"Congress needs to appoint a Church-style committee or commission to reform the bureau. I’m upset by a longstanding pattern of incompetence tinged by what feels like political bias." - Bret Stephens
Bret: The investigation of Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, which looks like it’s about to fall apart, is an F.B.I. disgrace for the ages. It should force heads to roll. And
Congress needs to appoint a Church-style committee or commission to reform the bureau.
After the Ted Stevens fiasco, James Comey’s disastrous interventions with Hillary Clinton’s emails, and the bureau misrepresenting facts to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court as part of its investigation of Trump and Russia, something dramatic has to change to save the F.B.I. from continuing to lose public trust.
Gail: Are you upset by the investigation or the fact that the investigation is failing?
Bret: I’m upset by a longstanding pattern of incompetence tinged by what feels like political bias. I don’t like Gaetz’s politics or persona any more than you do. But what we seem to have here is a high-profile politician being convicted in the court of public opinion of some of the most heinous behavior imaginable — trafficking a minor for sex — until the Justice Department realizes two years late that its case has fallen apart. We have a presumption of innocence in this country because we tend to err the most when we assume the worst about the people we like the least.
Gail: Nothing nobler than ranting about a basic moral principle on behalf of a deeply unattractive victim.
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Gail Collins: Bret, which do you think is more of a threat to Donald Trump’s political future, the classified document drama at Mar-a-Lago or the legal challenge to his businesses in New York?
Bret Stephens: Gail, I suspect the most serious threats to Trump’s future, political or otherwise, are Big Macs and KFC buckets. Otherwise, I fear the various efforts to put the 45th president out of business or in prison make it considerably more likely that he’ll wind up in the White House as the 47th president. How about you?
Gail: Sigh. You’re probably right but I’m still sorta hoping New York’s attorney general can hit him in the pocketbook. He’s super vulnerable when it comes to his shady finances — I’m even surprised he can find lawyers who have confidence they’ll keep being paid.
Bret: No doubt the Trump Organization was run with the kind of fierce moral and financial rectitude you’d expect if Elizabeth Holmes had been put in charge of Enron. But the essential currency of Trumpism is drama, and what the New York and U.S. attorneys general have done is inject a whole lot more of it into Trump’s accounts.
Gail: I don’t think the news that Letitia James accused him of fudging his financial statements will upset the base — they’ve always known this is a guy who responded to the World Trade Center terror attack by bragging that his tower was now the highest building in Lower Manhattan.
Bret: A graceless building, by the way, far surpassed by the Chrysler Building, for those who care about architectural rivalries.
Gail: Maybe I need to stop obsessing about this and take a look at the rest of the public world. Anything got your attention in particular?
Bret: Am I allowed a rant?
Gail: Bret, rants are … what we do.
Bret: The investigation of Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, which looks like it’s about to fall apart, is an F.B.I. disgrace for the ages. It should force heads to roll. And Congress needs to appoint a Church-style committee or commission to reform the bureau. After the Ted Stevens fiasco, James Comey’s disastrous interventions with Hillary Clinton’s emails, and the bureau misrepresenting facts to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court as part of its investigation of Trump and Russia, something dramatic has to change to save the F.B.I. from continuing to lose public trust.
Gail: Are you upset by the investigation or the fact that the investigation is failing?
Bret: I’m upset by a longstanding pattern of incompetence tinged by what feels like political bias. I don’t like Gaetz’s politics or persona any more than you do. But what we seem to have here is a high-profile politician being convicted in the court of public opinion of some of the most heinous behavior imaginable — trafficking a minor for sex — until the Justice Department realizes two years late that its case has fallen apart. We have a presumption of innocence in this country because we tend to err the most when we assume the worst about the people we like the least.
Gail: Nothing nobler than ranting about a basic moral principle on behalf of a deeply unattractive victim.
Bret: He’s the yang to Lauren Boebert’s yin. But no American deserves to be smeared this way.
Gail: While we’re on the general subject of crime, let’s talk bail reform. Specifically, New York’s new system, under which a judge basically lets out arrestees not accused of violent felonies. New info suggests this may be increasing crime. But I’m sticking with my support for the concept. Suspects who haven’t yet been tried shouldn’t get different treatment based on their ability to come up with bail.
Your turn …
Bret: New York’s bail reform laws are egregious because we’re now the only state that forbids judges from considering the potential danger of a given suspect. It leads to crazy outcomes, like the guy who was charged with the attempted stabbing of Representative Lee Zeldin at a campaign stop in July and was released hours later.
Another problem is that too many cities effectively decriminalized misdemeanors like shoplifting and have given up prosecuting a lot of felonies, which tends to encourage an anything-goes mentality among the criminally minded. We really need a new approach to crime, of the kind that Joe Biden and Bill Clinton pushed back in the early 1990s, when the Democrats finally became determined to be a law-and-order party again.
Gail: Biden’s generally held to a middle course that doesn’t drive anybody totally crazy. That’s why he got elected, after all. How would you say he’s doing these days?
Bret: I’m giving him full marks on supporting Ukraine. And I know Democrats have this whole “Dark Brandon” thing given Biden’s legislative victories, along with the chance that Democrats might hold the Senate thanks to bad Republican candidates. But I still don’t see things going well. Food prices keep going up-up-up and we’re heading for a bad-bad-bad recession.
You?
Gail: Going for Not At All Bad. Otherwise known as N.A.A.B.
Bret: I’m approaching the point of T.O.T.W.I.T.: The Only Thing Worse Is Trump.
Gail: You’re way off.
Biden may not have mobilized Congress the way we hoped, but he’s gotten quite a bit done — from funding the ever-popular infrastructure programs to reducing health care costs for the working and middle classes to finally, finally giving the Internal Revenue Service some funds to do its work more efficiently.
But he lost you after infrastructure, right?
Bret: He’s governed so much further to the left than I would have liked. Change of subject: What governor’s races are you following?
Gail: It’s always a lot harder to focus on other states’ governors than the senators but I gotta admit this year I’m hooked on …
Well, let’s start with one we’re going to disagree about. I’m guessing there’s no way you could be rooting for Beto O’Rourke in Texas, right?
Bret: Ah, no, except as a performance artist. When are Texas Democrats going to nominate a centrist who stands a modest chance of winning a statewide race?
What about the New York race? I don’t suppose you could have warm feelings for Lee Zeldin, could you?
Gail: Well, to get Zeldin as their gubernatorial nominee, New York Republicans passed up a bid by Rudy’s son, Andrew Giuliani, so I’d definitely put Zeldin in the Could Be Worse category.
Bret: Kathy Hochul’s main achievement to date has been to get taxpayers to put up $850 million for a new Bills stadium in Buffalo. That makes her perfect for Albany, which I don’t mean as a compliment.
Gail: Yeah, her Buffalo obsession is pretty irritating. But about Texas — Greg Abbott is one of those Make Everything Worse Republicans, who most recently made the headlines by shipping busloads of migrants to Northern cities. A move that did nothing to solve anything, but did help expose what a jerk he is.
Really, nothing Beto has ever done is that awful.
Bret: That’s because Beto has never done anything.
One Democrat I am excited about is Maryland’s Wes Moore, whom I know slightly and impresses me greatly. His book, “The Other Wes Moore,” will soon be required reading the way Barack Obama’s “Dreams From My Father” used to be. And, just to be clear, that’s me saying that Moore could one day be president.
Who else?
Gail: Your bipartisanship is making me feel guilty. But about the governors — one other guy who fills me with rancor is my ongoing obsession, Ron DeSantis of Florida, who’s terrible in all the ways Abbott is terrible but much worse since he’s already a serious presidential candidate.
Bret: And an effective governor who knows how to drive liberals crazy and whose state is attracting thousands of exiles from New York, California and other poorly governed, highly taxed blue states.
Gail: Sorry but having empty space to develop and few social services to support doesn’t make you effective, just well positioned.
But go on ….
Bret: Speaking of DeSantis, how do you think he’d fare in a theoretical matchup against California’s Gavin Newsom?
Gail: Oh boy, that’s pretty theoretical. DeSantis worries me because his policies are terrible — cruel and terrible. But he’s an obsessive campaigner with a smart pitch.
Have to admit I don’t have much of a feel for Newsom — in general it’s hard to be a national candidate if you’re running as a Democrat from a state that’s very liberal. Liberal for good and historic reasons, but hard to sell to folks in Kansas or North Carolina.
Here’s another Republican governor I’ve been mulling — what about Brian Kemp in Georgia?
Bret: I’m generally not a fan of Southern Republicans. But Kemp did stand his ground against three election deniers: David Perdue in 2022, Donald Trump in 2020 and Stacey Abrams in 2018.
Gail: Kemp is one of those Republicans — like Mike Pence and Liz Cheney — who I admire for their principled stands while realizing I would never vote for them. His abortion position, for instance, is appalling. So he goes in my Honorable But Wrong list.
We’re cruising toward the final stage of the Senate campaigns, too, Bret. Let me leave you with the thought that Arizona is looking great for my side and Ohio maybe conceivably possible.
Bret: And who’da thunk I’d be rooting for Democrats in both races?
Gail: Wow. To be continued.
Bret: In the meantime, Gail, I recommend reading Richard Sandomir’s beautiful obituary for two Jewish sisters who survived the Holocaust and passed away a few weeks ago in Alabama, 11 days apart. It’s a nice reminder of how much we all have to live for — and to wish all of our readers, Jewish or otherwise, a good and sweet new year.
The FBI seized Rep. Matt Gaetz’s cellphone in December 2020, marking the beginning of an investigation into whether the Florida Republican allegedly sex-trafficked a 17-year-old girl. In the time since, his former friend Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty to trafficking the same teen in exchange for helping the Justice Department’s investigation. Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend also struck a deal, obtaining immunity from federal prosecution in return for her testimony.
But the sex-trafficking investigation into Gaetz now appears stalled, according to seven attorneys who represent witnesses, people who have been subpoenaed or have spoken to investigators. The attorneys briefed on aspects of the case say federal investigators appear stymied by concerns about the credibility of two key witnesses or a lack of direct evidence implicating Gaetz, who has denied all wrongdoing.
Doubts about prosecuting Gaetz have mounted for months among many of those seven attorneys. It’s also an opinion held by some within the Justice Department, according to a recent Washington Post article. Citing people familiar with the matter, the paper reported that career prosecutors internally recommended that Gaetz not be indicted.
Gaetz’s attorney and the Justice Department declined to comment. Gaetz himself has long denied allegations that he had sex with a minor, that he ever transported the alleged victim across state lines to engage in prostitution or that he obstructed justice in an effort to cover up his actions — the three main potential crimes he has been investigated for, according to three sources familiar with those aspects of the case.
“At a federal level, I could not ever imagine prosecuting a case where you have a documented liar like Greenberg and this other person as your top witnesses,” said Richard Hornsby, an attorney for former state Rep. Chris Dorworth, who was subpoenaed in the case.
While the sex-trafficking case appears stalled in the eyes of attorneys like Hornsby, another attorney involved in the investigation pointed out that “the Justice Department hasn’t formally closed this case.” That lawyer, like others who spoke anonymously, did not want to comment on the record given the sensitive nature of the case.
The case is undoubtedly complex — one of the attorneys described it as having “tentacles” — and politically fraught. It also touches on systemic legal issues such as the expectation among some prosecutors and juries that women involved in sex crime investigations can be held to a higher, and unfair, standard.
Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg talks to the Orlando Sentinel in September 2019, during an interview at his office in Lake Mary, Fla.Joe Burbank / Orlando Sentinel via Getty Images fileThe prosecution’s star witness — Greenberg, Gaetz’s onetime friend and a disgraced elected tax official — pleaded guilty last year to six federal crimes. Those included a stalking charge for falsely smearing a political rival as a pedophile, identity theft and sex trafficking the same 17-year-old who is the alleged victim in the Gaetz case. A prosecutor in the case has labeled Greenberg a “prolific criminal.”
The alleged victim has been reluctant to speak to federal investigators about whether she had sex with Gaetz in 2017, when she was 17, according to a source briefed in the case and a message Greenberg sent to a mutual friend of his and Gaetz’s, Dorworth, when the investigation gained steam in 2020.
The alleged victim, who turned 18 in December 2017, did not answer requests for comment from NBC News.
Another complication for prosecutors involves the alleged victim. She currently makes online pornography, which could trigger biases in jurors if the case were ever brought to trial, according to Barbara Martinez, a former assistant U.S. attorney who oversaw sex-trafficking cases in South Florida but is not connected to the Gaetz investigation.
Martinez, who spoke generally about sex-crimes prosecutions and not the specifics of the Gaetz investigation, told NBC News that sex-crimes cases can involve witnesses or alleged victims who are involved in sex work or have a criminal history.
“Many victims of trafficking have credibility issues because they have had a difficult life, been arrested, and/or suffered from other trauma. And frankly, that’s why they are often targeted and victimized by traffickers,” said Martinez.
Greenberg’s attorney, Fritz Scheller, referring to the report that prosecutors may not move forward in a case against Gaetz, told NBC News: “While one could hesitate to draw a conclusion from a single news story, my hesitation stems from a different source — my knowledge of the evidence in this matter. But to be perfectly cryptic, to the extent the government considers this matter closed, I do not.”
He did not provide further details.
The ‘Wingman’
Joel Greenberg’s scandal-plagued term as the elected tax collector of Seminole County began in 2017, around the same time he and Gaetz became close. Both men were elected to their respective offices in the same year, and Gaetz at one point called Greenberg his “wingman.”
Both gained reputations as newsmakers, with Gaetz defending newly elected President Donald Trump on the national stage and Greenberg making waves at home.
Soon after Greenberg took office, he became the subject of criticism from county commissioners for a move to an expensive new office building, while also coming under scrutiny for a proposal to arm tax collectors and for chastising a driver about her speeding while wearing a badge that made him seem like a law enforcement officer.
According to the plea agreement in his federal case, Greenberg met the minor in 2017 on a website that advertised itself as a place where ‘“sugar daddies’ could find ‘sugar babies,’” which five sources identified as SeekingArrangement. Greenberg also admitted in his plea agreement that he gave the minor and “others” ecstasy for “commercial sex,” that he introduced the minor to other men, and that he took the drug himself. In total, the plea agreement said, Greenberg from 2016 to 2018 made at least 150 transactions for sex worth $70,000, including commercial sex acts with the minor.
Gaetz, who was not named in the plea agreement, met the alleged victim through Greenberg, according to four sources who were friends with both men.
NBC News is withholding the names of all the women to protect their privacy due to the nature of the case. SeekingArrangement has not commented on Greenberg, citing the ongoing investigation. The site has said it has no record of Gaetz ever having an account; Gaetz has long maintained he was not on the site.
Also according to that plea agreement, the alleged victim falsely claimed she was of age on her SeekingArrangement profile. Greenberg discovered her real age in September 2017, five months after he first texted with her.
Even if an underage person lies about his or her age, it’s still legally considered sex trafficking of a minor if an adult has sex with them and something of value changes hands.
In late 2019, a school teacher, Brian Beute, filed to run in a Republican primary against the first-term tax collector, who responded by engaging in a smear campaign. Greenberg created a fake Twitter account to make Beute look like a white supremacist, and Greenberg made a phony Facebook account and engaged in a false letter-writing campaign to frame Beute as a pedophile who abused his students, according to the indictment and plea agreement.
Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg leaves the federal courthouse in Orlando, Fla., after making a first appearance following his indictment on a federal stalking charge, on June 23, 2020.Joe Burbank / Orlando Sentinel via Getty Images fileIn June 2020, Greenberg was arrested for the smears, precipitating a series of investigations and indictments that ultimately led to a 33-count indictment against him. The sex crimes inquiry into Gaetz began as part of the broader investigation into Greenberg.
In December 2020, the FBI seized the congressman’s cellphone and the congressman subsequently furnished federal investigators thousands of records, mainly related to travel calendars and emails, according to a source. Gaetz reportedly lobbied former President Trump’s top aides for a pardon related to the Justice Department’s investigation toward the end of the administration.
The Gaetz investigation became public in March 2021, after The New York Times reported the general contours of the investigation. Earlier that month, Greenberg had been jailed after he violated probation to find his wife, who called 911 because she wanted to get away from him. They are now divorced.
Greenberg now faces a mandatory-minimum prison sentence of 12 years. But in an effort to get a more lenient sentence, Greenberg pleaded guilty and has been cooperating with prosecutors. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 1.
In April 2021, CBS News reported that in addition to investigating Gaetz for alleged sex trafficking of a minor, federal investigators were examining a Bahamas trip he took in the fall of 2018 to see if it violated the Mann Act, which prohibits taking people across state lines to engage in prostitution. Two sources briefed on that aspect of the investigation confirmed that line of inquiry.
The alleged victim, who by that time was 18, Gaetz and others were on the trip, according to Politico, which cited three sources familiar with the Bahamas jaunt, including one who was there. Prosecutors wanted to know if any of the women on the trip were paid for sex and, therefore, were transported across state lines to engage in prostitution.
The investigation into Gaetz gained some momentum earlier this year when his ex-girlfriend struck an immunity deal with prosecutors. Before her appearance, a source familiar with her thinking told NBC News she was willing to testify about Gaetz’s interactions with the alleged victim, that 2018 trip to the Bahamas, and a secretly recorded phone call between her, a former roommate of the alleged victim and Gaetz. It is during that conversation that federal investigators suspected Gaetz of attempting to obstruct justice, NBC News previously reported.
Since that time, seven others tied to Greenberg have been charged in a host of other crimes unrelated to the sex-crimes investigation: two in fraud schemes that are related to Greenberg’s office, two associates of Greenberg’s in an alleged real estate scam, and three with campaign finance-related crimes. At least one more friend of Greenberg’s is likely facing federal fraud charges, according to Greenberg’s fourth and final indictment issued March 30, 2021. None of those indictments show a link to Gaetz or suggest his involvement.
All of the charges and investigations involving Greenberg were the result of the teacher’s friend, lawyer David Bear, insisting that law enforcement authorities seriously investigate the smears masterminded by Greenberg in the 2020 primary for tax collector.
Bear said it sounds “totally plausible” that prosecutors might not charge Gaetz.
“The U.S. attorney’s office and Department of Justice are very particular in what they prosecute and in making sure there’s a strong chance they will win the case,” he told NBC News. “They don’t prosecute 50/50 cases.”
Bear is a critic of Gaetz and says he bears responsibility for associating with Greenberg. But he said Greenberg’s criminality is problematic.
“Greenberg is a prolific criminal. His story is going to be in criminology textbooks one day,” Bear said.
The potential witnesses in the federal government’s inquiry into Gaetz is not limited to Greenberg, the alleged victim and Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend.
The alleged victim’s former roommate, who was on the three-way call with Gaetz and his ex-girlfriend, has spoken to prosecutors, according to two lawyers involved in the case. They say that at least one other woman who had been sexually involved with Gaetz has also spoken to investigators.
None of the women have been charged with a crime, but lawyers in the case are divided over whether some of the women could be charged with sex-trafficking the alleged victim, too, if evidence emerged they engaged in group sex with her.
Under the federal sex-trafficking law, anyone who has sex with a minor as part of an enterprise in which money changes hands can be criminally charged. The attorneys say that the federal government has expressed no interest in charging any of the women, but they say it could become an issue at trial if the women were ever used as witnesses.
‘This is Joel’s M.O.’
After Greenberg’s first arrest in June 2020, he tried to get Gaetz and Republican operative and Trump confidante Roger Stone to get him an election-year pardon, Stone said in an interview, confirming a Daily Beast article.
Gaetz’s friend, Dorworth, said Greenberg threatened to bring him and Gaetz down if he didn’t get the pardon. Dorworth, who was subpoenaed to give records to the federal grand jury in the case, said Greenberg falsely accused him of wrongdoing and, to disprove the allegations, he wound up hiring a lawyer, furnishing text, phone and travel records to federal investigators, as well as three polygraphs. His attorney, Hornsby, confirmed the account.
“I’m not surprised prosecutors won’t move forward with the case against Matt because it’s built on lies and Joel Greenberg is the biggest piece of lying garbage trash I’ve ever seen in my life,” Dorworth told NBC News, previewing what would be his testimony for Gaetz’s defense if he were ever charged.
“This is Joel’s M.O.: He tries to frame people for what he did.”
Scheller, Greenberg's attorney, said in response to Dorworth's allegations: “In any case, the credibility of witnesses is always at issue. Thus, any prosecutor worth their salt will develop evidence, including documents and financial records, that corroborates the testimony of the witness. Although I have not received any communication from the federal government regarding the status of its investigation (nor would I), it does not merely depend on a couple of witnesses, let alone a single individual."
Dorworth said he felt Greenberg tried to set him up in the sex-crimes investigation with a series of WhatsApp message exchanges shortly before Greenberg was first charged with sex trafficking the minor, according to his third, penultimate indictment in August 2020. Dorworth shared the messages with the FBI and with NBC News.
From left, Chris Dorworth, Rep. Matt Gaetz and then-Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg pose together outside the White House during a visit in 2019.Orlando Sentinel via Getty Images fileIn the messages, Greenberg suggested Dorworth had culpability and suggested that another attorney told him that Dorworth may need a lawyer. But Dorworth checked with that attorney, who Dorworth says told him that he never said Dorworth needed to get a lawyer.
Greenberg also said he wanted to warn Dorworth that “some chick” may say “she partied at your house or something.” Dorworth responded by saying that didn’t happen.
The messages show Greenberg said he was paying for the lawyer for the minor whom he later pleaded guilty to trafficking and said that “she doesn’t want to talk to” the FBI. Also, Greenberg said, the “link” between himself and the minor was money he paid her via a banking app.
“The feds are going through my Venmo history,” Greenberg said.
Dorworth has not been charged with a crime.
Greenberg’s Venmo could play a crucial role in a prosecution. In a so-called “confession letter” obtained by The Daily Beast, Greenberg wrote there was no direct payment between Gaetz and the 17-year-old. Instead, he wrote, he was the go-between who collected the cash.
A source who had been briefed on aspects of the investigation told NBC News that investigators had discussed a weakness in the case: there is no direct evidence of payment between Gaetz and the alleged victim and that prosecutors therefore had to rely on testimony from witnesses like Greenberg, who could be viewed a less credible by a jury.
‘The king elephant’
Lyle Mazin, an attorney who represents two women who are also potential witnesses of the investigation, said it has so many “tentacles,” complexities and lawyers that it’s hard to get a global perspective of the case. But, he said, the feeling “amongst the attorneys seems to be it’s not going anywhere.”
Mazin said he believes top Justice Department officials could be concerned about the political ramifications of going after Gaetz and Trump, who is not connected to this case but is under other federal investigations concerning the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and the alleged possession and improper storage of documents related to national security.
Prosecutors probably can’t afford a not guilty verdict against Gaetz, he said, or a hung jury.
“To me, what leans me to thinking this is dead in the water is that DOJ eventually is going to go after Donald Trump,” Mazin said. “They [prosecutors] can’t put their foot over the line and get it chopped off … if they parade their circus of witnesses in there — even if it’s a perfectly good case and it’s a statutorily serious crime — I think they hurt themselves. I think they’re going after the king elephant.”
Another attorney in the case said the Justice Department is aware of the political complications around the investigation.
Martinez, the former assistant U.S. attorney, said that pursuing a “high-profile target” could further complicate the case because prosecutors weigh the likelihood of conviction while deciding whether they should bring charges.
“A victim’s difficult past alone is not a reason for a prosecution not to proceed. In fact, prosecutors have obtained convictions following trials in such cases,” she said, stressing she was not specifically addressing Gaetz's investigation. “But when you’re the only victim in a case, it could be much more difficult to get a conviction and it could be much harder on the victim. As a former federal prosecutor, I had to decline some cases in which I believed the crime occurred but we determined that we simply couldn’t present a credible case.”
Gaetz has attacked the Justice Department for not doing more to prosecute alleged co-conspirators who tried to shake down his wealthy father, former state Senate president Don Gaetz, for $25 million in return for securing a presidential pardon of the congressman in the sex crimes investigation. Gaetz’s father went to the FBI and wore a wire to catch the suspects — one of whom has since pleaded guilty.
And if House Republicans win control of the chamber in November and make good on their promise to investigate the agency for its various investigations of Trump.
A Trump-appointed judge “could let the Gaetz defense turn into a circus because the victim’s past would come out in court,” the attorney said. "DOJ will pretend it’s not considering all of this in addition to the evidence. But you can bet they are.”
Allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin are calling for a swift response after an explosion on a crucial bridge linking the Crimean peninsula to mainland Russia.
The Kerch bridge collapsed Saturday at around 6 a.m. local time after a truck explosion set off fuel tankers while a train was crossing, Russian officials said.
Putin immediately ordered the source of the explosion to be investigated, but some in Russia quickly blamed Ukraine. Some Ukrainian officials offered subtle hints that they may have been behind the blast, which occurred the morning after the Russian president's 70th birthday, but Ukraine has not formally taken responsibility.
The bridge provides a road and rail connection between Russia and Crimea, the Ukrainian territory that Russia illegally annexed in 2014. It serves as a key supply route for transporting essential goods like fuel and equipment to Russian forces, which are already said to be struggling as they try to ward off more Ukrainian counteroffensives.
The bridge also held personal significance to Putin, who oversaw its opening in 2018 by driving a truck across it in a symbolic show of the connection between Crimea and Russia.
—Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) October 8, 2022
The explosion on Saturday has been called a humiliation for Putin due to both the strategic and symbolic significance of the bridge, and has opened him up to additional public criticism over his handling of the war in Ukraine.
Some of his allies have publicly demanded retaliation, certain that Ukraine was behind the blast.
Sergei Markov, a politician and former adviser to Putin, called the explosion of the bridge a "terrorist attack" in a Telegram post and said it showed "the US and its Ukrainian proxy regime will move the red line further and further," Politico Europe reported.
"No response from Russia? Even further. And again? Even further," he wrote, urging Moscow to respond.
The explosion was also called a "terrorist attack" by Konstantin Dolgov, a member of Russia's parliament, according to Politico Europe. He called it "another sinister manifestation of the terrorist nature of the puppet Kyiv regime," adding: "Terrorists must be treated unequivocally!"
The calls for revenge come as Putin and the Russian military have faced increasing criticism in recent weeks, including from members of his inner circle, according to reports.
Though Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack, the explosion of the bridge was celebrated by Ukrainians.
Michael Novakhov retweeted:
On this day in 1775, King George III officially declares Britain’s American colonies in open rebellion and calls on his military to crush the uprising.
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Michael Novakhov retweeted:
Уборщица превращает грязную бомбу в чистую. Музей ядерных изделий собственного изготовления в г. Снежинск (бывший Челябинск-70). СССР. 1980-е.
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Michael Novakhov retweeted:
Col-Gen Ramzan Kadyrov declares a “great jihad” after a Ukrainian strike in Kherson killed or inured close to 100 Chechen troops: “We will not be taking these devils prisoner. We will burn them alive. We will not stop. Odessa, Kyiv, Kharkiv, all of Ukraine is Russian territory.”
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Michael Novakhov retweeted:
Россия выступила за создание договора о недопущении гонки вооружений в космосе. Соответствующую инициативу в ООН поддержали Белоруссия, Венесуэла, Китай, КНДР, Никарагуа и Сирия:
go.tass.ru/jG3eq
The post Michael Novakhov retweeted: Россия выступила за создание договора о недопущении гонки вооружений в космосе. Соответствующую инициативу в ООН поддержали Белоруссия, Венесуэла, Китай, КНДР, Никарагуа и Сирия: go.tass.ru/jG3eq first appeared on Advertising - The News And Times.
Michael Novakhov retweeted:
Журналисты установили секретную группу российских военных программистов, которые готовят полетные задания для ракетных ударов по Украине. Им помогла программа, которая анализирует, как записаны люди в чужих телефонах. dw.com/ru/a-63555221?…
The post Michael Novakhov retweeted: Журналисты установили секретную группу российских военных программистов, которые готовят полетные задания для ракетных ударов по Украине. Им помогла программа, которая анализирует, как записаны люди в чужих телефонах. dw.com/ru/a-63555221?… first appeared on Advertising - The News And Times.
image/jpeg 26ukraine-briefing-header-moth.jpgIf you want to watch a low-info Democrat voter’s head explode, just ask them this one simple question:
“Who did you vote for in 2020?”
It’s been a long time since anybody, even those with full-blown cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome, puffed out their chests and proudly proclaimed: “I’m with Brandon!”
Until recently, however, many Democrats could somehow avert their eyes from the dystopian dysfunction and devastation that their hero (or his caregivers at the assisted-living facility that is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue) have wrought.
Somehow they were able to explain away their temporary insanity in November 2020 by blurting out, “But… Trump!” Or some variation thereof.
At this point, however, buyers’ remorse is sweeping even the deepest blue bastions of the trust-funded and the non-working classes. Even Democrat operatives with press passes are find it ever more difficult to sputter out even the lamest defenses of Dementia Joe Biden. Which is why they cringe when you pose the question to them:
“Who did you vote for in 2020?”
It’s my go-to question now in certain social situations, at least if I want to end a conversation instantly. Last week, I was doing a radio hit with one of my affiliates, and I asked the 90-year-old host whom he had voted for.
“You’ve asked me that before!” he muttered. “I don’t have to answer that! This isn’t Nazi Germany!”
Nazi Germany? I asked him who he voted for, and suddenly I’m not even a fascist, or a semi-fascist (as Brandon described Americans last month). I’m a Nazi.
This is how desperate they’ve become with less than two weeks before the mid-term elections. The Democrats are becoming more and more unhinged.
Just last week, the MSDNC hosts were tut-tutting that if you were talking about inflation, you had to be a Nazi, because inflation was a big problem in Germany during the Weimar Republic just before you-know-who took over the country in 1933.
Of course, the highest percentage of votes the National Socialists (for that was indeed their name) ever got in Germany was about 33 percent. In the latest US polls, up to 89 percent of the electorate says inflation is a very big problem.
That means that by the standards of today’s state-run media, an awful lot of Nazis are lurking out there just waiting to vote on Nov. 8 – or maybe they’re even casting their ballots right now, this morning, at a city or town hall near you.
Their argument now is, if Democrats lose, democracy dies. Their way or the highway.
And to even ask them who they voted for two years ago is… triggering. It’s hate speech. Next they’ll be going into court to get cease-and-desist orders against any Mega-MAGA Republicans who dare ask it.
“Who’d you vote for in 2020?”
They’ll call it an existential threat to democracy. They’ll describe it as … voter suppression. Am I right, Stacey Abrams?
It’s been a rough week for these deadbeat hippies and the non-working classes. A court stopped the cancellation of the student loans they were contractually obligated to repay, until they weren’t, but now are again, maybe, pending further appeals.
In the meantime, though, how are the young Democrats going to pay for their new tattoos, or next weekend’s weed?
But why are Democrats now so reluctant to proclaim their allegiance to the Democrat party? They’re getting exactly what they voted for – good and hard, as H.L. Mencken once said. Biden himself bragged to someone from the MSNBC amen chorus last week:
“I have more substantive experience on the issues facing the country both in foreign policy and domestic policy than any president ever.”
Of course he does. He babbled about how he cancelled those hundreds of billions in student loans after a vote in Congress – except there was no vote.
He said that Republicans in Congress have been taking advantage of the PPP COVID relief loans, and that one of them actually cashed a check for “187 million (dollars) relief I forget the exact number.”
Can we quote you on that Mr. President? A Republican member of Congress got $187 million in COVID welfare? (I think he may have meant Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, whose name he can never remember. Her business got $183,000, not $187 million.)
Numbers are not his strong suit, to put it mildly. Biden likes to brag about his, uh, legislative accomplishments.
“A once-in-a-generation investment, over a billion 200 trillion 200 billion dollars. It’s called the bipartisan infrastructure law.”
That’s a lot of money. It’s amazing inflation is as low as it is with that much funny money being pumped into circulation.
Do you see why so many Democrats don’t want to talk much about those glory days of November 2020?
On Monday, Biden saluted Kamala Harris – “the highest ranking black Indian of Indian background woman in American history to be vice president.”
Then he saluted Kamala: “Happy birthday to a great president!”
That wasn’t the first time he’s done that either.
He also wants to outlaw ammunition with “more than eight bullets in a round.” That’s what Brandon calls “common sense” gun-law reform. Mr. President, can you put those eight-bullet rounds into one of those “AR-14’s” you talked about on the campaign trail?
Do you realize, Joe Biden is in the record books as having gotten 81 million votes less than two years ago. And yet today, the quickest way to clear a room of Democrats is to ask this simple question:
“Who did you vote for in 2020?”
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