Thread by @twoodiac

Was Michael Simmons, identified by Mother Jones as the operation leader for J6, deeply implicated in a much wider plot to block the transfer of power to Biden that involved, not just Rhodes, but also the likes of Giuliani, Stone, Bannon, and Sidney Powell? 1/21

This possibility began to dawn on me when I read an FBI 302 (interrogation report) on Simmons dated 8 Dec 2021 that is available on the web at Politico. 2/21 tinyurl.com/y7dhllup

Much about what Simmons told the FBI on 8 Dec 2021 made no sense, particularly in the light of the DoJ charge of seditious conspiracy dated Jan 12 (seven days ago) against Stewart Rhodes and 10 other Oath Keepers. 3/21

Simmons was on a GoToMeeting (see par. 19 of the indictments) on 9 Nov 2020 in which Rhodes was perfectly clear that the project was to stop the lawful transfer of power on Jan 6, by force if necessary. 4/21 tinyurl.com/y7sb2fmh

Any sensible person who heard something like that would get the hell out of there ASAP--or even better, call the FBI immediately after the call. But Simmons did neither. Instead, in the narrative on his 302 Simmons painted himself as pure and as innocent as the driven snow. 5/21

He followed up this claim in an interview published on 26 July 2022. There he said he had told the FBI everything he knew and that he had done nothing wrong.

We can assume that the FBI didn’t buy it then, and I’m certain the FBI certainly doesn’t believe that narrative now. 6/21

Another thing in that interview (in Mother Jones) that struck me as odd was the disclosure by Simmons that he was a former employee of Blackwater. (Yes, that Blackwater, Erik Prince’s infamous security contracting firm), 7/21 tinyurl.com/ybm7ccsa

and a light went on in my head when I read Simmons’s 302 this morning and saw the following (on p. 3): 8/21

This was highly suspicious. Was the security contractor (name blacked out) Erik Prince’s infamous security contractor firm Blackwater? If so, what was in it for Blackwater? And why would Simmons be paying Simmons through a security firm anyway? 9/21

Blackwater is closely connected with Trump, Stone, Giuliani and all the other major players in the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. 10/21

So the question arises: did Simmons fail to disclose essential facts about his and Rhodes’s involvement with Blackwater in his 8 Dec 2021 interview with the FBI and in his 26 July 2022 interview with Mother Jones because he felt he *had* to? 11/21

Oath Keepers James and Minuta, who have been indicted for seditious conspiracy, provided security for Roger Stone on the night of Jan 5 (when Stone was accompanied by Michael Flynn), and were doing the same for Stone at the Willard on Jan 6 before they left for the Capitol. 12/21

Here is an ABC News video of Stone at the Willard on the morning of Jan 6. The two Oath Keepers in the video have been identified as James and Minuta. 13/21 tinyurl.com/y7b73fk7

Further inquiries using Google search led me this evening to videos of an interview of Stewart Rhodes’s estranged son, Dakota V. Adams (formerly Dakota V. Rhodes). It is dated Jan 10, two days before the filing of the Jan 12 seditious conspiracy indictments. 14/21

These are must-watch videos. Rhodes’s estranged son relates several revealing vignettes about his father, and also gives his reasons for thinking that if you want to find out just how shady J6 was, you need to look at Flynn, Erik Prince (Blackwater!), and Roger Stone. 15/21

Dakota Adams predicted that the prosecution of his father (which he predicted) would be a trial run for getting him to flip, and that the feds are really after the financing of the movement and the political ringleaders like the above and also Powell and Giuliani. 16/21

Adams’s interview provides further reason for thinking that Garland is actively investigating the ringleaders,

and also that he is following the money--which will likely lead to Erik Prince, among others. (Adams’s remarks about Blackwater are particularly interesting.) 17/21

If Sidney Blumenthal has it right, the investigations should also lead to the donors in a highly secretive right-wing organization called the Council on National Policy. 18/21 tinyurl.com/y3hnkqev

The full interview is 2-½ hours long. It is hard to watch because the interviewer kept going off on innumerable tangents. Adams actually complained about this several times, and deplored the fact that the interview had turned into “Tangent Town.” 19/21

There is a much shorter clip that the podcaster interviewer (a guy named Jim Stewartson) has posted that gives the most important points. tinyurl.com/y8ofpubl 20/21

But the much longer interview does provide important context and some fascinating family vignettes about Steward Rhodes. It is worth watching if you can stand the interviewer, who really is insufferable and incompetent as an interviewer. 21/21 tinyurl.com/ycnxamzh

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