chris Van Hollen. There’s more.
Klynn @52
Jeez
Member of RNLA – republican national lawyers association
Rnla members mentioned Prominently on the home page include
– ted olson (bush v Gore) with Scalia’s son in his firm
And gail norton former sec of interior with a blemished record of service involving using the dept of interior to advance republican political interests.
On its Home page, the last item on the NRLA “missions” list:
The advancement of republican ideals.
Well, in my view, interfereing extra-legally or illegally in American politics is clearly a republican ideal.
Fixers
Just republican fixers.
A few things about the Dec 22 protest at Sen Landrieu’s Baton Rouge Office, FRC President Tony Perkins role in the protest, and this sign, (image filename is la_rally_1.jpg)taken from this FRCblog post on the rally.
Tony Perkins pre-event press release announces that he’s going to the health care protest on the sidewalk outside her office, will be speaking there, and will be delivering a letter to the Senator. It is not clear from the FRC press release who organized the protest. It is clear in his press release the FRC does not take credit for organizing it and a search on the web identifies only frc.org as making reference to it.
If FRC organized it why don’t they say so? If they didn;t, why is Perkins addressing them? And it seems weird to me that Perkins would announce, in advance in a press release, his intention to hand-deliver a letter… unless he had a reason to make his intentions, for such a thing, clear and public, in advance.
150 people showed up including three guys wearing Roman legion costumes. (image filename la_rally_2.jpg) A rather elaborate attention grabbing costume for a person going to protest health care and no other reason. I think its reasonable to suspect some astroturfing going on here.
Add to that observation, this observation FRC wanted you to see, a photo of a kid holding a sign “Mary answer your phone.” evan as Tony Perkins himself claims to learn (stunningly so) at that very rally “We were stunned to learn why so many phone calls have been unanswered and met with continuous busy signals.”
Is this where O’Keefe and buddies pick up the trail or is it before this?
Clearly, this is a setup for Tony Perkins to declare outrage, which he does. To announce in his pre-event press release that he has a letter to hand deliver and then how he’s thwarted by the Senator’s cold-hearted irresponsibility.
and then to be thwarted by Landrieu’s “office closing” and declare outrage:
This is just campaign politics; make the opponent look as bad as possible. It’s “ratfucking” that always includes making the person look worse than they are in reality and depends upon a clever deception.
From this FRCBlog.com post “Senator Landrieu Closes Office: Constituents Turned Away at the Door, Callers Reach Only Busy Signals” we see a child carrying a sign that says “Mary Answer you phone” A Google News search demonstrates no news article before Dec 22 makes note of constituents having trouble getting through by phone to her office. The first know reference is the FRC post-event press release and then picked up by wire services, foxbusiness and NPR. Talk about stenography. Does NPR have an ombuds(wo)man?
You mean,dressed up like Centurions?
Wasn’t tha the name of one of the college publications linked to either O’Keefe or Wetmore?
Neil, I posted this earlier today on the ODNI thread here.
We’re establishing a timeline of events :
Does ANYBODY have an exact date for the December demonstration by Tony Perkins in front of Mary Landrieu’s office in Baton Rouge-where he was complaing about the phones?
Check THIS OUT
On Wednesday December 16, Reps. Michele Bachmann and Randy Forbes and Sens. Jim DeMint and Sam Brownback will be joining forces with the likes of Lou Engle, Tony Perkins, Jim Garlow, and Harry Jackson for a “prayercast” organized by the Family Research Council during which they will seek God’s intervention to prevent the passage of healthcare reform:
To learn more facts about this attempted government takeover of health care, tune your browsers this Wednesday night to FRCAction.org.
On December 16, FRC Action and The Call to Conscience will host a live video webcast entitled “An FRC Action PrayerCast: Government Takeover of Healthcare”. Beginning at 8:30 p.m. (EST), this PrayerCast will feature a powerful line-up of speakers, including:
•Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council Action
•Lou Engle, Founder and President, The Call to Conscience
•Hon. Sam Brownback, United States Senator, Kansas
•Hon. Randy Forbes, United States Congressman, Virginia
•Hon. Jim DeMint, United States Senator, South Carolina
•Hon. Michele Bachmann, United States Congresswoman, Minnesota
•Bishop Harry Jackson, President, High Impact Leadership Coalition
•Pastor Jim Garlow, Skyline Church, San Diego, Calif.
During the webcast, you will hear the latest on the threats to the God-given right to human life through government funding of abortions, our health from rationing, our family finances from higher taxes, and our general freedom posed by the government plan to take over healthcare
(Right Wing Watch)
NOTE to klynn- Another Minnesota connection to add to the group.
Bachmann is from Minnesota.
The exact date of the protest in front of Landrieu’s office in Baton Rouge by Tea Party w/Perkins, according to The Advocate newspaper archives, is Tuesday, 22Dec2009.
Yes they do, Alicia Shepard. Contact info on this page. If you heard the report you want to criticize on one of the shows, as opposed to the hourly news, you might also try writing the show.
CampusReform.org Interview with James O’Keefe | The Centurion …Jan 14, 2010 … The Leadership Institute’s comprehensive social networking site for conservative students at Rutgers University – New Brunswick.
rutgers-newbrunswick.campusreform.org/…/campusreformorg-interview-with-james-okeefe – Cached
» Statement from James O’Keefe – Big GovernmentJan 29, 2010 … The Centurion is with you James. -Veritas vos Liberabit … pull the trigger so early next time Statement from James O’Keefe – Big …
biggovernment.com/2010/01/…/statement-from-james-okeefe/ – 11 hours ago
James O’Keefe, the College Years « The Washington IndependentJan 27, 2010 … A friend passes on a copy of the inaugural issue of The Centurion, the conservative paper James O’Keefe started at Rutgers University …
washingtonindependent.com/74897/james-okeefe-the-college-years – Cached
“Conspiracy of Silence.” Underage boys and girls flown to Washington for sex, drugs with politicians. 1994 Yorkshire TV documentary. Supposedly pre-empted from a US run on the Discovery Channel by Members of Congress.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ37lFha8Uo
Real or not?
Teabugger is a good name for this caper but I will always think of the top guy as “Huggybear” O’Keefe. The only guy who must have spent some part of his formative years watching ‘Starsky and Hutch’ and not realizing they were reruns.
Rally photo Centurions
Rally photo phone call
Rayne @66
That was all klynn’s work, see @39ff,
Not mine.
I was just expounding (as usual).
http://www.tcotreport.com/statementofprinciples.html
@#79—–klynn
It has been of interest to me whom these defendants have selected as counsel. I have heard very little about Basel-or his selection for counsel.
That is intriguing in and of itself. Basel looks more mature than the others.
Additinally. considering the fact that Flanagan’s father has a high profile appointment.
I did run across this however:
United States of America, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Frank J …Ron S. Macaluso, John Garrison Jordan, Seale, Macaluso, Daigle & Ross, Hammond, LA, for defendant-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for …
cases.justia.com › Cases › US Court of Appeals › F.3d › 106 – Cached
Sara @82
Read with Much interest,
Thanks.
New NYT piece on the fab four:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/us/politics/31landrieu.html?
y’all have done a fine job of gathering all the various threads of this fiasco. This is going to end badly for someone.
What really has bothered me about this is that I’ve been reviewing federal grant applications for work. All of the applications have a paragraph at the end that basically states that the applicant swears not to have anything to do with ACORN, as in this page on grants.gov
Not, I swear we don’t have anything to do with al Qaeda, or the Medellin Cartel or whatever. Just no involvement with a completely legal association of people who got framed in a ridiculously over the top set up. To the point that the federal gov passed a Bill of Attainder to punish them.
So, any chance Congress will say Oops, our bad, sorry, looks like we punished you on the word of lying dirtbag?
@#88
That is TRULY amazing.
FWIW,the Catholics withdrew their millions of dollars of support for ACORN last year, to my understanding.And they had supported ACORN for YEARS as an outreach for the poor.I am unaware they have altered their stance .
There is much that could be said of religious and secular pro-life groups using ACORN as a convenient ruse to dismantle not only health reform that includes elective abortion.
As I posted upthread at #46:
Bishops urge support of Nelson amendment – Live Pulse – POLITICO.comDec 7, 2009 … Bishops urge support of Nelson amendment. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a letter today to senators urging them to support …
http://www.politico.com/…/Bishops_urge_support_of_Nelson_amendment.html – Cached
John Atlas: ACORN Is Back in the News, but the News Still Gets it …Jan 27, 2010 … Last year, the mainstream media treated O’Keefe’s exploits against ACORN as an example of investigative “gotcha” journalism, …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/acorn-is-back-in-the-news_b_438324.html – Cached
Peter Dreier: ACORN Is Back in the News, but News Still Gets It WrongJan 30, 2010 … This week, the FBI arrested 25-year old James O’Keefe and three other men, charging them with plotting to tamper with phones in the New …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/acorn-is-back-in-the-news_b_438478.html – 3 hours ago – Cached
@92–Sara
Thank you again for your patient and inimitable insight.
Hey, what’s old news to some, is “history “,to some of us.
*G*
@#94
Well, that is some useful information. And ofcouse that is assuming the phones were the actual “interest”. However, it has been established by the authorities that disabling the phones was not the goal-hasn’t it?
That leaves other considerations.
However, a working,even rudimetary knowledge of electrical systems and wiring could result in disabling lights and elevators and other electrically driven apparatus,correct?
And that could certainly prove more than troublesome.
I doubt that the electrical equipment is in the closet with the phone equipment – it isn’t for my building. (And all of those are locked, including the janitors’ rooms.)
If they were planning to do something like that, I’d hope that they’d get the book thrown at them, because that comes under vandalism, if not terrorism.
Let’s face it–this guy’s statements about his videos are way better than the truth!
Well, PJ ,I will defer to your superior familiarity and knowledge on these matters-and that is NOT snark.
I suppose my point is, very simply, is that we will NEVER know what their actual ,immediate plan was- or if they could have been gathering info for future episodes…or as to “how to” visuals to inspire and/or other future wannabes…or if the phones were really the issue at all.
We only have proof of what they didn’t do-not what they intended to do.
This much IS incontrivertible- THEY WERE UP TO NO DAMN GOOD!
Here are two examples of telephone closets.
This one is quite fancy, even has a fancy door.
This one is not quite so fancy.
~~~ModNote: First link is now repaired.~~~
Thanks ever so much, Helpful Mod.
Styx @88
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Your report is very disturbing to me.
Acorn has done good work for a long time.
Court order or no, acorn is being seriously harmed.
aCORN has been targeted by republican party operatives for several years now.
The reason they have been targeted is that their actions
Pose a potential threat to the electoral success of the republican party in some areas –
There’s No other reason for the republicans to target ACORN – none!!!
Going after ACORN was part of the u. S. Attorney scandal in bush-times.
The storyline with o’keefe re acorn and landrieu is: he’s just a very energetic lad who had an idea, see report in 1/31 nytimes.
Maybe so,
but i’m willing to bet that both actions by okeefe were the result of a plan hatched by republican operatives to have o’keefe target ACORN and landrieu.
Remember the “spontaneous” brooks brothers riot in dade county in dec 2000?
Take it as a rule of thumb:
NOTHING the power-craving republican party does is
EVER spontaneous or individualistic.
Following this rule of thumb,
O’keefe was siced on acorn by republican operatives like rove.
Similarly, okeefe was siced on landrieu by republican operatives.
Why else would o’keefe’s lawyer be a chaquita loving
Colleague of holder’s?
(checkmate? Holder doesn’t want the public to be reminded of holder’s love for bannanas.
Both ACORN and landrieu were swiftboat operations.
Both, I believe were intended to covertly influence American politics.
Acorn succeded.
Landrieu failed.
But Look for a concerted attack on dem “fairness” re o’keefe and dem lack of respect for “freedom of the press” soon.
The best defense is a strong ….
By the way
When I use the term “swiftboating”
I am providing lots of emotional “images”
But little information one can operate on.
“swift boating” really means
Deceiving and manipulating the mainstream media, e.g., the nytimes, wapoop, ANC, CBS, NBC, NPR, public television.
If I say acorn and landrieu were the victims of a swiftboat Operation,
What I should instead say is that mainstream media outlets were manipulated by republican operatives.
These operatives understand that the rigidity of the
Media, like that of the federal courts,
Allows fabulous opportunities for malign republican activity.
Boy does this fit some pieces together.
And here is their great organization.
“Now comes the third wave — the LCRM.
It ties together all the threads that Morton Blackwell (followed by Woody Jenkins) began laying more than four decades ago. The LCRM was started by Vitter and his wife Wendy, but it is modeled on Tom DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority. It draws heavily, though, on the campaign finance lists of George Bush’s presidential campaigns and privately held companies in the oil and gas service industries. It is also drawing some support from people outside Louisiana, most notably Houston homebuilder and GOP funder Bob Perry.”
I think we have the reason for the tight lips of Vitter.
Well, the “swift boat” may just be riding the third wave:
Wilson: Sarah Palin’s Churches and The Third Wave: New Video …Sep 7, 2008 … The Third Wave movement is cross-denomination and is not synonymous with any specific denomination, nor is it synonymous with Evangelical or …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/sarah-palins-churches-and_b_124611.html – Cached – Similar
Talk To Action | Palin’s Churches and the Third WaveSep 5, 2008 … In addition to Third Wave and New Apostolic Reformation, it is also referred to by … The new neo-Evangelical movement, as it was known, …
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/5/0244/84583 – Cached – Similar
Apologetics – Third WaveGeneral apologetics articles on the Third Wave “river”. … selfishness, greed and deception on the part of charismatic and new-evangelical leaders which, …
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/gen_thirdw.html – Cached – Similar
Reformed Christians Study ‘Third Wave Pentecostalism …Jun 17, 2009 … Also, the CRC committee offers the third wave as a predominantly evangelical phenomenon that has not, for the most part, caused division in …
http://www.christianpost.com/article/…third-wave…/index.html – Cached – Similar
Evangelicals and Political Leadership in the Third World | The …… under neoliberal auspices, and the “third wave” of democratization. … But amongst many Third World evangelicals, the concern for democracy is reduced …
http://www.cpjustice.org › Publications & Resources › Public Justice Report – Cached
BWA HA-HA…….
I got a 404 on your first link….
The second one….c’mon
Guys…has ANYONE considered that the phone schtick is just a diversionary tactic…a ruse?
WHY should we believe ANYTHING they SAY? FORGET the telephone man costumes-its part of the diversion,imho.
Anyway,fatster, I so appreciate the time and courtesy to link these cabinets.
I don’t believe it, but let them say it
under normal operating procedures, rule number one is “Don’t Talk About Fight Club”
but in a conspiracy trial, rule number one is; “the less you know, the better”
let Mr Okeefe keep explaining what he knows, and how much he knows, and why he did what he did
anything he says can and will be used against him in a court of law
most of the federal statutes I got in mind say “whomever shall … for whatever reason”
tell us what ya did an why, you idiot
I’m pretty sure the Court is gonna explain that your stupidity does not affect the Court’s protection of your civil rights
if you was stupid enough to confess in front of a camera, too fucking bad
In other words…ignorance of the law is not a defense,correct?
if ya didn’t know you had the right to remain silent, too fucking bad
I think james okeefe is gonna try to claim his civil rights are being violated when his pre-trial statements are used against him
and it ain’t gonna fuckin work
homeboy signed a bail agreement
I’m sure his rights were spelled out in no uncertain terms
PS; we got linked from the train wreck, and the asshats are lookin for somebody to refute Marcy “point by point”
that really worked out well for them during the libby trial
klynn @102
homerun!
[ 2006-2008: The Third Wave
Now comes the third wave — the LCRM.
It ties together all the threads that Morton Blackwell (followed by Woody Jenkins) began laying more than four decades ago. The LCRM was started by Vitter and his wife Wendy, but it is modeled on Tom DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority.
….]
jeez, these guys are working together like the national socialist party was organizing together in the late ’20’s and early 30’s.
it would be easy to say, “this is just about louisiana”,
but i suspect it doesn’t stop there.
if you put together the rove-like (or rove) electoral manipulations with the federalist society’s covert ascension’s to the supreme court,
then, in my view, you have an american political society and an american constitution under siege –
and not just under siege,
but under CALCULATED siege.
no society can, or at least has to date, withstand covert undermining.
Jailbird Jimmy said on national television that the ACORN plots were hatched by Hannah Giles. Does anybody know if she is being investigated in regards to the buggery?
How about “hatched” by her daddy, Doug Giles.
After all Ann Coulter states:
MidnightWalker – excellent point
When they did the Planned Parenthood and ACORN “stings” (he only does “stings” against groups helping the poor, not KBR & Halliburton), his rightwing media said he should win a Pulitzer Prize, this is the new investigative journalism, etc…etc…
NOW…when they are criminals, they’re just “pranksters”, just “kids”, etc…
What happened to the Pulitzer Prize? You can’t give a Pulitzer Prize to “pranksters” and “kids”, can you?
Thank you for staying on top of this story!
No doubt O’Keefe’s scheduled appearance on Faux News is going to be an attempt to drum up tea party-style outrage to manipulate the legal system into avoiding a real investigation of this case. This must not be allowed to happen. If O’Keefe did nothing wrong, that will come out in a trial. But certainly he and his cronies acted suspiciously enough to warrant a trial in the first place.
Keep up your coverage of this story, emptywheel!
“Veritas” is Latin for “Pravda” .
Did you know O’Keefe never actually was dressed as a pimp when he did that to ACORN?
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7675
The corporate owned media (they want us to think is liberal) did a good job keeping this from us, didn’t they?
And bradblog gives Marcy TONS of h/t’s, links and praise!
Go read folks.
It’s just a thought, but maybe they were there to remove or switch off something that had already been installed. That would require far less skill.
Just a thought.
But no such device or item has been found, and if it had, it would have been in the charging affidavit and basis for aggravated charges. Trust me, the premises has been swept and the individuals were taken into custody on the premises, so it appears, at least, to not be a factor.
Well, as appearances can be intentionally deceiving-especially with the sleight of hand theatronomics of O’Keefe and Co……
Hi Ben, thanks for engaging (and yes I mean that). Do you have any insights as to why Flanagan and Basel went so far as to go to the separate GSA office and request access to the phone closet and why Dai was so far away in the car (and exactly what the nature of the device he possessed was)?
Quite frankly, the whole story sounds very much like what Mr. O’Keefe has stated it to be, which makes it far less egregious than many are painting it, with the exception of these points. Any elaboration you provide would be much appreciated.