Ex-whistleblower says group enlisted his help to seek potentially damaging information on two members of Congress to prod them to back audits in key states Trump lost
Michael Flynn, Trump’s disgraced former national security adviser. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP
FBI agents and the House panel investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol have both learned of an alleged plan by allies of retired army Lt Gen Michael Flynn to gather “intelligence” on top Republicans to “move” them to back election audits in key states Trump lost, said ex-whistleblower Everett Stern who talked to the panel and the FBI.
Stern, who runs the intelligence firm Tactical Rabbit and is a Republican vying for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania, in multiple interviews with the Guardian said two Flynn associates with the rightwing Patriot Caucus group enlisted his help in April in a scheme to seek potentially damaging information on two Republican members of Congress to prod them to back an audit of the 2020 vote that Joe Biden won.
Stern told the Guardian he spent several hours in November telling House panel investigators about the alleged drive by Flynn associates who sought campaign finance and other dirt on Pennsylvania’s Senator Pat Toomey and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick to win their support for an audit to bolster Trump’s debunked charges that Biden’s win was fraudulent.
A long-shot candidate to succeed the retiring Toomey, Stern said he alerted the FBI in June when he learned more details of the bizarre drive by Flynn allies to specifically target the two Republicans, both of whom backed impeaching Trump after the January 6 insurrection.
The efforts by Flynn’s Patriot Caucus allies were launched after Trump failed to block Biden from taking office, and are part of a wider drive by Trump loyalists and Flynn to help boost Trump’s political fortunes via more state audits nationwide into false charges that Biden’s win was rigged, and elect like-minded candidates in key states to top electoral offices.
Stern provided text messages, emails and other documents revealing he had multiple contacts with one of the Patriot Caucus members, Velma Anne Ruth, and two other influential Flynn allies, Houston real estate mogul Al Hartman and former army Green Beret Ivan Raiklin, who were pushing audits in several key states.
Ivan Raiklin, a former army Green Beret, allegedly pushed audits in several key states that Biden won. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters
Stern said Flynn’s Patriot Caucus associates first approached him in Pennsylvania for possible help after an April Republican party event, and soon after told Stern in phone calls they worked with Flynn and the Patriot Caucus, and planned to recruit “former domestic and foreign intelligence officials” to facilitate their scheme.
The plan by Flynn’s allies alarmed Stern, but as a former whistleblower involved in exposing a large bank money laundering scandal by HSBC in 2012, he told the Guardian he decided to play along for a few months to glean information to expose the Trump allies’ scheme.
Stern expressed dismay that Flynn’s Patriot Caucus associates “don’t understand that Biden is the president. They wanted to collect information through Tactical Rabbit and my campaign” to turn up the heat on Toomey and Fitzpatrick to back an audit which Stern viewed as potentially “extortion”.
Stern gave the Guardian a voice mail he received in which Hartman talked about leaning on moderate Republican “Rinos” in Pennsylvania to gain support for an audit of that state’s vote which Biden won by over 80,000, and Hartman said a similar drive in Michigan was needed.
Stern said Hartman wanted to use Tactical Rabbit’s intelligence gathering tools and his campaign to dig up potentially embarrassing campaign finance information and other dirt about the Pennsylvania members, plus Republican political figures in Michigan who were also resisting audits.
Hartman and Raiklin also talked with Stern about meeting Flynn, Trump’s disgraced ex-national security adviser, and proposed compensating him for his information via campaign donations, said Stern.
In an April exchange of Hartman text messages seen by the Guardian, Hartman asked a Flynn scheduler to help “connect” Flynn with Stern whose Senate campaign and credentials he touted highly, calling Stern a “strong believer”, in their cause.
Although Stern tipped off the FBI in June about what he deemed a threat to national security and he said he met with agents again in November, it’s not clear if his allegations are still being pursued.
Flynn associates allegedly sought campaign finance and other dirt on Senator Pat Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock
Stern’s allegations have echoes of Flynn’s scheming with Trump and other loyalists in late 2020 to thwart Biden’s win, efforts that included a White House meeting with Trump where Flynn proposed declaring martial law in several states Biden won and then rerunning the election there.
In November, the House panel investigating the January 6 Capitol attack subpoenaed Flynn who Trump had pardoned post-election even though he had pled guilty twice to lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation. In response to the subpoena to testify and turn over documents, Flynn sued the panel but a judge quickly dismissed his lawsuit last month.
John Sipher, who was in the CIA’s clandestine services for 28 years, shares Stern’s view of Flynn, who he knew in the military and shortly thereafter. “I am appalled by what he has become,” Sipher said in an email.
Asked if he thought the FBI was pursuing Stern’s charges, Sipher said: “I would hope and assume they are taking this seriously.”
While Fitzpatrick and Toomey were the main “targets” Stern said other Pennsylvania officials including judges were also being targeted by the Flynn allies as they sought to ramp up pressure for an audit in the state.
Neither Fitzpatrick or Toomey’s offices replied to multiple requests for comment.
The Patriot Caucus, a coalition of Patriot and other rightwing groups in some two dozen states with which Raiklin and Hartman have ties, according to Stern and documents, has worked with Trump loyalists like Flynn to push audits in key states Biden won, and backed Trump allies for governor, and other top posts in states like Pennsylvania and Arizona Trump lost.
Flynn himself on 7 January publicly endorsed another Trump ally and election audit promoter, Doug Mastriano for governor in Pennsylvania, at a campaign rally also attended by Raiklin.
Flynn has also endorsed two Trump backed candidates in Arizona: Kari Lake, an ex-Fox News figure, for governor, and Mark Finchem, a state representative who attended the January 6 Stop the Steal rally, for secretary of state.
To coordinate national efforts, Raiklin and Hartman on 3 July spearheaded one of a series of “Election Integrity” calls with Trump loyalists, lawyers and donors to discuss the status of audits efforts in several states and other plans to cast doubt on Biden’s win, according to an Arizona senate document shared by the watchdog group American Oversight.
“Join us every second Saturday for SITUATION UPDATES and COLLABORATION from active leaders in the election remediation process at state level – attorneys with Mike Lindell and Patrick Byrne, data analysts, state legislators, gubernatorial candidates, and grassroots activists whose goal is completing a cyber forensic audit in their state,” the Arizona document reads.
Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican of Pennsylvania, backed impeaching Trump after the January 6 insurrection. Photograph: Allison Bailey/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
A who’s who list of Trump loyalists and groups invited to join these calls included the America Project and America’s Future, both of which Flynn played key roles with as they poured some $2m into a discredited audit of Arizona’s largest county, plus the Patriot Caucus’ Velma Anne Ruth, Finchem and Byrne, the millionaire chief financier of the Arizona audit.
Hartman in emails with Stern obtained by the Guardian invited him in June to attend a religious far-right meeting known as Ziklag in Dallas where he could meet separately with Flynn. Stern said Hartman told him a “private meeting was going to be arranged with Flynn” who Stern was told wanted to meet him.
After indicating to Hartman he would attend, Stern opted to cancel at the last minute after his lawyer indicated there could be legal repercussions from a meeting with Flynn. “I thought it was extremely dangerous to meet with a three star general who I believed had broken the law.
“They planned to give my campaign funds to help me” develop damaging information on Toomey and Fitzpatrick, Stern claimed. “It was like a wink, wink. Hartman is the man behind the curtain. He’s an operative and financier,” promoting audits.
Hartman has long been a donor to the right. He is on the advisory council for the pro-Trump Turning Point USA and has been active in the conservative donor network led by oil billionaire Charles Koch.
Raiklin, an army reserve officer who reportedly has known Flynn since 2014, is facing an internal army reserve investigation into possible violations of rules barring partisan political activity, according to a military official who spoke to Reuters last month.
Raiklin in December 2020 outlined a wild scheme in tweets and a podcast to thwart Biden’s win, charging a vast conspiracy that included Pence, intelligence, China and Big Tech, as Reuters reported. Raiklin told Trump to “activate the emergency broadcast system” and deployed the hashtag #FightLikeAFlynn, stressing that “we the people are going to force this plan on them”.
Neither Hartman or Raiklin replied to multiple calls seeking comment.
A Flynn scheduler did not respond to questions for the story.
Velma Anne Ruth with the Patriot Caucus, who was photographed with Stern at a June event in Pennsylvania where she wore a tank top that said General Flynn, called Stern’s charges “delusional, fabricated and defamatory”, in a text message. Stern said he shared the photo and other documents involving exchanges he had with Ruth with the FBI.
Senior ex-prosecutors and intelligence officials say Stern’s allegations merit law enforcement attention.
“Stern’s allegations suggest serious crimes,” said ex-prosecutor Paul Rosenzweig, who worked on Ken Starr’s team during the impeachment of Bill Clinton. “If his allegations were corroborated by extrinsic evidence they clearly would warrant investigation.”
Former CIA official Sipher, who has spoken with Stern before, said: “Everett is someone with a strong sense of right and wrong, and willing to suffer the consequences of doing the right thing. We would be better served to have more people like Everett in public life.”
I had chemo in 2020 which means I sat alone (b/c, the pandemic) with my hands/feet immersed in ice and have been nauseous/ constipated and lost my hair, eyebrows and eyelashes.
This has been worse. I’d rather get chemo all over again than get back on the phone w/@EmblemHealth 9/
People deserve to have the right of free healthcare. It should be one of the main functions of the government to care for the well being of the people. Oh wait it is but that part is ignore in favor of profit. We need universal expanded Medicare for all
9 day, 8000 worker strike and the New York Times hadn’t covered it once, they did however publish 26 separate articles about a rich tennis player being inconvenienced by Australia’s vaccine rules https://t.co/6quN1Iq0Y1
Biden acknowledges he didn't anticipate how much opposition he would face from Rs.
Which is something bc much of the 2020 primary was everyone yelling at him that he was failing to anticipate how much opposition he would face from Rs after he promised they'd have an "epiphany."
Justice Roberts, this shame is on you. Your legacy is that of vengeful racism. You destroyed voting rights for millions. You are the architect of undermining election integrity and global disenfranchisement of non-white voters.
Yeah, Lisa! Nothing worse than preventing the country from crumbling into the rubble of a third world nation! Good thing the Obstructionist party is hard at work preventing progress and making sure needless defense contracts keep getting filled! Scottie
Hillary has not even hinted at running. The right loves that they have made her such a boogieman after 30 years of attacks and they can not wait to trot her out to scare their base. It is that simple. No one in the Democratic party has wanted her to run again, it is just the left hoping to gin up outrage in the cult. Republicans had an opportunity to prevent this twice by voting to convict Trump. Republicans can also prevent Trump from running by taking him to task for his lies about voter fraud. They can also stop rigging the system in order to make it harder for people to vote and creating a situation where Republicans can overturn any election results they don’t like. Meanwhile, it is unlikely Hillary will be running since there is a Democrat in the White House. Besides what is the big deal? The Republican Party failed to lock her up, so it looks like she did nothing wrong. Scottie
I am seeing versions of this everywhere. It is very misleading. Democrats do not mind ID, but we are against the Republican ID requirements that make ID’s nearly impossible for some people to get and they accept only certain ID’s they think their voters might have no matter how obscure while denying popular forms of ID’s that Democratic voters might have. Scottie
Catch up note. I have been sick since Sunday. I thought it was from entertaining on Saturday and staying up far too late. But it is far more than that. Ron had not felt well for more than a week. His symptoms were not as severe as mine are but they were mostly the same. He had gotten over it so we did not worry. I was not feeling well for a few days after Sunday but Wednesday was bad and yesterday was really bad and today is like yesterday. Head full, slight headache, hot sweats, cold periods, fever, extreme nausea, vertigo, really tired, intermittent running nose that we thought that was allergies. Yes we both now think I have Omicron or some version of Covid and that he did also. Wednesday and yesterday spent most of the day in bed. This morning got up early thinking I could do some news stories I had missed, but this is not working. I am going to get as much done before I am forced back to bed. The thing is in Florida it is really hard to get a Covid test and before I would get any result I would be over it. So I will just quarantine at home just in case. ** Took all day with many rest periods, I am now going back to bed. I will try to get to comments tomorrow. ** Scottie
Since the pandemic began, a new billionaire has been created every 26 hours. Meanwhile, 160 million people have been pushed into poverty across the globe.
We solved the mysterious heretofore inscrutable riddle for reducing poverty which is give people money and food but now it’s time to Go Back To Normal so that means it’s time to gut, sunset and means test everything good out of existence lest the plebs not want to work sick
1) Donors give huge sums to elect corporate politicians 2) Corporate politicians block hugely popular legislation 3) Donors make a huge profit 4) Repeat
It all ties back to one thing: The flood of corporate money unleashed by Citizens United.
– the American Rescue Plan – bipartisan infrastructure deal – record low unemployment – Jan 6 Committee – 41 federal judges – most ever in a year – student loan forgiveness reform w/ more coming – nearing 70% vax rate
"Pff. We don't need to define CRT and demands to the contrary are pure bad faith."
Oklahoma legislature: "Anyone who teaches Critical Race Theory will lose their job and must pay $10k per incident. No, we will not be defining the term at this time."https://t.co/MkYm48fBHCpic.twitter.com/z8iXL5hzBz
“We seem to be headed back to the society Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, and Andrew Goodman fought against with their lives.” Mickey, by @RBReichhttps://t.co/MyfVFom1tF
The old white guy cartoonist pretended in the article that went with this cartoon that Biden should do this to protect black people and to increase the wages of black people. Right. Immigration has fallen for the last decade and it has not increased the wages of black people. The real issue is that the brown people coming here do have more children right now than the white people already here. So again the idea of a white majority or white ethnostate is what drives these racist on immigration at the southern border. Scottie
Wright and one other right wing media cartoonist keep trying to push Hillary into the limelight, to force the idea of Hillary running again to rile up their base. They know that for 30 years the right wing media villainize Hillary and the right wing base is in a constant rage about her while the independents are sure she must have done something wrong even though she has never been found guilty of any Republican charge. Hillary has not even suggested she is running nor that she thinks Joe should be replace. Scottie
I think this must be a regional thing. Yes we have a few things that are short like cat food. But mostly it is just one brand name missing with plenty of that item by by a different supplier. Our problem is the costs of stuff. The price of meat is out of this world along with milk which is $5.48 a gallon here. There are other things Ron comes home just all upset over the price of, but we are not yet scrounging for food as Tony Perkins claims due to Biden.
Bullshit! What about the money for the defense department? Tax cuts for the wealthy never get cost checked. But anything helping the people or taking care of the decaying nation needs is called tax and spend liberalism. The people are not buying the misleading talking point anymore. Scottie
While Biden was not articulate in how he put it, he was right. We know Putin has special operations people in Ukraine. He has troops out of uniform helping the separatist. Biden did not want to get in to a war over those handfuls of Russian troops. However he has made it clear that if Putin tries to take any more of Ukrainian territory they will pay a huge price in retaliation. Scottie
One of the reasons that the roundup takes me so long each day is the distraction I get by arguing with the right wing cult members on the misleading right wing media cartoons. I have stopped replying to or addressing the cultist directly because they simply want to insult or deny reality. But as I look at the cartoon I go down and read the comments. The right wing misleading ones I create a comment, often researching the relevant subject. The replies to my efforts are mostly insulting reality denying crap. So I leave it there for those who read the cartoon comments. What I have found is I get a lot of up votes, a lot of likes by people who agree but have given up trying to fight the aggressive ignorance of the right. Scottie
Let’s hope he turns out to be as great as Carter. History has shown Cater was a rather good president just not vicious enough to fight underhanded Republicans. Scottie
She referred this to DOJ so they can explore the multi-state involvement in the plan, but she also made it crystal clear that they broke both state and federal laws, and that she will prosecute if she needs to.
Compelled speech of this sort is obviously a first amendment violation. I wonder if this has a chance of getting through the Florida legislature? https://t.co/TTYlFsvEnn
Not just Jewish life, it is part of the entire society getting more crude, rude, and violent. I figure you can thank the Republican right wing. Scottie
US cities seeing homicide declines in 2021 after seeing increases in 2020—in a variety of cities, with a variety of policies—fits with the hypothesis that 2020's rise was mostly pandemic weirdness, rather than weak prosecutors, demoralized police, or a lasting cultural shift. https://t.co/C3Vs1Fu52n
I hope this ad works to not only destigmatize the use of marijuana, but also forces a new conversation that creates the pathway to legalize this beneficial drug, and forgive those who were arrested due to outdated ideology. pic.twitter.com/G0qKvmUGKD
I have been with my husband for 32 years. We are still sexually active thankfully. The government wont let us donate blood no matter the need because we are active homosexuals. It is outright bigotry. Yes they have tried to fudge it here and there, one was saying it was OK if you are not sexually active while the same doesn’t apply to straight people. It is bigotry. Other countries have corrected this, the US has not. I am angry over this openly bigot policy so I wont ever donate again. Yes I used to donate as a young Army man but I quit when this became the policy. Scottie
I do not understand the right wing media’s attempts to paint Joe Biden as an authoritarian strong man dictator while also portraying him as a confused tottering old man. The fact is they just need to demonize and smear Biden so their followers will be enraged and vote for Republicans while they also are trying to discourage the left from voting. To this cartoon, how is Biden being a strongman over security? Maybe he is doing what they want with the border, which they claim he has thrown wide open? He can not get Manchin and Sinema to do as he says, how is he a dictator? Scottie
The right wing is terrified that people will realize how close the Republicans are to ending democracy. So they must convince people that Jan 6th was nothing and not one elected official had anything to do with it. The right is hoping to convince people that the only threat to the US is evil brown dark skinned people who practice a different religion than the good white Christians storming capitals and threatening everyone who has an opinion different than theirs. Scottie
It’s hardly a wreck. Country is in fine shape. Most people are better off than a year ago. The Qpublicans want their base to believe otherwise. The previous guy left the train wreck behind like most Republicans do on exiting office, leaving it to adults to clean up the mess.
It’s almost been one year and Republicans have managed to blame Biden for things that happened long before he was President. Rand Paul all edged in questioning Fauci that all 800,000 American COVID deaths occurred during Biden’s presidency. He’s been blamed for all the unemployment that occurred from mid-2019 on. He’s was handed a shit show by the last administration and has handled as well as could be expected. Scottie
Talk about one of these things not like the others. The other were protesting and promoting things that would help others not just themselves. Djokovic is just a selfish egocentric jerk who was caught caring only about himself and possibly actively harming others. Huge difference! Scottie
Would be great if the cartoonist would look into the situation before throwing out a cartoon. The money is going to independent credited assistance agencies that deal directly with the people. Not the Taliban government but the starving people. Also the right has used the starving people as an attack against the Biden administration leaving Afghanistan, now when the same Biden administration tries to help those starving people they are attacked again for that. Seems it has nothing to do with Afghanistan but the goal is to attack Biden. Scottie
I see, calling out racism is dividing the country because the racist don’t like being called out? Tough shit. A large part of the population is people of color. Whites are soon going to be a minority if they are not already. Look bigots hate being called out, they want to shit on those they hate with joy and be proud of it. Look DeathSantis in Florida is asking for a law that makes it illegal to teach anything that makes white kids uncomfortable in school. But black kids are already uncomfortable, they are living in the racism whites deny. Scottie
Very short sighted. While the right likes to pretend that Covid is not a problem so far just in the US nearly 900,000 have died from it in two years. In two years. That is a huge death toll. Omicron might not have the same death stats, but the long term damage to lungs and other organs is the same. Covid is not just get it and get better virus, it has long term health issues. That is the truth that people ignore at their own peril. Scottie
Dr Fauci has extensive education in the medical fields related to viruses and their spread in society. He has 36 years of public service using his knowledge to advice and protect the US population from viruses and diseases. Most of his critics do not have anywhere near his education level to even begin to understand what he can read and evaluate yet they think they are his equal in knowledge. It is silly to think that watching Fox News or reading Breitbart makes you qualified to dispute or even disagree with Dr. Fauci’s assessment. It is like saying you watched a YouTube video on changing a tire so you can do open heart surgery. Scottie
As we prepare to face the twin disasters of record-low unemployment and all-but-record-high job growth, the right trembles in fear. President Biden has made sure vaccines are available for everyone in the USA. Mask mandates have been made difficult to impossible by Republican political hack judges on the Supreme Court. Deathsantis in Florida and other Governors in ‘Red’ states have all but guaranteed the death of many of their constituents. It’s deplorable that the Republicans do everything they can do to encourage their voters not to wear masks and get vaccinated, then have the audacity to blame Biden for the decisions they made? Pathetic.
Scottie's Playtime 