1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 1: Col Zone Media. On April first, twenty ten, retired Navy 2 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: Lieutenant Commander Walter Francis Fitzpatrick the Third walked into the 3 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:19,279 Speaker 1: Monroe County Courthouse in Madisonville, Tennessee. That was no surprise 4 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:23,479 Speaker 1: to anyone in Madisonville. Fitzpatrick had become a frequent visitor 5 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: to this courthouse in a small town in the foothills 6 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,319 Speaker 1: of the Great Smoky Mountains. A year earlier, in March 7 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:31,880 Speaker 1: of two thousand and nine, he asked a Monroe County 8 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:36,320 Speaker 1: grand jury to indict President Barack Obama on charges of treason. 9 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 1: The grand jury declined to do so. In the year 10 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 1: that followed, he had been a regular fixture in the 11 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:47,840 Speaker 1: County Court Clerk's office, demanding information about the county's jury 12 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:52,199 Speaker 1: selection process. After the grand jury's refusal to accept his 13 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: presentation of evidence against Barack Obama, he could only conclude 14 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: that the process itself was deeply corrupt and sinister forces 15 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: were conspiring against him to suppress the truth that Barack 16 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: Hussein Obama was not the rightful president of the United States, 17 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:13,319 Speaker 1: that he was born in Kenya, that he had rigged 18 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: the two thousand and eight election, and he was guilty 19 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: of high treason. Walter Fitzpatrick was more than prepared to 20 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: put Barack Obama on trial, but now he believed the 21 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: whole damn system was guilty and he wasn't going to 22 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:32,759 Speaker 1: let them get away with it. He just needed some backup. 23 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 1: I'm Molly Konger, and this is where the LA guys 24 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: as in writing this. It's a few days after the 25 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four presidential election. Every election has winners and losers, 26 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:09,919 Speaker 1: and not everybody is happy with the results. It's probably 27 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: no surprise to you that I count myself among those 28 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: of us who aren't thrilled with the results this time around. 29 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: But sometimes disappointment, dread, and dissatisfaction aren't enough. For some people, 30 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: an undesirable election outcome is simply unacceptable. Literally, they can't 31 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: accept it, it can't be true, and it can't be 32 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: allowed to stand. As with my Halloween episode, I'm a 33 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:42,639 Speaker 1: little behind the curve here in terms of seasonal content. 34 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: At this rate, I'll be doing a Christmas special on 35 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: Groundhog's Day. But elections and weird little guys go together 36 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: like peanut butter and jelly. Well, no, no, that's not true. 37 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: You do find them together often, but they don't usually 38 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: mix well, so maybe it's more like oil and water. 39 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: Neither of those analogies are really giving me what I want. 40 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: In my personal experience, right wing extremists and election results 41 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: go together like blue gatorade and raw onions. When I 42 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:20,720 Speaker 1: covered the January sixth riot at the Capitol in twenty 43 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,800 Speaker 1: twenty one, those were the two things I saw people 44 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: pulling out of their backpacks the most. I think some 45 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: right wing influencer convinced a lot of people who'd never 46 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: been to a riot before that you should carry a raw, 47 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: white onion cut in half in a ziploc baggie because 48 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 1: rubbing it on your face is a homeopathic remedy for 49 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: tear gas. Just a heads up that is not true. 50 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: Do not do that. Do not rub a raw onion 51 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 1: on your eyeballs at any time, and definitely don't do 52 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,920 Speaker 1: it after exposure to a chemical irritant. And if you 53 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: you can only pack one thing to drink in a 54 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: situation like that, make it water or else you'll be 55 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: washing pepper spray and onion juice out of your eyes 56 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:13,160 Speaker 1: with gatorade, which doctors do not recommend. That's just some 57 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:16,640 Speaker 1: free advice for you, but I thought it would make 58 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: perfect sense to do some kind of election themed weird 59 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:25,080 Speaker 1: little guy, And to be honest, I'm bored of January 60 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:28,840 Speaker 1: sixth stories. I'm sure I'll get to some of them 61 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 1: on this show eventually. And there were some guys there 62 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: who were very strange guys even before they were trying 63 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,040 Speaker 1: to stop the steal. And if the guy they were 64 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:42,719 Speaker 1: fighting for that day follows through on his promise to 65 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,920 Speaker 1: pardon them all, some of them will make their way 66 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: back into the news one way or another, whether that's 67 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: running for office or building a bomb. But right now today, 68 00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:59,040 Speaker 1: I'm sick of thinking about the twenty twenty election results, 69 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:03,080 Speaker 1: because I'm sick thinking about the twenty twenty four election results. 70 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: And the twenty twenty election was not the first time 71 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 1: right wing extremists couldn't accept the results. So come with 72 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: me to the distant past. Two thousand and eight. I 73 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:21,120 Speaker 1: voted for president for the first time that year, making 74 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 1: me one of nearly seventy million Americans who cast a 75 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: ballot for Barack Obama. He won handily, beating John McCain 76 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: by more than seven percent in the popular vote and 77 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 1: pulling in three hundred and sixty five electoral votes to 78 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:39,480 Speaker 1: McCain's one hundred and seventy three. Barack Obama was promising hope, 79 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:44,599 Speaker 1: change and healthcare. John McCain was burdened by George W. 80 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,159 Speaker 1: Bush's rock bottom approval ratings and his support for Bush's 81 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: now increasingly unpopular war in Iraq. It seemed like a 82 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: new day had dawned. We were all going to get healthcare, 83 00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:01,159 Speaker 1: and we had finally elected our first black president. Of course, 84 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: not everyone was on board. We'd had more than two 85 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:10,120 Speaker 1: centuries of white men named James, John, William, and George. Literally, 86 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 1: of the forty two presidents before Obama, eighteen of them 87 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,880 Speaker 1: were named James, John William, or George. About forty percent 88 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: of the total presidential time until two thousand and eight 89 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:25,440 Speaker 1: was under a guy with one of those four names. 90 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 1: We elected two different guys named Franklin. We hadn't really 91 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: been getting a lot of variety conspiracy theories about Barack 92 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 1: Obama's race, religion, and place of birth are creatures of racism, 93 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 1: pure and simple. There's no talking your way around that fact. 94 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:49,599 Speaker 1: He has a foreign sounding name and he is not white. 95 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:53,480 Speaker 1: There was a lot of anxiety that someone who didn't 96 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:57,680 Speaker 1: look like the American presidents we'd had before couldn't possibly 97 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: have the same American values. During the primary, Mark Penn, 98 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:06,799 Speaker 1: a senior campaign strategist for Hillary Clinton, wrote a memo 99 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: suggesting that they should highlight the fact that Obama spent 100 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:16,280 Speaker 1: some of his childhood in Indonesia while emphasizing Clinton's Midwest roots, writing. 101 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 2: His roots in basic American values and culture are at 102 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 2: best limited. I cannot imagine electing a president during a 103 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 2: time of war who was not, at his center fundamentally 104 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 2: American in his thinking and in his values. 105 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: The Clinton campaign didn't end up going with this strategy, 106 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: but the memo got out, and this idea that Barack 107 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: Obama was an American bled into a conspiracy theory that 108 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: he was not American at all and had in fact 109 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: been born in Kenya. During the two thousand and eight 110 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: election season, surveys showed that as many as a third 111 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,760 Speaker 1: of Republican voters believe there may be some truth to 112 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,320 Speaker 1: the idea that Barack Obama was born outside of the 113 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: United States. An analysis published in the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, 114 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 1: and Politics in twenty nineteen acknowledge that yes, the best 115 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 1: predictor of believing in any conspiracy theory is a pre 116 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: existing belief in any other conspiracy theory. People who are 117 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: prone to believing unsubstantiated claims often believe many of them. 118 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: But while there are certainly people of all political orientations 119 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: who are willing to entertain the theory, the study found 120 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: that belief in this particular conspiracy theory was uniquely correlated 121 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: to the believer's own race, party affiliation, and most importantly, 122 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:51,280 Speaker 1: their level of racial resentment toward African Americans. So to 123 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: be clear, there are multiple studies published in journals across 124 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:57,560 Speaker 1: a range of disciplines over the course of nearly twenty 125 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 1: years that have found measurable correlations. Here, the people who 126 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:07,959 Speaker 1: trafficked in Birtherism were white Republicans with a measurable level 127 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 1: of racial animus. This was never about getting to the truth. 128 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:20,480 Speaker 1: It was an intense fear of a black president. In 129 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:23,000 Speaker 1: June of two thousand and eight, just days after Hillary 130 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:27,199 Speaker 1: Clinton conceded the primary and Obama was the presumptive nominee, 131 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,960 Speaker 1: his campaign released a copy of his birth certificate showing 132 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: he had in fact been born in Hawaii. But you 133 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: can't kill a conspiracy with facts. That's never worked and 134 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:43,840 Speaker 1: confronted with what should have been the final answer to 135 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 1: the question, Berthers just doubled down. The birth certificate was 136 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:54,080 Speaker 1: simply fake. This only fueled the fire, and in August 137 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:58,120 Speaker 1: of two thousand and eight, the first of countless lawsuits 138 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:03,800 Speaker 1: was filed. And oddly enough, we've already talked about this 139 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:08,200 Speaker 1: particular lawsuit on this show in the first episode about 140 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: the Pennsylvania clansman Berry Black. Philip Burg's lawsuit alleged that 141 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: Obama had been born in Kenya, and this relied on 142 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 1: a sworn affidavit written by Ron McCray about a phone 143 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:24,559 Speaker 1: call that he had had with Barack Obama's father's stepmother 144 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:30,440 Speaker 1: through a translator. Ron McCrae was the homophobic street preacher 145 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 1: who spent years harassing the owners of the Casanova Lounge, 146 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: a gay bar in Somerset County, Pennsylvania that was located 147 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:39,920 Speaker 1: across the street from a farm owned by some klansmen. 148 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:45,560 Speaker 1: Burg's lawsuit was dismissed and the judge called it frivolous 149 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: and not worthy of discussion, which is true, but that 150 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:56,560 Speaker 1: became the playbook. Berths around the country filed frivolous and 151 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: baffling lawsuits. They filed them in federal court houses, county 152 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 1: circuit courts, state supreme courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals, 153 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:11,000 Speaker 1: state boards of election, state administrative courts. They filed complaints 154 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: and requests for injunctions and petitions anywhere they could find 155 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,960 Speaker 1: a bureaucrat sitting in a desk. For just the years 156 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,600 Speaker 1: two thousand and eight through twenty twelve, I found over 157 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:28,320 Speaker 1: two hundred complaints in various forms, filed with every kind 158 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 1: of court you can imagine, and some kinds of courts 159 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:39,560 Speaker 1: I've never heard of, and they lost every single one. 160 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:43,040 Speaker 1: They seemed convinced that they could find the right collection 161 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:47,760 Speaker 1: of words, the right legal incantation, that, if presented to 162 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,480 Speaker 1: the right judge and the right jury, would wake America 163 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:56,760 Speaker 1: from this national nightmare of an Obama presidency. But the 164 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 1: lawsuits weren't working. Judge after judge judge sent them packing. 165 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: In most cases they didn't even get a hearing. They 166 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:10,760 Speaker 1: were submitting complaints that had absolutely no legal basis to proceed, 167 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:15,720 Speaker 1: no basis in reality even and in the cases that 168 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:17,959 Speaker 1: did get a foot in the door, they were submitting 169 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:24,160 Speaker 1: forged documents and relying on already debunked claims. Lawyers were 170 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:29,080 Speaker 1: sanctioned fines were levied, and suit after suit was dismissed. 171 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 1: But undeterred, the Birthers found a new way forward. If 172 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: they couldn't get justice through civil suits, they would simply 173 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 1: have to have the President of the United States arrested. 174 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:48,760 Speaker 1: In June of two thousand and nine, one hundred and 175 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 1: seventy two extremely devoted conspiracy theorists convened. They called themselves 176 00:12:55,520 --> 00:13:01,480 Speaker 1: the super American grand Jury. Now that's not a real thing. 177 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: Grand juries are real, of course. We don't need to 178 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,400 Speaker 1: get bogged down in the specifics because they vary from 179 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:13,000 Speaker 1: state to state. But generally speaking, a grand jury is 180 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:17,080 Speaker 1: a group of citizens convened by a court and tasked 181 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:22,439 Speaker 1: with issuing indictments. So a prosecutor will briefly summarize a case. 182 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:25,239 Speaker 1: They'll put on a little bit of evidence, maybe some witnesses, 183 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:28,800 Speaker 1: and the grand jurors will decide if there's probable cause 184 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:32,160 Speaker 1: to believe a crime has been committed by the individual 185 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:36,240 Speaker 1: the prosecutor is seeking to indict. They aren't deciding if 186 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: anyone is innocent or guilty. They're not trying the case. 187 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 1: It's a much lower standard here. They're just deciding, is 188 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:47,240 Speaker 1: this something that should proceed as a case at all. 189 00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:51,040 Speaker 1: You've probably heard the saying you can get a grand 190 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,240 Speaker 1: jury to indict a ham sandwich. It's a pretty low 191 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:58,280 Speaker 1: bar to clear at this stage. But we're not here 192 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:02,319 Speaker 1: to talk about real grand juries because that barely factors 193 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:04,920 Speaker 1: into the story at all. I just want to be 194 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:10,000 Speaker 1: clear that grand juris are real, they do exist, and 195 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:14,720 Speaker 1: this was not one. A grand jury is made up 196 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:18,319 Speaker 1: of grand jurors who have received an official summons from 197 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:22,320 Speaker 1: a real court, and they are presented real potential cases 198 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:26,360 Speaker 1: by a real prosecutor, and they make real determinations about 199 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: which cases get indictments. There are six states that allow 200 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 1: citizen initiated grand juries in Oklahoma, Nevada, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, 201 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: and North Dakota. There is a process through which you 202 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,120 Speaker 1: can collect enough signatures on a petition to force a 203 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,400 Speaker 1: judge to convene a grand jury to investigate an alleged crime. 204 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 1: That's not what this was either. They didn't have a 205 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:52,560 Speaker 1: petition they submitted to a court. They didn't do it 206 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:56,960 Speaker 1: in any of those states. I'm just saying. Avenues do exist, 207 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:01,160 Speaker 1: and in some states, like California, you can submit a 208 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 1: written complaint to request a grand jury investigation into a 209 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,560 Speaker 1: criminal allegation, but they're under no obligation to follow up. 210 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 1: And in Tennessee, the fact that is about to become 211 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:17,200 Speaker 1: very relevant. State law allows any citizen to apply to 212 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:21,200 Speaker 1: testify before a county grand jury about an alleged offense 213 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: that is prosecutable in that county. But the idea of 214 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:30,200 Speaker 1: a citizen's grand jury, like the super American grand jury, 215 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: is not something these particular extremists invented in their modern iteration. 216 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 1: Most of these citizens grand jury groups were trying to 217 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 1: arrest Barack Obama for various invented crimes, but they also 218 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:46,880 Speaker 1: popped up in the early two thousands among nine to 219 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 1: eleven truthers who wanted to arrest George Bush during the 220 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:55,320 Speaker 1: Malhair National Wildlife Refuge occupation. A few years back, militia 221 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:58,840 Speaker 1: members who supported the Bundy family convened fake grand juries 222 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: to indict local officials and even some reporters whose coverage 223 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 1: they found lacking conspiracy theory. Frequent flier Larry Clayman has 224 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: not only indicted Joe Biden with a fate grand jury, 225 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:15,160 Speaker 1: he even convicted him. But according to Daniel Levatas the 226 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: author of The Terrorist next Door, a two thousand and 227 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,960 Speaker 1: four book on the American militia movement. These citizen grand 228 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:25,920 Speaker 1: juries actually date back to the nineteen seventies with Christian 229 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:31,240 Speaker 1: identity extremists. Christian identity has come up before. We talked 230 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 1: about it briefly in the episode about Christopher Hassen, the 231 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 1: Coastguard lieutenant who was stockpiling guns and planning to assassinate 232 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,960 Speaker 1: the Supreme Court, but was too addicted to opiates to 233 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:45,400 Speaker 1: make much progress. He'd spent some time researching Christian identity 234 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: online before writing to a longtime white nationalist leader named 235 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:53,680 Speaker 1: Harold Covington about his plans to make changes to society 236 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: with quote a little focused violence and Christian identity kind 237 00:16:59,920 --> 00:17:05,080 Speaker 1: of sounds like it might mean someone whose identity is Christian, Right, 238 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: It's just someone who considers themselves to be a Christian. 239 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: But that's not what it means at all. It refers 240 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:17,520 Speaker 1: to a specific set of extremist beliefs that white Europeans 241 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:21,919 Speaker 1: are God's true chosen people. It is a deeply anti 242 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:25,920 Speaker 1: Semitic belief system, and one whose followers are often very 243 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:31,520 Speaker 1: willing to engage in violence. The earliest example levatas sites 244 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: of a written threat to bring a citizen's grand jury 245 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:39,080 Speaker 1: indictment is a tax protester in Michigan in nineteen seventy 246 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:42,399 Speaker 1: two who threatened to indict local authorities trying to enforce 247 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:47,000 Speaker 1: a core order. And in nineteen seventy five, Richard Butler, 248 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: another weird little guy's recurring character, led a group of 249 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:54,000 Speaker 1: fifty followers to try to arrest a policeman in Kurdalene, 250 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:57,960 Speaker 1: Idaho before the officer could testify against a member of 251 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 1: the group who'd been charged with assault with a day weapon. 252 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:05,679 Speaker 1: Richard Butler wasn't leading the Aryan Nations yet at that point, 253 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:22,760 Speaker 1: but he was already a prominent figure within Christian identity. 254 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:29,639 Speaker 1: So the super American Grand Jury had deep roots in 255 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:34,679 Speaker 1: dark places, and it was not so super and not 256 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,719 Speaker 1: a grand jury at all. It was just a collection 257 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:41,240 Speaker 1: of conspiracists who wrote their own indictment against the president, 258 00:18:42,359 --> 00:18:45,160 Speaker 1: and then they went to a federal courthouse in Washington, 259 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:52,200 Speaker 1: d c. And filed it. Judge Royce Lambert promptly dismissed them. 260 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:56,480 Speaker 1: I guess maybe dismiss is a tricky word to use here, 261 00:18:56,520 --> 00:19:00,359 Speaker 1: because a real indictment can be dismissed by a judge, 262 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:03,479 Speaker 1: and that's not what happened here, because this was not 263 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:08,000 Speaker 1: a real indictment. What Judge Lamberth actually did was issue 264 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 1: in order denying them permission to have even filed it 265 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:16,879 Speaker 1: at all, writing, any self styled indictment or presentment issued 266 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:20,200 Speaker 1: by such a group has no force under the Constitution 267 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:25,399 Speaker 1: or laws of the United States. Judge Lamberth took senior 268 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 1: status in twenty thirteen, meaning he's kind of retired but 269 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:32,720 Speaker 1: still working. So he is actually still a federal judge 270 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:35,600 Speaker 1: in DC today and has presided over quite a few 271 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:39,040 Speaker 1: of the January six cases, most notably the trial of 272 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:44,240 Speaker 1: the QAnon shaman Jacob Chansley in twenty twenty three, fourteen 273 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:46,760 Speaker 1: years after he kicked those Birthers out of his court 274 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:50,320 Speaker 1: for trying to arrest the president. He was dismayed to 275 00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:54,159 Speaker 1: see Republican politicians trafficking in rhetoric that downplayed the events 276 00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:57,280 Speaker 1: of January sixth, writing in a court filing in one 277 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:01,960 Speaker 1: of those cases, the court. 278 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 2: Is accustomed to defendants who refuse to accept that they 279 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,480 Speaker 2: did anything wrong, But in my thirty seven years on 280 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:10,560 Speaker 2: the bench, I cannot recall a time when such meritless 281 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:14,640 Speaker 2: justifications of criminal activity have gone mainstream. I have been 282 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:17,879 Speaker 2: dismayed to see distortions in outright falsehood seep into the 283 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:21,479 Speaker 2: public consciousness. I've been shocked to watch some public figures 284 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 2: try to rewrite history cleming rioters behaved in an orderly 285 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:29,760 Speaker 2: fashion like ordinary tourists, or mortyrrizing convicted January sixth defendants 286 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:35,760 Speaker 2: as political prisoners or even incredibly hostages. That is all preposterous. 287 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:40,320 Speaker 2: The court fears that such destructive, misguided rhetoric could pressage 288 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:44,080 Speaker 2: further danger to our country. 289 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:49,119 Speaker 1: So the Super American grand Jury's first indictment didn't work, 290 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: but that didn't stop them. That's sort of a theme here. 291 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:58,439 Speaker 1: Nothing really seems to deter them. One of those Super 292 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: American grandeurors was a Georgia man named Carl Swenson. Swenson 293 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,760 Speaker 1: is a very special kind of conspiracy theorist called a 294 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:13,280 Speaker 1: sovereign citizen. It's a strange and complicated set of beliefs 295 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 1: that I can't really do justice in the time we 296 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,439 Speaker 1: have for this story, but it's a kind of legal 297 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:23,080 Speaker 1: magical thinking. There's a lot of crossover between sovereign citizens 298 00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:27,360 Speaker 1: and other kinds of conspiratorial belief and a not insignificant 299 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:32,159 Speaker 1: amount of sovereign citizen belief within the militia movement, and 300 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 1: sovereign citizens generally believe that there are certain secret procedural 301 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:40,399 Speaker 1: loopholes that they can use to avoid being subject to 302 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 1: the law, anything from traffic stops to income taxes. To 303 00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:50,360 Speaker 1: be honest, it's almost always traffic stops and income taxes. 304 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:54,000 Speaker 1: You've probably heard jokes about a guy in a courtroom 305 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 1: proclaiming that the judge has no authority over him because 306 00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 1: there's gold fringe on the flag in the courtroom and 307 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,399 Speaker 1: that means that Admirals law is in effect. Or maybe 308 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: you've heard of someone being pulled over and refusing to 309 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:08,320 Speaker 1: produce a driver's license, arguing with the cop that they 310 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:11,879 Speaker 1: don't need a driver's license because they're not driving. They're 311 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 1: traveling and it's different. I've only seen one in court 312 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:19,880 Speaker 1: in real life, and it was a young woman appealing 313 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:23,920 Speaker 1: a conviction for driving without a license. She just kept 314 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,600 Speaker 1: yelling at the judge, I do not contract with the 315 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:31,720 Speaker 1: Department of Motor Vehicles. It did not work. She was 316 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: unsuccessful in that appeal. A month after Judge Lamberth told 317 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,520 Speaker 1: the Super American Grand jury that they couldn't just make 318 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:44,840 Speaker 1: their own grand jury. Carl Swinson and a few of 319 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:48,639 Speaker 1: the others submitted a new case to the court. If 320 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:51,440 Speaker 1: they couldn't be their own grand jury, then the court 321 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 1: should convene one for them. Judge Lamberth once again declined, 322 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:01,920 Speaker 1: explaining that a general grievance about the government doesn't give 323 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:06,360 Speaker 1: them standing to file this complaint. There was some kind 324 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,160 Speaker 1: of procedural mishap in the court clerk's office, though, and 325 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:14,440 Speaker 1: the docket was left open by accident. This normally wouldn't 326 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,240 Speaker 1: matter at all. No lawyer would keep filing motions at 327 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:22,560 Speaker 1: a closed case. But they did not have lawyers, and 328 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:27,480 Speaker 1: one of Swinson's co petitioners, Penny Kelso, filed a bizarre 329 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:32,000 Speaker 1: seven page document four years later, demanding that the judge 330 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 1: take action. It has a lot of prayers in it 331 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:41,360 Speaker 1: and links to blogs and random excerpts from the Constitution, 332 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:46,919 Speaker 1: and the last page is just illegible handwritten notes, and 333 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:51,359 Speaker 1: I can kind of make out something about Benghazi. And 334 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:59,199 Speaker 1: she signed this whole thing penny Kelso DVM, which is 335 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:04,720 Speaker 1: technical true. Penny Kelso does have a doctorate of veterinary medicine, 336 00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:09,200 Speaker 1: but the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners has suspended 337 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 1: her license half a dozen times for things like watching 338 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:17,639 Speaker 1: a C section on someone's dog, duct taping bandages to 339 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:22,440 Speaker 1: animals in a way that caused harm, improperly confining animals 340 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 1: in a kennel, and falsifying records related to mandatory continuing 341 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:32,840 Speaker 1: education hours. Penny doesn't actually come up again in this story. 342 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,719 Speaker 1: She's not really relevant here. I just wanted to make 343 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:39,919 Speaker 1: sure you know that at least one person involved in 344 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:47,439 Speaker 1: this whole situation has killed a puppy. So they couldn't 345 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:51,280 Speaker 1: sue the president, They couldn't issue their own federal indictment, 346 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:55,920 Speaker 1: they couldn't make a judge convene a federal grand jury. 347 00:24:56,480 --> 00:25:00,800 Speaker 1: But they had incontrovertible proof that Baraco Obama could not 348 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:04,800 Speaker 1: be the president, and it was their duty as Americans 349 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:10,400 Speaker 1: to have him arrested. If this false president's collaborators in Washington, 350 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:14,480 Speaker 1: d C. Wouldn't heed their demands, maybe a grand Jerry 351 00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:20,919 Speaker 1: foreman in a small town in rural Tennessee would. Sweetwater, 352 00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:24,680 Speaker 1: Tennessee is a small town straddling the line between McMinn 353 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:28,840 Speaker 1: and Monroe Counties. A bit of geography that explains why 354 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,960 Speaker 1: Sweetwater resident Walter Fitzpatrick would eventually go to jail for 355 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:37,600 Speaker 1: trying to perform citizens arrests on courthouse employees in both counties. 356 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,360 Speaker 1: In March of two thousand and nine, he drafted his 357 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:45,280 Speaker 1: own indictment against Barack Obama. He went down to the 358 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:48,480 Speaker 1: county courthouse and notarized the following letter. 359 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 2: I have observed and extensively recorded treacherous attacks by military 360 00:25:55,640 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 2: political aristocrats against the United States Constitution for twenty years now, 361 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:03,640 Speaker 2: and yet another betrayal, you have broken in and entered 362 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,480 Speaker 2: the White House by force of contrivance, concealment, conceit, dissembling, 363 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:11,200 Speaker 2: and deceit, posing as an imposter President and Commander in Chief, 364 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,840 Speaker 2: who have stripped civilian command and control over the military establishment. 365 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:19,320 Speaker 2: Known military criminal actors command racketeers are now free in 366 00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:23,040 Speaker 2: the exercise of military government, intent upon destruction of America's 367 00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:28,520 Speaker 2: constitutional government, free from constitutional restraint, and following your criminal example, 368 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:33,160 Speaker 2: military commanders deployed US Army active duty combat troops into 369 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,439 Speaker 2: the small civilian community of Samson, Alabama, last week in 370 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:41,399 Speaker 2: a demonstration of their newly received despotic domestic police power. 371 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:45,280 Speaker 2: We come now to this reckoning. I accuse you and 372 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:49,640 Speaker 2: your military political criminal assistance of treason. I name you 373 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:54,400 Speaker 2: and your military criminal associates as traitors. Your criminal ascension 374 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:58,639 Speaker 2: manifests this clear and present danger. You fundamentally changed our 375 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:02,840 Speaker 2: form of government. Constitution no longer works confident holding your 376 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:06,639 Speaker 2: silent agreement and admission. I identify you as a foreign born, 377 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:10,760 Speaker 2: domestic enemy. My sworn duty, mister Obama, is to stand 378 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:14,040 Speaker 2: against what you stand for. You're not my president, you're 379 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:17,159 Speaker 2: not my commander in chief. Obedient to the constitution and 380 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:20,960 Speaker 2: submission of this criminal accusation, I remain stepfast and born fighting. 381 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:27,680 Speaker 2: Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, the third, there's. 382 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:32,360 Speaker 1: A lot going on there. You probably have some questions 383 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,680 Speaker 1: about Walter's claims. Will take him one at a time. 384 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:41,000 Speaker 1: The twenty years of experience fighting the treacherous attacks on 385 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:45,840 Speaker 1: the constitution by the military political aristocrats, well that's about 386 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:49,600 Speaker 1: how long he's been writing a blog. He started his blog, 387 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:52,879 Speaker 1: Jag Hunters, after he was pushed out of the Navy. 388 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,879 Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick was allowed to serve out his nineteen and a 389 00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:01,080 Speaker 1: half years, rounding up to twenty so he could receive 390 00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: his pension, but his last four years in the Navy 391 00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 1: were humiliating. He was convicted in a court martial in 392 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,960 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety for improperly accounting for the morale, welfare and 393 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:17,399 Speaker 1: recreation funds for the sailors aboard the USS Mars of 394 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:21,600 Speaker 1: which he was the executive officer at the time. He 395 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,800 Speaker 1: was found not guilty on charges of stealing twenty eight 396 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:30,639 Speaker 1: hundred dollars, misappropriating another ten four hundred dollars, and improper 397 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:34,879 Speaker 1: use of a government vehicle, and his only sentence was 398 00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:40,040 Speaker 1: a reprimand all things considered, it could have been worse. 399 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:45,840 Speaker 1: He was basically convicted of bad record keeping and given 400 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:48,960 Speaker 1: a talking to. He didn't have to go to the 401 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:53,000 Speaker 1: brig He didn't get kicked out or demoted, or lose 402 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:56,400 Speaker 1: his pension or any of his access to veterans benefits. 403 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:00,920 Speaker 1: He served out his twenty years and retired and collected 404 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:05,440 Speaker 1: a pension, But he spent four years sitting at a desk. 405 00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:12,280 Speaker 1: He was passed over for promotions. He was humiliated and angry, 406 00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:17,440 Speaker 1: and he stayed angry at the government for a very 407 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:23,560 Speaker 1: long time. Sometimes I get a little lost in the weeds. 408 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,480 Speaker 1: When I started writing this week's episode, it was supposed 409 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:30,760 Speaker 1: to be about a guy we haven't gotten to yet 410 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 1: and aren't really going to get to today. But when 411 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:38,120 Speaker 1: you start pulling the narrative threads and looking for the 412 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:42,680 Speaker 1: beginning of the story, there's always more beginnings than you think. 413 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: It's probably more than enough backstory on Walter Fitzpatrick to 414 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,440 Speaker 1: say that his distrust of the government comes from his 415 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:53,360 Speaker 1: decades long, deeply held belief that he was a victim 416 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,840 Speaker 1: of a grave injustice at this nineteen ninety court martial. 417 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:01,400 Speaker 1: But as I spend more and more time really getting 418 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:06,640 Speaker 1: to know each of these weird little guys, patterns start 419 00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:11,000 Speaker 1: to emerge, and I think Walter Fitzpatrick fits into the 420 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:15,040 Speaker 1: Frank Sweeney archetype. I did two episodes a while back 421 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,680 Speaker 1: about a lifelong con man named Frank Sweeney. He got 422 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:21,239 Speaker 1: into all sorts of hijinks and cross paths with all 423 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: kinds of people, going to federal prison half a dozen 424 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:27,960 Speaker 1: times for various frauds and threats. But the one thing 425 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:33,200 Speaker 1: that connected everything in Frank's life was an overwhelming sense 426 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:39,800 Speaker 1: of personal grievance. He had been wronged, he had been wronged, 427 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:42,200 Speaker 1: and the only way to make it right was to 428 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:46,120 Speaker 1: make that lust for vengeance the sole focus of his life, 429 00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:50,680 Speaker 1: no matter where that path took him until he felt satisfied. 430 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:56,720 Speaker 1: For Frank, that meant spending several years writing threatening postcards 431 00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:59,680 Speaker 1: to a stranger who made a passing comment about where 432 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:03,280 Speaker 1: he would parked at the post office, and I see 433 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:08,080 Speaker 1: echoes of that same mindset here. In nineteen ninety four, 434 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:12,840 Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick had successfully recruited his Congressman Norm Dix as an 435 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:17,160 Speaker 1: advocate on his behalf, and Congressman Dix wrote several letters 436 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,240 Speaker 1: to the Navy advocating for a new trial for Fitzpatrick. 437 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:24,400 Speaker 1: He did his best as an elective representative to help 438 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:29,200 Speaker 1: a constituent seek redress through the proper channels, and he 439 00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 1: was ultimately unsuccessful. Fitzpatrick continued communicating with Norm Dix and 440 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:39,200 Speaker 1: later Congressman Adam Smith throughout the nineties and early two thousands, 441 00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 1: badgering their staff regularly and demanding his decade old case 442 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:48,360 Speaker 1: be revisited. There wasn't really much anyone could do, but 443 00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 1: both representatives met with him and heard his complaints and 444 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: did what they could. In two thousand and two, Fitzpatrick 445 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:02,200 Speaker 1: was banned from Congressman Smith's Tacoma offices. It's unclear what 446 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:04,720 Speaker 1: led to the ban, but a letter filed with the 447 00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:07,680 Speaker 1: court said that they would continue to serve him as 448 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:11,160 Speaker 1: a constituent, but he was only allowed to communicate with 449 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: the congressman or his staff by letter, and in two 450 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,360 Speaker 1: thousand and three, two female staffers in Norm Dix's office 451 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:24,280 Speaker 1: got restraining orders against Fitzpatrick. In her petition to the court, 452 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:29,360 Speaker 1: one of those staffers wrote, over the past year, I 453 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:33,480 Speaker 1: have become increasingly aware that mister Fitzpatrick's rage was building. 454 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:36,880 Speaker 1: He had difficulty looking me in the eye, and he 455 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:40,760 Speaker 1: was so angry he often paced in our lobby. He 456 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:42,920 Speaker 1: has no respect for the work we've done for him 457 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:48,560 Speaker 1: over the years. The last straw was an incident in 458 00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:51,760 Speaker 1: October of two thousand and three when Fitzpatrick refused to 459 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:55,120 Speaker 1: leave the office and physically prevented the employee from leaving 460 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 1: by blocking the door, forcing her to call the police. 461 00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:04,560 Speaker 1: Police reports show multiple violations of these restraining orders and 462 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:11,600 Speaker 1: several complaints, though no prosecutions for trespass, harassment, and domestic violence. 463 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:17,680 Speaker 1: He was angry, he had been wronged, and their inability 464 00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:23,920 Speaker 1: to help him was unforgivable. Fitzpatrick was coming into regular 465 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:27,200 Speaker 1: contact with the police in Kitsap County, Washington until he 466 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:32,000 Speaker 1: moved to Tennessee in two thousand and seven. But back 467 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:37,320 Speaker 1: to Fitzpatrick's trees and allegations, you probably noticed that he 468 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:42,480 Speaker 1: only barely mentioned the president's citizenship. I mean, it's in there, 469 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,200 Speaker 1: don't get me wrong. He does call Obama a foreign 470 00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:50,840 Speaker 1: born enemy, but that's pretty secondary here. This indictment for 471 00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:56,040 Speaker 1: treason isn't really about that. This is a brand new tactic. 472 00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:00,680 Speaker 1: He's accusing the president of having violate that the Posse 473 00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:08,640 Speaker 1: Comatatis Act, and that did actually kind of happen, not 474 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,640 Speaker 1: in the way he's claiming. Obviously, Broack Obama did not 475 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:15,560 Speaker 1: violate the Passe Commatatus Act, but it's not a wholly 476 00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:20,440 Speaker 1: fabricated allegation. The Passe Commatatus Act dates back to the 477 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:24,040 Speaker 1: end of reconstruction after the Civil War, and it prohibits 478 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:28,000 Speaker 1: the use of the US military in civilian policing. It 479 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:30,480 Speaker 1: doesn't apply to the National Guard under the direction of 480 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:34,520 Speaker 1: a state governor, and there are exceptions. Federal troops can 481 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:39,080 Speaker 1: be deployed domestically in certain situations, like if the President 482 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:42,040 Speaker 1: invokes the Insurrection Act or if there is some kind 483 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:47,080 Speaker 1: of emergency involving nuclear materials or significant amounts of explosive 484 00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 1: ordinance that can't be safely dealt with otherwise. But generally speaking, 485 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:57,480 Speaker 1: the United States military cannot engage in domestic civilian policing. 486 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:01,880 Speaker 1: It's not something that comes up very often for normal 487 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:06,160 Speaker 1: people under normal circumstances. You're probably never having conversations about 488 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:10,279 Speaker 1: the Posse Commatatius Act. But it's a big boogeyman in 489 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:15,239 Speaker 1: anti government movements, and the allegation Fitzpatrick is making in 490 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:20,560 Speaker 1: this letter alludes to an actual incident. On March tenth, 491 00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:23,920 Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, Michael McClendon carried out what is 492 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:27,279 Speaker 1: still the deadliest mass shooting in the history of Alabama, 493 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,759 Speaker 1: killing ten people, injuring six others, and ultimately taking his 494 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:38,759 Speaker 1: own life. It wasn't political or ideological, it wasn't racially motivated. 495 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:44,240 Speaker 1: It's just a terrible, sad story about gun violence in America. 496 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:47,160 Speaker 1: He was an angry young man with a gun, and 497 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:53,080 Speaker 1: he made his problems everybody else's. McLendon first drove to 498 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:56,560 Speaker 1: his mother's house in Kinston, Alabama, where he shot and 499 00:35:56,680 --> 00:36:00,160 Speaker 1: killed her and then burnt her house down, And then 500 00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:03,200 Speaker 1: he drove to his uncle's house and nearby Samson, Alabama, 501 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:07,160 Speaker 1: and shot his uncle, two cousins, and several of their neighbors. 502 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:11,040 Speaker 1: Then he went to his grandmother's house and shot and 503 00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:15,600 Speaker 1: killed her, and as he fled the third crime scene, 504 00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: he was firing at random from his car window, shooting bystanders, 505 00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:26,280 Speaker 1: killed a gas station attendant, passing motorists and injured several pedestrians. 506 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:30,239 Speaker 1: When sheriff's deputies tried to run him off the road, 507 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:34,239 Speaker 1: he shot one of them too. With more than a 508 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:38,799 Speaker 1: dozen people shot across three towns spanning two counties, law 509 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:43,040 Speaker 1: enforcement was stretched pretty thin. There were multiple crime scenes, 510 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:46,840 Speaker 1: ten dead bodies, half a dozen seriously injured survivors, including 511 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:51,160 Speaker 1: an infant, and the shooter was on the move, and 512 00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:54,960 Speaker 1: so someone at the Geneva County Sheriff's office made a 513 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,680 Speaker 1: phone call to nearby Fort Rucker to ask for help. 514 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: The army officer who responded to the request later said 515 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:06,319 Speaker 1: that he believed at the time that what he was 516 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:10,160 Speaker 1: doing was lawful, citing his own experience assisting in disaster 517 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:14,520 Speaker 1: response after Hurricane Katrina. His intention was only to be 518 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:18,360 Speaker 1: what he called a good neighbor, and for a period 519 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:22,160 Speaker 1: of about five hours that afternoon, several soldiers from Fort 520 00:37:22,239 --> 00:37:26,440 Speaker 1: Rucker assisted local law enforcement at traffic checkpoints near the 521 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:30,440 Speaker 1: crime scenes and stood guard at the makeshift morgue that 522 00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:34,920 Speaker 1: they'd set up to store the bodies. And this was 523 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:38,719 Speaker 1: in fact a violation of the Posse Comma Tatis Act. 524 00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:42,480 Speaker 1: Soldiers from the United States Army should not have been 525 00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:47,560 Speaker 1: participating in traffic checkpoints. That is against the law, and 526 00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:51,239 Speaker 1: the officer who made that call was disciplined. But it 527 00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:54,399 Speaker 1: was a local mistake. This wasn't something that was run 528 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:56,640 Speaker 1: up the chain of command all the way to the President. 529 00:37:56,719 --> 00:37:58,920 Speaker 1: This didn't go through the Pentagon. They didn't convene the 530 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:02,319 Speaker 1: Joint chiefs of Staff. It was just someone from the 531 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,000 Speaker 1: sheriff's office made a phone call to a guy he 532 00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:08,600 Speaker 1: knew at the army base, and they did something they 533 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:12,400 Speaker 1: didn't realize was wrong. I won't claim to be familiar 534 00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:16,080 Speaker 1: with the details of military chain of command or military 535 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:19,480 Speaker 1: law or anything, but I'm not sure the commander in 536 00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:22,920 Speaker 1: chief can be charged with treason because one guy in 537 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:28,880 Speaker 1: Alabama accidentally broke the law. But this actual violation of 538 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:32,200 Speaker 1: the Posse Coomatatis Act was enough to send a certain 539 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:35,960 Speaker 1: kind of guy into hysterics. I mean, look, I'm not 540 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,040 Speaker 1: making excuses for it. Any kind of precedent for that 541 00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:44,000 Speaker 1: sort of thing should be avoided. The potential for abuse 542 00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:50,400 Speaker 1: is extreme and terrifying. But anti government activists could finally 543 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:54,319 Speaker 1: point to a real thing that happened as proof that 544 00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:59,280 Speaker 1: Barack Obama was about to institute martial law. Federal troops 545 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,920 Speaker 1: really were setting up checkpoints. It happened. It's not a drill. 546 00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:07,040 Speaker 1: For someone like Walter Fitzpatrick. This was all the evidence 547 00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:12,080 Speaker 1: he needed to have the President hanged for treason. And 548 00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:15,400 Speaker 1: that gets us back to where we started this long journey, 549 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:20,600 Speaker 1: back to the beginning of the story. Walter Fitzpatrick accused 550 00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:23,640 Speaker 1: the president of treason in March two thousand and nine. 551 00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:26,560 Speaker 1: He took his complaint down to the courthouse and he 552 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:29,840 Speaker 1: got it notarized. He applied to present it to a 553 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:34,880 Speaker 1: Monroe County grand jury, and they chose not to indict 554 00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:40,719 Speaker 1: the president, probably mostly because even if there was probable 555 00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:45,640 Speaker 1: cause here, which there wasn't, the Monroe County, Tennessee Circuit 556 00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:49,920 Speaker 1: Court does not have jurisdiction in a case involving the 557 00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:55,719 Speaker 1: President of the United States committing treason, unfortunately, But that's 558 00:39:55,760 --> 00:40:00,439 Speaker 1: not how Fitzpatrick saw it. In his mind, this could 559 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:19,880 Speaker 1: only mean that there is corruption afoot. Again and again, 560 00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:24,400 Speaker 1: Walter Fitzpatrick made the trip to the county courthouse. He 561 00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:28,120 Speaker 1: harassed the court clerk. He tried forcing his way into 562 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:32,480 Speaker 1: the grand jury proceedings to make his presentation again, and 563 00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:35,239 Speaker 1: they did hear him out once more, they allowed him 564 00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:37,800 Speaker 1: to present the grand jury. In December of two thousand 565 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:43,000 Speaker 1: and nine. That grand jury again declined to indict President 566 00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:46,640 Speaker 1: Barack Obama for treason, and at this point they were 567 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:52,000 Speaker 1: done humoring him. Hearing this evidence again wasn't going to 568 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:56,600 Speaker 1: change anything. He was on several occasions refused entrance into 569 00:40:56,640 --> 00:40:59,560 Speaker 1: the courtroom while the grand jury was hearing real cases, 570 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:04,319 Speaker 1: and just like those years, he spent getting angrier and 571 00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:09,600 Speaker 1: angrier at his congressman's office staff. These people were as 572 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:12,240 Speaker 1: helpful as they were required to be. They were doing 573 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:16,200 Speaker 1: their jobs, but there wasn't really anything they could do 574 00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:21,640 Speaker 1: that would satisfy him because his requests weren't reasonable. They 575 00:41:21,680 --> 00:41:25,440 Speaker 1: couldn't give him what he wanted. But in his mind, 576 00:41:25,680 --> 00:41:29,239 Speaker 1: this inability to assist him could only mean that they 577 00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:34,560 Speaker 1: were actively fighting against him, and so they too became 578 00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:39,920 Speaker 1: subjects of his investigations. They were all guilty now of 579 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:45,400 Speaker 1: obstruction of justice, and they too must be arrested. In 580 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:48,920 Speaker 1: March of twenty ten, a year after he first charged 581 00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:52,759 Speaker 1: the President with treason, Walter Fitzpatrick sent a letter to 582 00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:56,799 Speaker 1: the police chief in Madisonville, Tennessee. If no one else 583 00:41:56,840 --> 00:41:58,799 Speaker 1: was interested in justice, he was just going to have 584 00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:00,359 Speaker 1: to do it himself. 585 00:42:01,840 --> 00:42:05,800 Speaker 2: Chief Breeden, please accept this notice of the necessity, authority, 586 00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:09,120 Speaker 2: and intent to conduct a series of imminent citizens arrests 587 00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:12,360 Speaker 2: throughout Monroe County, Tennessee. The first arrest plan must be 588 00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:15,840 Speaker 2: constructed and crafted in cooperation with the Madisonville Police Department. 589 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:18,640 Speaker 2: Wisdom dictates the first arrest plan be one that is 590 00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:21,880 Speaker 2: acceptable to your police chief colleagues throughout Monroe County. An 591 00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:25,080 Speaker 2: arrest plan that can be used again and again time 592 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:29,240 Speaker 2: is not a friend. Planning must begin immediately. Contact information 593 00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:34,800 Speaker 2: is provided separately. Fair Wins following sees Walter Francis Fitzpatrick third. 594 00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:42,640 Speaker 1: Notice that he's not asking for permission, and he's not 595 00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:48,200 Speaker 1: making a threat. He's letting him know. He feels like 596 00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:50,759 Speaker 1: he and the police chief have the same level of 597 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:54,839 Speaker 1: authority here. They're both absolutely empowered to make these kinds 598 00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:57,359 Speaker 1: of arrests, and he just thinks it would be best 599 00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:02,080 Speaker 1: if they collaborated on this plan. He's not threatening to 600 00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:05,919 Speaker 1: break the law, because he doesn't think he is. He's 601 00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:09,800 Speaker 1: inviting the police chief to participate in what he believes 602 00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:15,359 Speaker 1: is a perfectly rational and legal course of action. It's 603 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:19,080 Speaker 1: not clear if the police chief wrote him back. I'm 604 00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:22,920 Speaker 1: sure they had some conversations about this plan. That didn't 605 00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:26,600 Speaker 1: know how Fitzpatrick had hoped, but there was no talking 606 00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:29,200 Speaker 1: him out of it. He was going to arrest the 607 00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:31,280 Speaker 1: people who were standing in his way, with or without 608 00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:37,000 Speaker 1: their help, and on April first, twenty ten, he tried it. 609 00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:45,000 Speaker 3: Laid the room, arguing their officials laid the room. You 610 00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:50,480 Speaker 3: were under arrest, under arrest, mister, your under citizens or 611 00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:56,400 Speaker 3: whatever around, I'm placing you under iads now, I'm actually 612 00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:59,880 Speaker 3: they wrote for U escorted him, mister Petway. 613 00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:07,360 Speaker 1: Walter Fitzpatrick entered the courtroom and approached Grand Jerry Foreman 614 00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:12,000 Speaker 1: Gary Petway, a man he'd already spent months unsuccessfully trying 615 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:17,120 Speaker 1: to indict. And Petway doesn't look excited to see Fitzpatrick, 616 00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:22,520 Speaker 1: but he looks more exasperated than anything else. He doesn't 617 00:44:22,520 --> 00:44:26,000 Speaker 1: look afraid of the old man lurching towards him, saying 618 00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:30,440 Speaker 1: over and over again, I'm placing you under arrest. Petway 619 00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,360 Speaker 1: is just sort of backing away from him and repeating 620 00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:38,400 Speaker 1: please leave, please leave the room, and pointing towards the door. 621 00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:41,880 Speaker 1: And the video we have of this incident is not 622 00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:46,600 Speaker 1: police bodycam footage, but you'd be forgiven for assuming that's 623 00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:51,240 Speaker 1: where it came from. It was recorded on someone's cell phone, 624 00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:55,200 Speaker 1: a Motorola droid to be precise. If you remember those 625 00:44:56,200 --> 00:45:00,880 Speaker 1: by Carl Swenson, the sovereign citizen who had been agitating 626 00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:03,239 Speaker 1: for people all over the country to take this kind 627 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:06,920 Speaker 1: of action in their local courts ever since Judge Lamberth 628 00:45:07,120 --> 00:45:10,240 Speaker 1: denied his petition in federal court the year before. 629 00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:15,040 Speaker 4: He did this for us. What do you intend to 630 00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:18,759 Speaker 4: do for him and for this country. If we don't 631 00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:21,600 Speaker 4: come to his assistance, if we don't get to the courthouse, 632 00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:23,799 Speaker 4: if we don't call him, if we don't walk and 633 00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:27,439 Speaker 4: march on that courthouse and that sheriff's department, we don't 634 00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:30,440 Speaker 4: deserve the freedoms we have. I know what I must do. 635 00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:34,080 Speaker 4: I plan on marching on that courthouse. 636 00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:39,520 Speaker 1: Carl Swinson was one of several supporters who showed up 637 00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:43,799 Speaker 1: at the courthouse with Fitzpatrick that day. Swinson recorded the 638 00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:47,680 Speaker 1: incident and posted it online, exhorting his followers to show 639 00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:51,480 Speaker 1: up at the next hearing. The website he was running 640 00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:56,080 Speaker 1: at the time, rise Upfoamerica dot Com is gone now. 641 00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:00,920 Speaker 1: That url does still go to a real website, but 642 00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:05,239 Speaker 1: it belongs to some kind of construction consortium now, and 643 00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:08,400 Speaker 1: the homepage is a six year old blog post about 644 00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:11,600 Speaker 1: the pros and cons of different kinds of carpet tiles. 645 00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:16,719 Speaker 1: One of the other supporters who witnessed Fitzpatrick's arrest that 646 00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:21,239 Speaker 1: day was a man named Darren Huff. Like Swinson, Huff 647 00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:23,960 Speaker 1: had made the drive to Madisonville from his home in Georgia. 648 00:46:25,040 --> 00:46:27,160 Speaker 1: He was a member of the Oath Keepers and was 649 00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:29,920 Speaker 1: also the chaplain of a separate militia group that was 650 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:35,520 Speaker 1: just called the Georgia Militia. When Fitzpatrick was granted bond 651 00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:38,400 Speaker 1: a few days after his arrest, Darren Huff made the 652 00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:41,839 Speaker 1: drive back up to Tennessee to meet with him. They 653 00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:45,919 Speaker 1: weren't going to suffer this indignity in silence. They made 654 00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:49,799 Speaker 1: a plan, and two weeks later, when Fitzpatrick was due 655 00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:53,160 Speaker 1: back in court. Darren Huff was outside the courthouse with 656 00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:56,359 Speaker 1: a crowd of supporters, prepared to take over the whole 657 00:46:56,480 --> 00:47:01,080 Speaker 1: damn town by force if they had to. And Darren 658 00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:03,880 Speaker 1: Huff was the weird little guy I had in mind 659 00:47:04,120 --> 00:47:07,600 Speaker 1: when I sat down to start this week's episode. I 660 00:47:07,640 --> 00:47:10,719 Speaker 1: was thinking about guys who did something weird because they 661 00:47:10,719 --> 00:47:13,360 Speaker 1: were mad about an election, and I had a vague 662 00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:16,200 Speaker 1: recollection of some research I did on the oath Keepers 663 00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:20,080 Speaker 1: back in twenty nineteen, when Oathkeeper's founder Stuart Rhodes was 664 00:47:20,280 --> 00:47:23,720 Speaker 1: front row center, right behind the podium at a Trump 665 00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:27,000 Speaker 1: campaign rally, and I did a little more digging around 666 00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:29,759 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty when the Oathkeepers were starting to make 667 00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:33,920 Speaker 1: noise about what would eventually become the January sixth insurrection. 668 00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:38,160 Speaker 1: I'd collected a few odds and ends about oathkeepers who 669 00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:41,280 Speaker 1: got arrested for a variety of crimes over the years, 670 00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:45,800 Speaker 1: trying to convince people that this could be a serious problem. 671 00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:50,359 Speaker 1: And there are plenty of strange little stories in there, 672 00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:54,160 Speaker 1: like an oathkeeper in Ohio who was being investigated for 673 00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:58,960 Speaker 1: mortgage fraud back in twenty ten, and the investigators completely 674 00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:03,480 Speaker 1: accidentally discovered that he was making napalm in his garage, 675 00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:08,520 Speaker 1: Or how Oathkeepers leaders Stuart Rhodes advised members to take 676 00:48:08,560 --> 00:48:11,600 Speaker 1: it upon themselves to prevent voter fraud in the twenty 677 00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:16,160 Speaker 1: sixteen election, in a plan that definitely was not meant 678 00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:20,600 Speaker 1: to function as voter intimidation. And there's the story of 679 00:48:20,600 --> 00:48:23,280 Speaker 1: that car load of Oathkeepers who were arrested in Florida 680 00:48:23,360 --> 00:48:26,960 Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen. They were charged with violating the curfew 681 00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:29,279 Speaker 1: order put in place during the state of emergency after 682 00:48:29,360 --> 00:48:34,640 Speaker 1: Hurricane Michael. The militia members were driving around dressed as 683 00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:39,600 Speaker 1: police officers, cruising around town in the dark with a 684 00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:45,320 Speaker 1: car full of rifles, dressed as cops patrolling for looters. 685 00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:51,080 Speaker 1: And obviously there's the entire saga of the Oathkeeper's role 686 00:48:51,200 --> 00:48:55,960 Speaker 1: in January sixth, But like I said, right now, I'm 687 00:48:55,960 --> 00:49:01,000 Speaker 1: tired of that story. But then I remembered Darren Huff 688 00:49:01,560 --> 00:49:05,000 Speaker 1: and his plans to citizens arrest a whole county courthouse 689 00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:07,640 Speaker 1: because he didn't think Barack Obama was the real president. 690 00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:11,120 Speaker 1: It was sort of a micro January sixth, an hour 691 00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:16,400 Speaker 1: south of Knoxville, but eleven years too soon. At this 692 00:49:16,520 --> 00:49:19,279 Speaker 1: point in the run of this show, I think I 693 00:49:19,400 --> 00:49:23,040 Speaker 1: have to stop apologizing for writing so much preamble that 694 00:49:23,120 --> 00:49:25,879 Speaker 1: the actual story I'm getting to is in part two. 695 00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:28,880 Speaker 1: I should just admit to myself that I'm doing that 696 00:49:28,920 --> 00:49:33,040 Speaker 1: on purpose. Sure, I could launch right into a story 697 00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:35,520 Speaker 1: about Darren showing up at the courthouse with a gun. 698 00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:39,680 Speaker 1: That would still be an interesting weird little guy. But 699 00:49:39,840 --> 00:49:42,960 Speaker 1: Darren and his gun outside of a courthouse three hours 700 00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:45,880 Speaker 1: away from his home across state lines, trying to arrest 701 00:49:45,880 --> 00:49:48,080 Speaker 1: a grand jury foreman in a small town that he 702 00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:51,880 Speaker 1: has no connection to, just doesn't make any sense, does it. 703 00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:56,120 Speaker 1: Trying to explain that a retired Navy vet was convinced 704 00:49:56,120 --> 00:49:59,279 Speaker 1: his county court could arrest the president sounds like a 705 00:49:59,320 --> 00:50:03,120 Speaker 1: silly little joke without the context that this was a 706 00:50:03,239 --> 00:50:09,280 Speaker 1: nationwide movement motivated by a racist conspiracy theory. These aren't 707 00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:12,320 Speaker 1: just stories about one weird little guy at a time. 708 00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:17,440 Speaker 1: It's a whole network. None of this happens in a vacuum, 709 00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:20,759 Speaker 1: which is why the same stories keep playing out with 710 00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:24,840 Speaker 1: different characters, and the same characters keep showing up in 711 00:50:24,920 --> 00:50:29,320 Speaker 1: each other's stories. An oathkeeper tried to arrest the president 712 00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:33,640 Speaker 1: in twenty ten, the Oathkeepers tried to overturn the twenty 713 00:50:33,680 --> 00:50:39,440 Speaker 1: twenty election. The woman whose blog chronicled Walter Fitzpatrick's efforts 714 00:50:39,680 --> 00:50:42,759 Speaker 1: fueling the conspiracy and driving more supporters to show up 715 00:50:42,760 --> 00:50:46,680 Speaker 1: in Madisonville tried to obtain government records in twenty twenty 716 00:50:46,719 --> 00:50:52,239 Speaker 1: two related to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's families, immigration and naturalization, 717 00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:56,719 Speaker 1: and the same woman was a central figure in the 718 00:50:56,800 --> 00:51:00,960 Speaker 1: brief frenzy of birther conspiracies about Kamala Harris in twenty 719 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:06,640 Speaker 1: twenty four. When Jared Taylor, America's leading purveyor of pseudo 720 00:51:06,760 --> 00:51:10,440 Speaker 1: academic eugenicist polemics, had to go to court in twenty 721 00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:13,560 Speaker 1: eighteen over a permit for his annual race science conference, 722 00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:18,680 Speaker 1: he sought help from Birther lawyer Van Irian, the same 723 00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:21,800 Speaker 1: lawyer who worked on Carl Swinson's lawsuits to keep Barack 724 00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:26,319 Speaker 1: Obama off the ballot in twenty twelve. Cutting straight to 725 00:51:26,360 --> 00:51:29,640 Speaker 1: the chase and getting to Darren's story wouldn't just be 726 00:51:29,760 --> 00:51:33,280 Speaker 1: missing the forest for the trees. It would be ignoring 727 00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:38,520 Speaker 1: a whole thriving white supremacist ecosystem. Because when you turn 728 00:51:38,560 --> 00:51:42,000 Speaker 1: over a big rock there's more than one weird bug 729 00:51:42,080 --> 00:51:46,880 Speaker 1: under there, and to be honest, I really just wanted 730 00:51:46,920 --> 00:51:51,759 Speaker 1: to have plenty of room to explore Darren Huff's fascinating 731 00:51:51,920 --> 00:51:57,640 Speaker 1: legal strategy because not to spoil it, but he does 732 00:51:57,880 --> 00:52:01,200 Speaker 1: end up in federal prison for a little bit. It's 733 00:52:01,239 --> 00:52:05,960 Speaker 1: such a rare treat to have so much incredible source material, 734 00:52:06,719 --> 00:52:09,000 Speaker 1: and I really don't want to have to cut the 735 00:52:09,040 --> 00:52:12,200 Speaker 1: audio of a man who got pulled over on his 736 00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:16,280 Speaker 1: way to commit a federal crime and used that opportunity 737 00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:21,800 Speaker 1: to try to recruit a state trooper into his militia. 738 00:52:22,239 --> 00:52:26,880 Speaker 1: So until next week, don't be rude to your court clerk, 739 00:52:27,880 --> 00:52:31,560 Speaker 1: and please, for the love of God, do not put 740 00:52:31,560 --> 00:52:41,360 Speaker 1: gatorade in your eyes. Weird Little Guys is a production 741 00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:45,080 Speaker 1: of Kool Zone Media and iHeartRadio. It's researched, written and 742 00:52:45,160 --> 00:52:49,320 Speaker 1: recorded by me, Molly Conger. Our executive producers are Sophie 743 00:52:49,360 --> 00:52:52,799 Speaker 1: Lichterman and Robert Evans. The show is edited by the 744 00:52:52,920 --> 00:52:56,520 Speaker 1: wildly talented Rory Gagan. The theme music was composed by 745 00:52:56,520 --> 00:52:59,680 Speaker 1: Brad Dickard. You can email me at Weird Little Guys 746 00:52:59,680 --> 00:53:03,239 Speaker 1: Podcast at gmail dot com. I will definitely read it, 747 00:53:03,640 --> 00:53:07,440 Speaker 1: but I almost certainly will not answer it. It's nothing personal. 748 00:53:07,520 --> 00:53:10,680 Speaker 1: I don't answer any of my emails. You can exchange 749 00:53:10,680 --> 00:53:13,160 Speaker 1: conspiracy theories about the show with other listeners on the 750 00:53:13,239 --> 00:53:17,120 Speaker 1: Weird Little Guys subreddit. Just don't post anything that's going 751 00:53:17,160 --> 00:53:18,640 Speaker 1: to make you one of my Weird Little Guys.