#SeditionHunters - is this the downfall of Alex Jones, the “king of conspiracy” (CNN), the most famous figure at the Capitol attack? He’d tormented the Sandy Hook parents for years; last week lost by default their multi-$M lawsuit. Will the law come for him for Jan 6 too? 1/
Alex’s reel shows how central he is on Jan 6: VIP section at the rally, marched w/ entourage to the Capitol (trailed by shouts: “Alex Jones!”), speechifed from the E. steps..& then decamped to a rented rooftop overlooking the besieged Capitol. He KNEW. 2/ rumble.com/vndge8-alex-jo…
Alex films himself so much we had to edit to keep the reel to 17 mins - but he must hate our reel since it keeps getting banned from YouTube. It's on Rumble now; hope to repost on the ‘Hunting Insurrectionists’ YT channel (itself shadowbanned -use link) 3/ youtube.com/channel/UCboWX…
Alex’s Jan 6 reel must be interesting if someone doesn’t want it seen! Alex & wife Erika stayed at the Willard with elites like Roger Stone, were driven to the Ellipse rally where they sat with InfoWars’ Owen Shroyer (arrested) & rally organizer Cindy Chafian (subpoenaed). 4/
Alex’s InfoWars footage often seems staged, self-serving & misleading. At 1:32 PM: “They just breached the Capitol” (40 mins after the walkway breaches, 40 mins before the break-in). Alex blames provocateurs, but then heads there. Ali Alexander says “the s-- of your dreams”. 5/
Alex’s shell game is dizzying. He arrives at the W. Capitol as the scaffolds are breached, uses a bullhorn to urge people to move from West to East...his words are “We are peaceful”, but the motion is just what is strategically needed to pad out the thin East side crowds. 6/
On the East side Alex and entourage go up the Capitol steps at 2:17 PM, the crowd cheering. He gives a speech, again saying “be peaceful”, but also “1776!” and “We will never give in!” Four minutes after he descends the steps, the mob breaks open the E. Capitol doors. 7/
Alex travels all afternoon with Ali Alexander, architect of ‘Stop the Steal’. #SeditionVIP’s Michael Coudrey and Jason Jones, both connected with Ali, arrived separately and pre-positioned on the north balcony, then followed Alex down the stairs and joined up with his group. 8/
An hour later, Owen & Alex emerged on the roof of 101 Constitution Ave, pre-rented for his InfoWars broadcast with the battered Capitol as backdrop, the giant flag perfectly framed. It’s hard to believe they didn’t know what they would be getting. 9/
Alex’s Jan 6 show is fascinating - watch as they slowly realize the attack is failing. Host Harrison Smith had gushed about the “onrush of patriots”, now is shocked, disbelieving: “so President Trump is sending the National Guard now” (laughs) “he never sent it for Antifa.” 10/
While Alex Jones deflects blame (“95% of this is provocateurs”), Ali Alexander seems shamelessly unrepentant. He released his own video to make it clear: “I do not disavow this”. (Tweeted out by Michael Coudrey, who then fled the U.S. for South Africa.) 11/
Alex’s bodyguards, many ex-Blackwater, wrap up the day with a rooftop photograph. We marked Tim Enlow - he's a public figure as the first TX policeman ever fired for racial profiling. Ex-Army, + 8 years as a “security contractor” in Iraq & Afghanistan. 12/ austinchronicle.com/news/2001-12-2…
Enlow has a long paper trail, not just the Austin firing. He left Blackwater (now Academi) shortly after being named in a federal lawsuit by whistleblowers fired for reporting that Enlow was falsifying firearms training test results. See Wired article. 13/ wired.com/2012/07/blackw…
Alex’s men are proud to show their Blackwater connection. Here they are on Jan 5th in the Willard Hotel posing with ex-Blackwater guard Paul Slough, convicted for killing Iraqi civilians, then pardoned by Trump on Dec. 22, just 2 weeks before. 14/
The just-pardoned Slough was a kind of celebrity in DC that weekend. On Jan 5th eveninge hung out in the VIP tent at the Freedom Plaza rally, near Roger Stone, who had gotten his own pardon the day after Slough's. 15/
Alex Jones helped fund the pre-attack rallies, may have connected organizers Cindy Chafian and Caroline Wren. It’s hard to sort since all are now spinning. Chafian now claims to have met Alex in December “by complete happenstance” at the Willard Hotel. 16/ propublica.org/article/trump-…
Jones and Cindy Chafian are tight enough that on Jan 6, Alex’s wife Erika traveled with Cindy’s group all the way to the Capitol where they watched the violent tunnel attack. Erika did depart a bit earlier, & alone - Alex says in his broadcast she “just got back” at 3:57 PM. 17/
Alex has been promoting bizarre conspiracy theories for 25 years, now to 2M listeners (satanist cults! plans to breed a master race!). SPLC called him “the most prolific conspiracy theorist” of our era; Rolling Stone “the most paranoid man in America". 18/ rollingstone.com/culture/cultur…
After 20 children (& their teachers) were killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, Jones called it a hoax and relentlessly harassed the grieving parents. They sued; a TX judge just ruled him in default & liable for all damages. His reign may be ending. 19/ washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/10…
Alex Jones is no military mastermind of the Capitol attack...but seems he knew what was coming, & he had a role in the ecosystem of insurrection: inciting the crowd, drawing them there. Coudrey's pre-attack Tweet says "If we give the order, DO NOT LEAVE DC." Who is "we"? 20/
More broadly, Alex’s toxicity helped make the attack possible. The people lured to the Capitol were prepped with the kind of propaganda that Alex pioneered; he was ahead of his time: "There's a war for your mind", his site says. The U.S. is fighting that war now, all of us. 21/
Update: the @January6thCmte just issued a subpoena for Ali Alexander. The target is the Jan 6 permit for Lot 8, just across E. Plaza & likely where Alex Jones' group met up. Letter specifically mentions Ali's "Victory or death" chant the night before. 23/ january6th.house.gov/sites/democrat…
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Yesterday's Dem unity is wonderful to see. Fascism may be on its heels. Just realize that the forces against Harris are the same as those against Biden. Here's media from today. The broligarchs won't quit. And Putin's fight is existential now. People must stand up for her. 1/
There's really no daylight between Peter Thiel's crowd and Putin anymore. Elon Musk and David Sacks are spreading direct Russian propaganda. And Putin's only hope of survival is electing Trump/Vance. This set will throw everything against Kamala Harris. 2/
We should be optimistic. But we should also be prepared. What's coming will be ugly: misogyny, racism, lies. And, if the propaganda doesn't work, whatever else Putin can do to hurt the US - whatever divides and demoralizes. Unity and confidence and teamwork is the way to win. 3/
A fascinating trend in those calling for Biden to drop out: they're all in deep blue districts. No experience with swing voters. Their political world is fighting with other Dems in primaries. Here are today's: Huffman, Garcia, Pocan, Veasey. Their last elections: 68-74% D. 1/
Who else called for Biden to drop out? Adam Schiff - last election 73% D. Jamie Raskin - 80% D. These people live in deep blue bubbles. Their calls to drop out include no analysis, just "vibes". Why do we trust their instincts for swing voters in MI, WI, PA, NV, GA? 2/
Jamie Raskin is a good man but his experience with swing voters is zero. And on the J6C he ducked the hard task - his colleagues. Two of Peter Thiel's avatars, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, were key to the attack. Raskin let them slide. Now Thiel controls the GOP candidate for VP. 3/
We now know Trump's campaign strategy. With JD Vance for VP, it won't be traditional: Vance, like all Peter Thiel proteges, repels voters. Trump's only path to win is by using vast sums of money to divide the left, slander Biden and Harris, and suppress the vote. Brace for it. 1/
All Thiel's candidates ooze JD's repellent brew of resentment and entitlement. So let's review, to prep: Cruz, Hawley, Masters, Vance. Ted Cruz: his Princeton roommate said "We should be afraid" and "I would rather pick someone out of the phone book". 2/ thedailybeast.com/ted-cruz-at-pr…
Josh Hawley: his hometown newspaper crusades against him. His childhood neighbor said "I wouldn't vote for him for dog catcher. I wouldn't inflict that on the dog." Hawley won in MO, but a presidential ticket has to win nationwide. Biden can do it. 3/ archive.ph/jhuyi
Today's horror, but an expected one: Aileen Cannon has dismissed Trump's Mar-a-Lago case, exactly as predicted. No one should pretend to be shocked - no pearl clutching. This was so clearly the plan. Media, if you didn't see it, ask why you missed something so obvious. 1/
Ask how we got to this point, that obvious fuckery goes unchallenged. That media pre-comply instead of speaking truth to power. That editors don't let reporters dig. Authoritarians only succeed when institutions cede them power. We must fight back. 2/
This decision will affect the January 6 case too, everything that Jack Smith touched. Sure, it can be appealed - up to the Supreme Court that just granted Trump immunity. This was the game plan for months. Why was it not called out? Why did no one question Cannon's motives? 3/
An eyewitness report now suggests JD Vance will be Trump's VP pick. If so, reporters must give context: Vance is an avatar of Peter Thiel, who bankrolled his entire career (and spent $15M for his Senate seat). And Thiel wants the presidency. Vance is a way to get there. 1/
If people are unfamiliar with Peter Thiel, he's such a Bond villain that he gets his own theme song. German-born, he can't run for US president himself, but he owns 3 Senators: Vance, Hawley, and Cruz. Vance is now his ticket to a higher seat. 2/
Vance has been financially dependent on Peter Thiel since 2016, when Thiel made him a partner in his Mithril Capital. (Peter names all his companies after Lord of the Rings.) OH journalists covered this part of Vance's career. In 2019, Thiel set him up with Narya Capital. 3/
People are foolishly passing around a Tim Alberta article in which he follows Trump's campaign advisers around and repeats what they say verbatim in The Atlantic: Susie Wiles wants Biden in the race to help Trump! Tim: are you so naive you can't see when you're being used? 1/
How can it be a surprise to reporters that Trump lies, and so do his advisers? If someone gives you days of access, it's because you're useful. You aren't using them. They're using you. This message - "Biden is a gift" - is what Susie Wiles wanted you to print. It's a lie. 2/
Alberta's article is just shockingly naive. He says Trump wants Biden because the Trump campaign has had time to prep, so new attacks are "deliberated" and "poll-tested". Something new is coming when Trump has been attacking Biden and his family for 4 years without success? 2/