The chair & chief legal officer of Rep. Cory Mills' arms company—Joseph Schmitz—is a Pentagon IG who left amid a contract scandal in 2005 to become COO & general counsel of Erik Prince's Blackwater mercenary group. He was in that role during the Iraq massacre. But there's more...
In 2020 Prince tapped Schmitz as potential foreign agent to lobby for his $10B plan to put a private army in Ukraine. Schmitz was with Mills' company—PACEM—at the time. PACEM sold arms to Ukraine while Mills was in Congress, including a state-owned company
Schmitz was a 2016 Trump campaign adviser, which resurfaced his Pentagon scandal—including alleged antisemitic boasts about firing Jews & Holocaust denial, like "Ovens were too small to kill 6 million Jews." (Schmitz denies.) Mills hired him 2 years later. timesofisrael.com/trump-adviser-…
In 2021 Schmitz made another newsworthy contribution to US history when he sent Jim Jordan a legal presentation arguing that Mike Pence had the authority to reject certified election results. Jordan passed that to Mark Meadows on Jan. 5. (Again, Schmitz was working for Mills.)
Today, Schmitz also works for the Heritage Foundation, the group behind Project 2025. The New York Times reported Project 2025 was floating Schmitz as a potential Trump pick for Pentagon General Counsel, a position currently filled by an acting official nytimes.com/2023/11/01/us/…
With that in mind, here's more on the federal contracting scandal that forced Schmitz's 2005 resignation — featuring GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley. latimes.com/archives/la-xp…
newsweek.com/donald-trump-j…
Here's a fun little grab bag on Schmitz, courtesy The New Republic ... newrepublic.com/article/136326…
Why'd Cory Mills hire an allegedly antisemitic disgraced DOD official & Erik Prince ally? Was Mills in on Prince's Ukraine army plan? Is he still tied to Prince? How'd Mills get millions in Ukraine arms contracts while in Congress? Here are Mills' committee assignments. Lunacy.
(Here's a neat timeline of Schmitz's employment history via the good folks at OpenSecrets) opensecrets.org/revolving-door…
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