In January 2018, Representative Matt GAETZ (FL-CD1) invited a known Holocaust denier and white supremacist Chuck C. Johnson to the president's State of the Union address. Gaetz was informed immediately by the Anti-Defamation League and the Republican Jewish Coalition, via letter and tweets, respectively, of Johnson's beliefs.
Matt Gaetz completely disregarded these factual warnings and, in the case of the ADL, the request not to associate further with Chuck Johnson. Matt Gaetz ignored this request as well. In fact, within a few months of these facts being given directly to him, Gaetz failed to show at a candidate's forum in Pensacola, Florida, and instead, was fundraising with the very same Holocaust denier on a yacht off Newport Beach, California, the congressional district of Putin's favorite congressman, Dana Rohrabacher.
But, while press reporting emphasized that Chuck Johnson was a Holocaust denier and white supremacist, believing that all African Americans were "dumb," Johnson had also used his fundraising website WeSearchR to raise over $150,000 for neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin's Daily Stormer Legal Defense Fund, and was to receive $22,000 of the proceeds raised. WeSearchR also raised defense funds for a man who sent journalist Kurt Eichenwald, who suffers from epilepsy, a gif on Twitter intended to injure or kill him.
Andrew Anglin, according to a December 2017 story in The Atlantic, titled "The Making of an American Nazi," "wrote about his longing for a race war...against...Jews, blacks, Muslims, Hispanics, women, liberals, journalists..." Anglin told his fellow neo-Nazis that in the coming race war "'you are either going to be stacking or getting stacked."
All of these facts were easily discoverable had Matt Gaetz conducted "any due diligence," according to the Anti-Defamation League's February 1, 2018, letter.
After an initial flurry of national attention regarding the SOTU invitation to the Holocaust denier, the mainstream press moved on to other national outrages.
The purpose of this article is to document Matt Gaetz's vile, despicable behavior, and, hopefully, to give his record on this issue a higher national profile. Full disclosure: I support his opponent, Dr. Jennifer Zimmerman, and was the author of her political advertisement on Matt Gaetz and the Deep State.
MATT GAETZ and the HOLOCAUST DENIER
When Matt Gaetz was asked by Politico why he had invited a
known Holocaust denier to the president’s State of the Union address, Gaetzreplied, “I had no idea who he was.” While there are indications that he had
known Chuck Johnson since October 2017 when Congressman Dana Rohrabacher,
“Putin’s favorite congressman,” introduced them. But, that is not important.
What matters is Gaetz’s initial responses to Politico.
Having done a Google search, all Gaetz could laughingly say
is that he was “quite famous for his activity online,” was “intrigued” by
Johnson, and that Gaetz himself was quite open minded about who his political
associates were, claiming, “I don’t have an ideological purity test.”
Well, being “famous” for being a Holocaust denier and a
white supremacist is one way of describing Johnson. “Intriguing.” What would be
so intriguing about a man who thinks all of your African American constituents are “dumb”? Or whose immediate reaction to a claim of rape is to smear the
victim as a “liar”?
Yes, Matt Gaetz has no “ideological purity test.” Nor does
he have a moral test.
What is astounding is that even when provided evidence from a letter sent by the Anti-Defamation League to Gaetz on February 1st and two tweets sent by the Republican Jewish Coalition to Gaetz on February 1st that Chuck Johnson was a Holocaust denier—evidence I will show below—Matt Gaetz went on Fox Business News, and elsewhere, to defend Chuck Johnson and claim he was “not a Holocaust denier.” Incredible.
Before we get to the evidence
from the Anti-Defamation League and the evidence a simple Google search should
have revealed to Matt Gaetz before he gave the Holocaust denier a ticket to the
State of the Union speech, Chuck Johnson admitted he was a Holocaust denier.
And then, in typical Alt Right, neo-Nazi fashion, claimed it was all a lark; a
joke; just a troll for the Lulz. But, that is not true, Matt Gaetz.
NOTE: Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs is not Chuck C. Johnson, the Holocaust denier and white supremacist.
Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, a conservative
blogger who quit the right-wing in 2009 because he was completely fed up with
the rampant anti-Semitism and racism on the right-wing, reported on February 6th two tweets highlighting the very partial evidence that Chuck Johnson was a
Holocaust denier.
On Thursday February 1st, Michael Scherer, national
political reporter for the Washington Post, tweeted that Chuck Johnson had
stated in January 2017—a full year that Gaetz’s Google search should have
revealed—that Johnson did not believe that six million Jews had been murdered
in the Holocaust.
On Friday, February 2nd, the Republican Jewish
Coalition forwarded Michael Scherer’s tweet directly to Matt Gaetz.
Thus, when Matt Gaetz defended Chuck Johnson after February
2nd, regarding Chuck Johnson being a Holocaust denier, he was
ignoring evidence from a Republican
Jewish source.
In fact, on February 8th, the executive director
of the Republican Jewish Coalition told BuzzFeed News that the comments of Matt
Gaetz were not correct and Gaetz’s claims that the Republican Jewish Coalitionbacked Gaetz up were false statements.
In addition to the Friday, February 2nd tweet
from the Republican Jewish Coalition, on Thursday, February 1st, the
Anti-Defamation League sent Matt Gaetz a letter providing factual evidence that
Chuck Johnson was a Holocaust denier and had raised funds as a business
partnership with a known neo-Nazi, Andrew Anglin, the publisher of the Daily
Stormer.
Thus, if Gaetz had failed to uncover the following
information before
he gave Chuck Johnson a ticket to the president’s speech, there is certainly no
excuse for Gaetz not knowing this information after the ADL sent him a detailed
letter expressing the facts they had collected and the assessment they had
made.
In fact, the ADL sadly noted that “any measure of due diligence” would have uncovered
these facts. Gaetz’s behavior in this matter is simply inexcusable.
The ADL’s letter stated that Johnson did not believe that
six million Jews had been exterminated in the Holocaust—the most core belief in
Holocaust denial—and that Johnson believed the gas chambers not being real.”
Well, there is one thing about not having an “ideological
purity test,” and a completely different matter about knowing established
history.
Had Gaetz himself had any curiosity or any moral doubts, a
Google search would have disclosed that Chuck Johnson made these comments on Reddit in January 2017—yes, more than a year earlier.
Thus, we have to wonder if at any time did Matt Gaetz do any
due diligence?
Chuck Johnson claimed that he had “read…all of David
Irving.” How curious that he failed to read this article from more than ten
years earlier in which David Irving was not only sentenced to three years in
prison for his hateful claims regarding the Holocaust, but that Irving had “later changed his views.”
Yes, it appears that both Chuck Johnson and Matt Gaetz keep
up with the latest news.
In the Anti-Defamation League’s February 1st
letter, they told Matt Gaetz that Chuck Johnson owned the WeSearchR
crowdfunding website for the Alt Right and neo-Nazis. And that Johnson had raised over $150,000 for neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin and stood to profit $22,000from that fundraising. Thus, Johnson’s claim that this is all a joke for the
Lulz is not true.
Had Gaetz done any, any research after February 1st,
he would have found on the ADL’s own website—after all, he would not have to
look very hard—a report, “Funding Hate,” which detailed Johnson’s fundraisingfor the neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin.
And, had Gaetz any moral inclination to know more about
Andrew Anglin—to pull the string, if you will, he would have found the article,
“The Making of American Nazi” in the December 2017 issue of The Atlantic.
And there he would discovered that the neo-Nazi Johnson was
raising funds for wanted a race war in America against “Jews, blacks, Muslims,
Hispanics, women, liberals, [and] journalists.”
In that ghastly race war, Anglin believe that “‘you are
either going to be stacking or getting stacked.’”
And, if he had done "any due diligence," he would also discovered that Johnson's WeSearchR fundraising site was in March 2017 raising money from neo-Nazis to defend the man who had attacked journalist Kurt Eichenwald with a pulsating gif on Twitter--knowing that Eichenwald suffered from epilepsy.
Now, Matt Gaetz wants to have it both ways. He wants to say,
on the one hand, these are not my beliefs. On the other hand, he has not
stopped defending and fundraising with Chuck Johnson who does hold these beliefs.
These beliefs are hateful. They are disgusting. They are
directed against your constituents you claim to represent.
And yet Matt Gaetz has not only not repudiated Chuck
Johnson, as the ADL requested, he has continued his deep political association
with Chuck Johnson.
Just under 12 days after the Anti-Defamation League and the
Republican Jewish Coalition told Matt Gaetz directly that Chuck Johnson was a
Holocaust denier, the Jewish Telegraph Agency, the Jewish Chronicle, and the
Haaretz newspaper in Israel all demanded that Gaetz sever ties with Chuck
Johnson.
Gaetz ignored them.
Not only did Matt Gaetz ignore the mountain of evidence
against Chuck Johnson. Not only did he ignore respectful requests to disassociate
himself from Chuck Johnson.
No, Matt Gaetz snuck off to a yacht in California to raisefunds for his re-election campaign with Holocaust denier Chuck Johnson and
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, “Putin’s favorite congressman.”
The only logical conclusion the voters of Florida’s First
Congressional District can reach is that Congressman Gaetz does not believe any of the
evidence. None
of the evidence.
It proves that while Matt Gaetz may not have an “ideological
purity test,” he also does not have a moral test. There is no behavior from a
Holocaust denying white supremacist too low for Matt Gaetz to accept.
You can say that before January 31st that Gaetz
was rushed. That Gaetz did not bother to do look into Johnson’s background. You
can say that he looked into it, but did not really see a problem.
But, after February 1st, when the Anti-Defamation
League and the Republican Jewish Coalition point out that evidence, all of Matt
Gaetz’s excuses evaporate. Gaetz had months to talk to the ADL and the RJC and
other organizations. He could have consulted with experts.
Whatever Gaetz did, one thing is clear. He has no
ideological or moral problem doing business with a white supremacist and
Holocaust denier.
That is just who Matt Gaetz is.
If not before January 31st, but certainly
afterwards, a few mouse clicks would reveal Chuck Johnson to be a racist white
supremacist.
In these tweets from April and May 2015, Johnson uses theN-word over and over and over again. What educated man does that? What educated
man tolerates that?
And probably because Matt Gaetz did not want to find out
anything about Chuck Johnson, he missed Johnson talking on a white nationalist
Internet talk show explaining why he believed that all African Americans are “dumb.”
Matt Gaetz, whose congressional district includes a
significant portion of African Americans, has no ideological or moral troubles
associating with and fund raising with a white supremacist.
In a previous video on Matt Gaetz and his fanatical
obsession with the “deep state,” I showed you how he dismissed the sexual
assault or sexual abuse claims of several male wrestlers from Ohio State
University as the product of a “deep state” conspiracy.
Chuck Johnson, dispenses with the “deep state” conspiracy.
Circumstantial evidence suggests he was linked to the effort to brand analleged victim of anal rape at Columbia University of being a “liar.” Though
the case is complicated and no rape charges were brought by the university,
that does not mean she was a “liar” or had engaged in a “hoax.”
Before that, Johnson was directly responsible for outing and
smearing the wrong woman at the University of Virginia in another complicated
rape story. Johnson apparently thought the woman was a “‘rape-obsessed’ liar,”
according to a Jezebel report.
The New York Times reported in December 2014 that Johnson“offered money for photos of [then] Senator Thad Cochran’s wife in her nursinghome bed. The person responsible for taking the picture went to jail.
The New York Times described his style of journalism as
essentially finding a target, designating the target, and then goading the
Twitter mob to swarm and attack. As the Times put it, “Much of what he publishes is either wrong or
tasteless, but that matters little to Mr. Johnson or his
audience, which responds by forming mobs on Twitter or using the personal information to put fake ads onCraigslist to chase after the targets he points to.
And, Johnson’s WeSearchR raised “bounty” funds for a project
to find “evidence of adultery by UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.”
In short, Johnson has a complicated history of allegedly attacking
women, for no apparent reason, other than they may annoy him or there is some
unknown political gain to be had.
But, Matt Gaetz has no moral problem associating with a Holocaust-denying,
white supremacist who attacks women.
CONCLUSION
When you look at much of the evidence available to Matt
Gaetz well before January 31st and you look at all the evidence
after that date, it is clear that the reason Matt Gaetz did not do his proper
due diligence is because he has no moral or ideological tests with whom he does
business with.
He only has a political test which is what is good for Matt
Gaetz.
Matt Gaetz will ignore easily available facts and credible
sources. He will repeatedly defend a self-confessed Holocaust denier. He will
ignored evidence of this Holocaust denier raising funds for a vile neo-Nazi who
wants to stack bodies in an American race war. He will ignore evidence that the
man is a white supremacist who claimed all African Americans are “dumb” and who
will for a laugh use the N-word. And he will ignore evidence that the same man
smears women for no reason.
Matt Gaetz has shown that in this simple case—evidence from
credible sources, requests from credible sources not to associate with a known
Holocaust denier—that Matt Gaetz will do whatever it takes to promote Matt
Gaetz’s political future.
Matt Gaetz has shown in this simple case that he cannot
collect facts. He cannot assess them. He cannot make correct moral judgments.
Can you really trust Matt Gaetz to make sound, moral
judgments when the issues are more complicated, sophisticated, and complex?
Do you really want to trust the future of your children,
your family, your community, and our country to this man?
UPDATE: NOVEMBER 12, 2018
The original article deliberately left out some details that require connecting the dots with dotted lines. For example, when did Matt Gaetz really meet Chuck Johnson? Almost certainly, he did not meet Johnson just before the State of the Union address by Trump. That claim is ridiculous. Second, what was Gaetz's real interest in Johnson? And third, what else was Johnson involved in that bolsters the view that Johnson is potentially Gaetz's gateway to the neo-Nazi underworld.
On January 31, Gaetz told the Daily Beast that "he and Johnson had no pre-existing relationship'" and that when Johnson just "'showed up at my office'" Gaetz gave him a coveted ticket to the State of the Union address for that night. That is not only not believable, but Johnson told the Daily Beast in the same article a completely different version of the truth. According to the Daily Beast, "he said he and Gaetz were introduced by another member of Congress....Johnson said he was invited by several members of Congress but 'took Gaetz’s invitation' as 'he's into stuff on the issues that I care about.'"
While Johnson did not divulge which member of Congress introduced Gaetz and Johnson, the most likely guess is Putin's favorite (now ex-) Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. In a now deleted June 21, 2018, Facebook post, Johnson described Rohrabacher as "'my friend and adopted congressman,'" according to Mother Jones magazine.
In addition, the Los Angeles Times reported in August 2017 that Johnson had arranged for Rohrabacher to meet Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in London in the Ecuadorian embassy where he has been hiding since 2012. The U.S. Intelligence Community Assessment released in January 2017, stated, "We assess with high confidence that the GRU used the Guccifer 2.0 persona, DCLeaks.com, and WikiLeaks to release US victim data obtained in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets."
In October 2017, Rohrabacher invited Johnson to a meeting on Capitol Hill with Senator Rand Paul.
But, that was not Johnson's only affinity with the Russian attack on the 2016 presidential election.
According to a Politico report, Johnson had recommend the black hat, neo-Nazi hacker Andrew Auernheimer, aka "Weev," to the late Peter Green, the 81-year old Republican who was attempting to contact Russians in order to acquire Hillary Clinton's 33,000 missing emails. Green committed suicide almost immediately after divulging his activities to the Wall Street Journal.
Whatever Johnson's level of information regarding individuals or activities surrounding the Russian attack, the Senate Intelligence Committee wanted to interview Johnson, according to a Daily Caller report.
In October 2015, Johnson and Weev teamed up to release videos that had been secretly filmed by operatives for the Center for Medical Progress in a disinformation campaign against Planned Parenthood.
Johnson, in other words, has financial and/or operational links with neo-Nazis.
Thus, the available information leads us to tentatively answer the three unanswered questions, leaving room for some conjecture.
When did Matt Gaetz meet Chuck Johnson?
Most likely in October 2017 when Rohrabacher brought Johnson to a meeting with Senator Rand Paul. This October meeting came after the August 2017 meeting in which Johnson and Rohrabacher met Assange in London. We cannot be sure. But, we can be certain that Gaetz met Johnson before January 31, 2018, even if we cannot be certain when it was. Gaetz's cover story is simply not believable.
Why then and why Johnson? Because Gaetz has been obsessed with using the "deep state" conspiracy theory to undermine the Mueller investigation into the Russian attack and any links the Trump campaign may have had to the Russian attack.
Johnson's level of information, even if he had only peripheral awareness, would have been of interest to Gaetz. Gaetz has proven that the lack of empirical evidence is no barrier to him fervently believing something is true. For Gaetz, something is true if it advances his political and personal agendas. And those twin agendas line up perfectly with Trump's agenda to derail the Mueller investigation.
What Gaetz wants his constitutents to believe is that on the day of the State of the Union address some guy came waltzing into his office off the street, dazzled him with witty word play, and Gaetz offered him a ticket. That was Gaetz's story at 1247 hours on January 31, 2018. Gaetz's story is so patently absurd that only Gaetz could have thought it up and believed it credible. But, at 1844 hours on January 31, 2018, Gaetz claimed "'I had no idea who he was'" and "'another member [of Congress] sent Chuck to me.'" That is when Gaetz was dazzled by Johnson's eloquence. Both versions are bull.
Gaetz would like his constituents to believe that Johnson's peripheral knowledge about an effort to obtain Clinton's missing emails; his close, working relationships with both Julian Assange and Dana Rohrabacher; and, Johnson's hostile trolling of liberals were unknown to Gaetz.
And, Gaetz wants his constitutents to know that not only did Gaetz not know that Johnson was a Holocaust denier, a white supremacist, and a fundraiser for a neo-Nazi advocate for a future American race war, but that between January 31, 2018, and July 20, 2018, Gaetz either did not bother to find out, or, if he found that information, that it did not matter to him because according to Gaetz, "'I don't have an ideological purity test.'"
What is interesting, though, is that through Johnson, and perhaps unknown others, Gaetz has his own private entre into the neo-Nazi underworld.
This is the current state of the Republican Party. Members of Congress like Matt Gaetz and Steven King can have links, direct or indirect, to neo-Nazis and nobody cares in the Republican Party's leadership.
