Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Fake Victory, Iranian Shadow Fleet Lie Exposed plus FBI Expands Probe into Scientist Deaths

Transcript

Fake Victory, Iranian Shadow Fleet Lie Exposed plus FBI Expands Probe into Scientist Deaths · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Let's start with an update on what's going on in Iran.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: We are now learning that there will be no Iran
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: delegation that will be sent to the US talks, and JD.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Vance did not make the trip. Now still in Washington,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: d C. The ceasefire is about to expire. And Donald
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Trump put it this way, he expects a deal to
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: get done, a great deal, but if it doesn't, the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: bombing will continue. President Trump, saying he wants to reach
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: that deal with Iran in the negotiations end the war
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday, but said he is prepared to use force
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: if they refuse to negotiate. Now, the two week ceasefire
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: that Trump agreed to expires on Wednesday, with the straight
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: up removes remaining a centerpiece of the conflict between the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: United States of America and Iran. Iranan negotiators have agreed
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: to meet with Vice President Jady Vans in Pakistan to
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: discuss the potential peace agreement. Vance was leaving for Pakistan
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday, saying what do I think we're going to
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: end up with as a great deal? Trump said an
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: interview on CNBC, I think they have no choice. We've
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: taken out their navy, We've taken out their air force.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: We've taken out their leaders. Frankly, it is regime change,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: no matter what you want to call it, which is
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: not something I said I was going to do. But
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: I've done indirectly, maybe, but I've done it. Trump said
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the United States blockade of the straight of war moves
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: has been a tremendous success, adding that we totally control
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: the strait.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: I want to play for you what the President had
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: to say on CNBC. Obviously, he called in and it
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: was important he wanted the world to know where his
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: mindset was. Before I get to that, I want to
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• 3:20
  Speaker 1: switch today. All right, take a listen to President Trump
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: as he pushes a Ran to swiftly make a long
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: term deal or the US will resume bombing the present's
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: words on CNBC, we are.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: We've seen one hundred days of the largest protests in
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: Iran since the revolution in nineteen seventy nine, and.
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: I know how much.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: You respect and admire and are concerned with the Iranian
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: people themselves. And this is I think a large degree
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: one of the reasons you decided to embark on this,
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: on this whole thing, maybe among other things. But the
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: timing was right. If we get close in negotiations right now,
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: but the deadline for the cease fires tomorrow, if it
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: looks like things are progressing, will you not necessarily extend
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: it to the definitive amount of time, but will you
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: let it keep going if there's a progress in the
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: talks before taking.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't want to do that.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: We don't have that much time because by the time
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: both parties get there is you know, they just got
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: the okay to go forward, which I do they were
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: going to do anyway. I mean, I don't think that
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: in choice they have to negotiate. And you know, the
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: one thing I'll say is that Iran can get themselves
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: at a very good footing. If they make a deal,
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: they can make themselves into a strong nation again, a
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: wonderful nation again. They have incredible people, but they seem
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: to be, you know, bloodthirsty.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: They're bled by some very very unfortunately tough people. And
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: I don't mean tough in a good way.
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: I think it's very negative for the country because we're
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: much tougher than they are.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Like not even close.
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: But they have to use reason and they have to
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: use common sense, and they can get themselves into a
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: great position to make themselves into a great country, but
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: a legitimate country, not a country based on death and hora.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: I think regimes only respond to certain things, and I
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: understand your threats to bomb the bridges in the electric grid,
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: but I don't think the regime cares about the people
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: of Iran. And if you did that, I'm sure it's
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: the last thing you'd probably want to do, but it
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: would hurt at least some of the people that we
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: care about and why we embarked on this in the
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: first place, So that would be I'm sure a last
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: resort for you.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: It's not my.
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: Choice, but it will also hit them. It'll hurt them militarily.
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: They use the bridges for their.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Weapons, for their missile movements.
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: You know, they're trying to move the missiles because we've
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: obliterated most of their missiles, and they're trying to move
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: their missiles around even during the cease fire, which I
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: think was a good thing. Because we're totally loaded up.
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: We have so much, Amma, we have so much of
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: everything that we've like much much more powerful than it
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: was four or five weeks ago. So we've used this
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: to restock. And they probably have done a little bit
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: of restock.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: And we caught a.
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: Ship yesterday that had some things on it which wasn't
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: very nice. A gift from China. Perhaps, I don't know,
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: but I'm a little surprised, but because I have a
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: very good relationship and I thought I had an understanding
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: with President She But that's all right, that's the way
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: war goes, right.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: But I will tell you.
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: That we have Our military is incredible. What we've done,
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: I mean, think of it. In the first three days,
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: we took out their entire navy one hundred and fifty
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: nine ships, one hundred and fifty nine ships, and wiped
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: out their air force, wiped out their anti aircraft craft.
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: All of their anti aircraft apparatus is all gone, all
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: of their radar is gone. Their leaders are gone, you know,
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: their leaders are gone. The whole thing is gone. And frankly,
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: this should have been done a long time ago. Would
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: have been a lot easier because they were a lot
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: less lethal a long time ago.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Because you're saying that you need a at least the
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: prospects for a signed deal today and tomorrow, or else
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: you would resume bombing Iran.
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: Well, I expect to be bombing because I think that's
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: a better attitude to go in with.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: But we're ready to go. I mean, the military is
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: rare and to go. They are absolutely incredible. And I
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: built the military my first term. I'm using it now.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: The military when I took it over from.
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: Barack Hussein Obama, they had just it was so depleted,
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: so sad.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: And I built it on my first term.
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: You remember those big numbers you talked to me about
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: it once. That's a lot of money for a military.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: I built it.
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: We did a great job with our military, and we're
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: using it now and rebuilding it too. We've done a
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: lot of rebuilding also in my first year of the
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: second term. But we have a tremendous.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Were the most powerful military in the world. Everybody knows it.
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: Now.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: There's a couple of things here that we need seem
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: to clarify so that you understand exactly how much misinformation
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: is getting out there. Number One, there's been a report
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: that's been going around saying that Iran is celebrating because
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: twenty six Iranian ships apparently slipped past the US blockade.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: We're now being told, Yeah, I guess what, that's a lie.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: It's misinformation. It's not true.
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: Now. Of course, the media ran with this story.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Fox News Channel actually had to well correct the story
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: and they put it out on TV.
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: Hey, Trey, could you give me an idea are we
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: letting ships through?
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: Because we've seen different reports.
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: First, nobody's getting through, and we borded a ship that
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: tried to get through. Do you have any reporting that
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: talks about what's.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: Really happening in the Strait.
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: The United States is allowing any vessels who are passing
• 8:50
  Speaker 6: through this area to make their way to their final destination,
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: as long as they're not coming from Iranian ports.
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: There were some reports overnight.
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: Indicating that twenty six vessels from on Shadow Fleet We're
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: able to make it past the US blockade. There is
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: no evidence of that, and despite what one Democratic senator
• 9:07
  Speaker 6: talked about, there is a concerted effort by the United
• 9:10
  Speaker 6: States to ensure that any vessels that are coming from
• 9:13
  Speaker 6: Iranian ports are turned around or seized. As we saw
• 9:16
  Speaker 6: with that one cargo ship over the weekend.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: So Trey, that was just Iranian propaganda, right.
• 9:21
  Speaker 6: Yes, absolutely, And the shadow fleet that the senator is
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: talking about is used to directly fund Iranian proxies across
• 9:28
  Speaker 6: the Middle East, including Hamas, the Hutis, and Hesbala, who
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: are directly responsible for killing US citizens. And so the
• 9:35
  Speaker 6: Shadow Fleet is a very serious problem. It is not
• 9:38
  Speaker 6: getting past the US blockade according to all reports and
• 9:41
  Speaker 6: information that we have from the region.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: But it is a very serious.
• 9:44
  Speaker 6: Issue that the US Navy says they will crack down on,
• 9:47
  Speaker 6: not just in the Persian Gulf, but also around the world,
• 9:50
  Speaker 6: including in the Indo Pacific.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Now you may have heard there he mentioned that a senator,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: it is a Democrat by the name of Chris Murphy,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: was lebrating the fact that at least twenty six Iranian
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Shadow Fleet vessels bypassed the US blockade. Now how do
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: we know that he was actually celebrating this his own
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Twitter account. He put up the report that said that
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: these twenty six a Indian ships passed by America snuck out,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: and he tweeted it by saying, awesome, you literally have
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: a democrat US Center openly rooting for the terrorist regime
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: in Iran to defeat the United States of America in battle. Now,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: every Democrat on Capitol Hill ought to be hounded today
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: by every reporter to answer for this lunatic Democratic center
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: by the name of Chris Murphy from Connecticut. But to
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: be clear, no one is going to actually do that today.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: One thing that is clear, the presence willing to change
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: and move is fast as they need to if the
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: President needs to go or the Vice President needs to
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: go to get a deal done. The President's willing to talk,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: but he's not going to be screwed around with. And
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: that's exactly why the ceasefire may end with more bombing
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: from America. I want to give you an update on
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: a story we talked about several days ago, and that
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: is there are some missing US scientists. Now, this is
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: a story that has taken on a life of its
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: own as many on the Internet are freaking out and
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: conspiracy theories are running rampant. This doesn't mean that there
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: may not actually be some truth to this story. In general,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: we now are learning that the FBI is leading the
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: investigation into the deaths or disappearances of scientists and staffers
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: who worked at sensitive nuclear or space technology laboratories. Federal
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: authorities have stepped in to determine whether any connections exist
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: among at least ten different cases now involving individuals that
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: are directly tied to what is described as high level
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: res search facilities.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: These facilities include places like NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: the Loews Alamos National Laboratory. In a statement, the FBI
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: confirmed that it is spearheading the effort in coordination with
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: the Department of Energy, the Department of War and State,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: as well as local law enforcement agencies. All this coming
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: now from CBS News Now This smooth signals a heightened
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: federal response after growing concerns over a pattern that some
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: officials have described as eyebrow raising. President Donald Trump has
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: also weighed in on this, calling the situation pretty serious
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: stuff and indicating the administration as monitoring developments. Trump also
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: expressed hope that the cases aren't coincidental, but emphasized the
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: need for answers, noting that some of them were very
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: important people, referring to the scientists. The incident, which spans
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: now several years, includes a mix of disappearances, homicides, and
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: then unexplained deaths. Among the most high profile cases is
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: the disappearance of a retired Air Force Major General William
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Neil McCaslin in New Mexico earlier this year. Mcastlin, who
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: previously led the airport's research laboratory, vanished after leaving his
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: home without his phone or personal devices, sparking major speculation online.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Other cases also include a NASA affiliated aerospace engineer who
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: disappeared while hiking in California, and multiple deaths involving scientists
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: in Massachusetts and California to add.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: On to the list.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Now, look, some of these cases of clear explanation, such
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: as criminal acts and personal circumstances, and that's where the
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: Internet doesn't want to look at those actual facts. Now
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: there is truth that some of these are unresolved. Despite
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: all the online speculation, experts now and investigators have cautioned
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: against jumping to any conclusions. Officials familiar with the cases
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: say there is currently no confirmly connecting any of these incidences,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: and some point to the large workforce across these facilities
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: as a factor, saying, quote, people do just die is
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: what one former Energy Department official noted, citing health issues, accidents,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: and other causes. Still, there is enough concern about potential
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: foreign involvement that now some Republican lawmakers have even suggested
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: adversaries such as China, Russia, or ran could see value
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: in targeting US scientific expertise, particularly amid heightened global tensions
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: and the ongoing con in Iran Representative Eric Burlson, a Republican,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: said he would not be surprised if foreign actors were involved,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: noting that several of the individuals worked on sense of
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: national security projects.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: The FBI expanded.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Role follows increased public attention fueled in part by the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: social media speculation, and then demands for transparency.
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: So where are we now well?
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: The House Oversight Committee has now launched its own probe,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: seeking briefings from multiple federal agencies. At the same time,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: agencies such as NASA have also said that there is
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: no evidence in their mind of national security threat tied
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: to the cases, Underscoring the uncertainties surrounding all of this,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: and as investigators continue their work, one thing is clear
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: that Trump administration is pledging what they described as a
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: thorough review, and officials are promising that no stonequote unquote
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: will be unturned. The FBI says they are determined to
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: check and see if the incidents are isolated. Tragedies are
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: part of a bigger and broader concern from foreign countries
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: that may be trying to take out our scientists or
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: our leaders in multiple different sectors. That's the reason why
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: the President said this is worth looking at. We've got
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: major breaking news. The Department of Justice has now announced
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: that the far left Southern Poverty Law Center was charged
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: with fraud and money laundering involving violent extremists groups quote unquote.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: In a press release from the Office of Public Affairs
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: for the DOJ, it was revealed that the Southern Poverty
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Law Center was charged by an Alabama grand jury with
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: eleven counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. According
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: to the press release, an indictment says that starting in
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties, the Southern Poverty Law Center began operating
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: a covert network of individuals who were either associated with
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: violent and extremist groups such as the klu Klux Klan.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: To be clear, the indictment is saying that the Southern
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Poverty Law Center was associated with violent and extremist groups,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: including the klu Klux Klan.
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: This is incredible now.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: According to the indictment, starting in the nineteen eighties, the
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Southern Property Law Center began operating a covert network of
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: individuals who were either associated with violent and extremist groups
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: such as the klu Klux Klan or who had infiltrated
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: violent extremist groups at the Southern Poverty Law Center's direction. Now,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: unbeknownst to the donors, some of their donated money was
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: being used to fund the leaders and organizers of racist
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: groups at the same time that the Southern Poverty Law
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Center was denouncing the same groups on its own website.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: That's just stealing money, folks. If you're giving money to the
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: klu Klux Klan while claiming you're fighting the klu Klux Klan,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: that's a massive fraud.
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: Now.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: The Southern Poverty Law Center also allegedly funneled more than
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: three million dollars donated funds to individuals who were associated
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: with groups such as the National Socialist Movement, the United
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Clans of America, and the Aaryan Nations affiliated Sadistic Soul's
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Motorcycle Club. All of this between twenty fourteen and twenty
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: twenty three. According to the Press Relief Now, the Acting
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that the
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Southern Poverty Law Center is manufacturing racism to justify its
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: existence as an organization, then saying this quote using donor
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: money to allegedly profit off clansmen cannot go unchecked. In
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: a post on as, the Federal Bureau of Investigations Director
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Casptel shared that he and Blanche were announcing an eleven
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: count indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center this evening.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Blanche and I are announcing it against the Southern Poverty
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Law Center. Charges include wire fraud, false statements to a
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: The FBI director continued in a statement on x saying
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: the Southern Poverty Law Center allegedly engaged in a massive
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: fraud operation to deceive their donors, enrich themselves, and hide
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: their deceptive operations from the public. They lied to their
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: donors vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: even utilizing the funds to have these groups facilitate the
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: commission of state and federal crimes that is illegal, and
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: this is an ongoing investigation against all individuals involved. Now, Casperttel,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: after putting that out, also had a press conference of
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: the Department of Justice, and here is what he had
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: to say.
• 20:40
  Speaker 7: We're here today is to announce the what the General
• 20:43
  Speaker 7: just told you. The Southern Property Law Center, in a
• 20:47
  Speaker 7: massive sweeping indictment, has been charged with allegations of fraud
• 20:51
  Speaker 7: and using a banking system to perpetrate that fraud. I
• 20:55
  Speaker 7: just want to talk about a couple of brief things here.
• 20:58
  Speaker 7: The Southern Property Law Center themselves advertise to raise money
• 21:02
  Speaker 7: to dismantle violent extremist groups for a period of at
• 21:06
  Speaker 7: least a decade. They use their donor network to raise
• 21:09
  Speaker 7: money to purportedly dismantle violent extremist groups. However, the SPLC,
• 21:16
  Speaker 7: the Southern Property Law Center used the money they raised
• 21:19
  Speaker 7: from their donor network to actually pay the leadership of
• 21:23
  Speaker 7: these very groups. I just want to say that again,
• 21:26
  Speaker 7: they use the fraudulently raised money by lying to their
• 21:29
  Speaker 7: donor network thousands of Americans to go ahead and actually
• 21:33
  Speaker 7: pay the leadership of these supposed violent extremist groups. The groups,
• 21:39
  Speaker 7: as the general laid out, include the Ku Klux Klan,
• 21:42
  Speaker 7: the United Clans of America Unite to Write National Alliance,
• 21:48
  Speaker 7: the National Socialist Movement, the Aryan Nation Motorcycle Club, and
• 21:52
  Speaker 7: the National Socialist Party of America, and also the American Front.
• 21:57
  Speaker 7: In at least one of these matters, our investigation revealed
• 22:01
  Speaker 7: that funds were used to facilitate the commission of further
• 22:05
  Speaker 7: state and federal offenses, totaling over three million dollars. Furthermore,
• 22:11
  Speaker 7: our investigation revealed that the Southern Poverty Law Center, on
• 22:14
  Speaker 7: top of perpetuating this widespread, decade long, multi million dollar fraud,
• 22:21
  Speaker 7: conducted more criminal activity. They attempted to hide their criminal
• 22:27
  Speaker 7: activity from our financial banking network. They set up shell
• 22:31
  Speaker 7: companies and entities around America so that the financial institutions
• 22:35
  Speaker 7: that we rely on as everyday Americans were deceived in
• 22:38
  Speaker 7: believing that money was not coming from the Southern Poverty
• 22:41
  Speaker 7: Law Center in the perpetration of this scheme and fraud,
• 22:44
  Speaker 7: but rather fictitious entities they stood up to perpetuate this
• 22:47
  Speaker 7: ongoing fraud. This is a serious and egregious violation of
• 22:52
  Speaker 7: a group that purported to dismantle violent extremists groups, but
• 22:56
  Speaker 7: in turn actually only fueled the hatred. This is an
• 23:00
  Speaker 7: important case brought by the president. By President Trump's administration.
• 23:03
  Speaker 7: We're thankful for the present, for his leadership and funding
• 23:06
  Speaker 7: of not just the FBI and DOJ, but his commitment
• 23:09
  Speaker 7: to go out there and wipe out fraud and conspiracy
• 23:11
  Speaker 7: and waste and abuse wherever it occurs, including the Southern
• 23:15
  Speaker 7: Poverty Law Center. Even though this money was made to
• 23:18
  Speaker 7: appear to be coming from legitimate people and legitimate entities,
• 23:23
  Speaker 7: we at the FBI, with our great partners at the
• 23:26
  Speaker 7: Department of Justice and in the State of Alabama, were
• 23:28
  Speaker 7: able to comb through a decade worth of material, a
• 23:31
  Speaker 7: scheme that took a decade to build, so that we
• 23:34
  Speaker 7: were able to follow the money because money never lies,
• 23:38
  Speaker 7: and they got caught. As the Attorney General said, these
• 23:41
  Speaker 7: charges are varying, they are widespread and wide ranging, and
• 23:45
  Speaker 7: this investigation is very much ongoing.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: Today.
• 23:48
  Speaker 7: We're here to announce the charges of the Southern Poverty
• 23:51
  Speaker 7: Law Center and this investigation and the individuals who were
• 23:53
  Speaker 7: responsible will be brought to justice.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: The most shocking thing about what Cashpottel said, there is
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: not not only did they secretly funnel three million in
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: donor funds to violent races extremist groups including literally the
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: klu Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party, the Area Nation,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: the United Clans of America, Unite the Right, National Alliance,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: National Socialist Movement, Sadistic Souls, Motorcycle Club, and America Front,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: just to name a few. But they knew what they
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: were doing. And how do you know that? Because to
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: hide the payments, the Southern Poverty Law Center allegedly open
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: bank accounts under fictitious entities, as it was described there
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: in the press conference.
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: Why would you do that? One reason?
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: You want to conceal the source and control of the
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: donor funds. And that's what they did, and per the indictment,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: the Southern Poverty Law Center Field source was a member
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: of the online leadership chat group that planned the twenty
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: sevent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. They made racist
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: postings under Southern Poverty Law centered supervision and helped coordinate
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: transportation to that event. The FBI director sang, not only
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: do they lie their donors vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: very extremist groups, even utilizing the funds to have these
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: groups facilitate the Commission of State and Federal Crimes Todd
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Blanche in the indictment, he had this to say at
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: the Department of Justice.
• 25:38
  Speaker 8: Now, as the indictment lays out, after SBLC paid members
• 25:43
  Speaker 8: of these extremist groups, it created work product that reported
• 25:47
  Speaker 8: on these activities that the members participated in or contributed to.
• 25:52
  Speaker 8: And to that end, it was doing the exact opposite
• 25:54
  Speaker 8: of what it's told its donors. It was doing not
• 25:59
  Speaker 8: dismantling extremeans, but funding it. To carry out this scheme,
• 26:03
  Speaker 8: SPLC created bank accounts in the name of at least
• 26:07
  Speaker 8: five completely fictitious organizations that had no bona fide employees
• 26:12
  Speaker 8: or legitimate business purpose. The money was passed from SPLC
• 26:18
  Speaker 8: to one sham account, to a second sham account, and
• 26:20
  Speaker 8: then loaded onto prepaid cards to give to the members
• 26:23
  Speaker 8: of the extremist groups. This was designed to shield the
• 26:27
  Speaker 8: source of those funds, and because of this, SPLC is
• 26:31
  Speaker 8: also charged with one count, as I said earlier, of
• 26:34
  Speaker 8: conspiracy to commit money laundering. In conclusion, I want to
• 26:38
  Speaker 8: thank the acting US Attorney in the middle disc of Alabama,
• 26:42
  Speaker 8: Kevin Davidson, who's in his district right now and not
• 26:45
  Speaker 8: able to be with us for bringing this important case,
• 26:48
  Speaker 8: along with the FBI team in Alabama for their hard
• 26:52
  Speaker 8: work during this investigation. This investigation is ongoing.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: This is truly a bombshell and it'll be very interesting
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: to see what else comes out in this ongoing investigation.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: But one thing that is for sure, the people that
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: are doing things like this, you're on notice because the
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Trump administration and the men and women in charge of
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: the DOJ and the FBI, they're doing their job rooting
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: out this type of corruption.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: Well, keep following this story.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: I can promise you that we've got a lot more
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: that's going to happen the days ahead, So make sure
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: you don't forget. Grab our podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcasts
• 27:32
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• 27:38
  Speaker 1: the breaking news