Media Matters for America - Research Items

The FBI calls QAnon a domestic terror threat. Trump has amplified QAnon supporters on Twitter more than 20 times.

Media Matters for America

Sarah Wasko / Media Matters

FBI cites QAnon as a domestic terror threat

FBI lists QAnon conspiracy theory as a domestic terrorism threat. In May, the FBI released a memo which “for the first time has identified fringe conspiracy theories as a domestic terrorist threat,” according to Yahoo News. The memo “specifically mentions QAnon.” From the August 1 article:

The FBI for the first time has identified fringe conspiracy theories as a domestic terrorist threat, according to a previously unpublicized document obtained by Yahoo News.

...

The FBI intelligence bulletin from the bureau’s Phoenix field office, dated May 30, 2019, describes “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists,” as a growing threat, and notes that it is the first such report to do so. It lists a number of arrests, including some that haven’t been publicized, related to violent incidents motivated by fringe beliefs.

The document specifically mentions QAnon, a shadowy network that believes in a deep state conspiracy against President Trump, and Pizzagate, the theory that a pedophile ring including Clinton associates was being run out of the basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant (which didn’t actually have a basement).

…

President Trump is mentioned by name briefly in the latest FBI document, which notes that the origins of QAnon is the conspiratorial belief that “Q,” allegedly a government official, “posts classified information online to reveal a covert effort, led by President Trump, to dismantle a conspiracy involving ‘deep state’ actors and global elites allegedly engaged in an international child sex trafficking ring.” [Yahoo News, 8/1/19]

The conspiracy theory has been growing online since October 2017. As reported by Media Matters in August 2018, “the unhinged conspiracy theory known as ‘QAnon,’ or ‘The Storm,’ has been gaining traction online among President Donald Trump’s supporters since October 2017,” but “it finally jumped to the mainstream in the form of shirts and signs that were prominently visible at a Trump campaign rally in Tampa, FL”:

While the theory has its murky origins on 4chan and 8chan -- message boards best known for serving as the source of hoaxes and organized harassment campaigns -- many prominent right-wing figures, websites, and social media accounts have helped amplify QAnon. [Media Matters, 8/2/18]

QAnon supporters have been linked to multiple acts and threats of violence. Supporters of the conspiracy theory have been linked to multiple violent incidents and threats of violence, including a man accused of murdering his brother with a sword, a man who reportedly threatened to kill YouTube employees, a man accused of murdering an alleged crime boss, an armed man who blocked the Hoover Dam with an armored vehicle, and a man who threatened to assassinate Trump. Supporters of the conspiracy theory have even terrorized a charter school and forced it to cancel its annual fundraiser. [The Daily Beast, 8/11/18, 9/27/18, 1/9/19; BuzzFeed, 6/17/18; The New York Times, 7/21/19; The Daily Dot, 5/10/19]

Trump has amplified QAnon-supporting Twitter accounts more than 20 times

On Twitter, Trump has repeatedly retweeted, quote tweeted, tagged, and shared content from QAnon supporters. Since 2017, Trump has repeatedly amplified Twitter accounts supporting the conspiracy theory.

From November 25, 2017:

Question: When will Trump retweet a Q-Anon account and promote a Q-Anon website?

Answer: Trick question. He already has.

On Nov. 25, 2017 Trump quote tweeted @MAGAPILL, which included a link to their website. The site has been promoting Q-Anon since before Trump's quote tweet. pic.twitter.com/q1G1YXbPr5

— Travis View (@travis_view) August 1, 2018

From March 17:

Trump retweeted a Qanon account (@vmbb12) whose avatar is Q with a MAGA hat. I’d tell you more about this account but it has me blocked, even though we’ve never interacted. pic.twitter.com/Uhl0R2cOts

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 17, 2019

From March 20:

From a QAnon conspiracy theorist to actor James Woods to comedian Larry the Cable Guy to the leader of the free world. Thus travels information in the age of Twitter and President Trump, who took a late-night swing at a familiar punching bag — the Transportation Security Administration — via a nearly two-year-old video spread by a character on the far fringes of the Internet.

…

The video was reshared on Monday by a Twitter account called Deep State Exposed, which is operated by Jeremy Stone, a follower of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Stone’s twitter bio includes the phrase “WWG1WGA,” shorthand for “Where We Go One We Go All,” a rallying cry for the bizarre theory that ties together the Pizzagate conspiracy and a supposed “deep state” plot to control American politics. Stone soon added a follow-up tweet to the viral video claiming that “TSA goes out of their way to hire high school dropouts with an inclination for sexual perversion. It’s mind control!!!” [The Washington Post, 3/20/19]

On May 1, Trump retweeted six accounts that had pushed the conspiracy theory:

Multiple accounts that Trump retweeted this morning appear to have pushed the QAnon conspiracy theory. pic.twitter.com/vVe6ir61yH

— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) May 1, 2019

From May 4:

Big day for the murderous death cult known as Qanon.

This is one of the biggest Q accounts.

Twitter could have done something about this, Reddit did.

But they refuse too and they won't, until a few more people get killed by these nutcases. pic.twitter.com/uEaQzYjgOS

— Josh Russell (@josh_emerson) May 4, 2019

From May 12:

Crowley in March called the New Zealand shootings a false flag and pushed the conspiracy theory that John Podesta was involved with the attacks.https://t.co/zua6mOCWza https://t.co/WCsQ0o2Nkv

— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) May 12, 2019

On June 9, Trump retweeted Bill Mitchell, a conservative radio host who has boosted the conspiracy theory:

[Media Matters, 7/9/19]

From July 4:

It appears that Trump tonight retweeted another QAnon believer. pic.twitter.com/MopIpKodw3

— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) July 5, 2019

From July 11 and July 12:

An account Trump quote tweeted last night had pushed QAnon, Pizzagate, & a debunked hoax known as "Frazzledrip" about Hillary Clinton & Huma Abedin mutilating a child. Trump since then has also retweeted two other QAnon accounts. pic.twitter.com/BOsGeueQWS

— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) July 12, 2019

On July 12, Trump again retweeted Mitchell:

From July 14:

At least two of the accounts Trump retweeted this morning appear to be QAnon accounts. pic.twitter.com/rOTsjlW8zI

— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) July 14, 2019

In a July 30 tweet, Trump tagged a QAnon supporter with the QAnon slogan in its profile. He also retweeted another QAnon account.

Trump also quote tweeted and retweeted another QAnon account this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/nJRxVeeocz

— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) July 30, 2019

[Right Wing Watch, 7/30/19]

Trump has met with multiple QAnon supporters at the White House and even has a QAnon supporter as a campaign surrogate

Trump has hosted multiple QAnon supporters. In August 2018, Trump met with radio host and QAnon supporter Michael Lebron in the Oval Office. This July, Trump’s White House social media summit hosted Mitchell, singer Joy Villa, who wore “Q” earrings at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, and Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit, which has criticized media outlets that tried to “mischaracterize and discredit” the conspiracy theory. Another booster of the conspiracy theory, cartoonist Ben Garrison, was originally invited to the summit, but his invitation was later rescinded. [CNN, 8/25/18; Media Matters, 7/9/19]

A QAnon supporter is co-chair of a Trump campaign coalition group. Actor and QAnon supporter Stacey Dash is a co-chair of Women for Trump, a coalition group for Trump’s reelection campaign. [women.donaldjtrump.com, accessed 7/23/19; Twitter, 1/28/19, 7/23/19]

Cable news applies “far-left” framing 6 times more often than “far-right” framing

Media Matters for America

Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

Cable news channels used variations of the label “far left” or “extreme” in discussions about Democrats, progressives, and their policy ideas over six times more often than they used variations of the label “far right” or “extreme” while talking about their conservative counterparts.

Over a four-week period, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News discussed extremism on the left or right a total of 547 times; 86% of these instances framed the American political left as extreme. This trend is in stark contrast to data showing that the Republican Party is further away from the political center than the Democratic Party, and it leaves viewers misinformed about each party’s position by lending undue credibility to the right-wing talking point that Democrats are extreme.

In American politics, the Republican Party is much further to the right than the Democratic Party is to the left. The Manifesto Project, which “reviews and categorizes each line in party manifestos,” has found that the current Democratic Party is much closer to the median party platform than the current GOP, when compared to other political parties in Western Europe and Canada. As Vox's Carlos Maza explains, “Over the past few decades, both Democrats and Republicans ... have moved away from the center. But the Republican Party has moved toward the extreme much more quickly.” (Disclosure: Maza is a former Media Matters staffer.)

However, when it comes to how the cable news media portray each party, viewers would think that the opposite was true because cable media figures utilize far-left framing in reference to Democrats and people and policies on the left more than six times as often as they reference Republicans and people and policies on the right using similar terminology.

Media Matters looked for several commonly used phrases to determine whether cable news programming repeated far-left or far-right framing more often: “far left” or “far right,” variations of “too far left,” “so far left,” “too far right,” or “so far right,” and “extreme” or “extremist” left or right. The following data doesn’t fully capture the sheer volume of such framing since a search for all such variations -- “pulling,” “pushing,” “moving,” or “veering” the Democratic or Republican parties to the left or right -- would return a greater number of results. But it’s representative of the disparity in how media outlets represent each side.

In total, we found 547 instances of far-left and far-right framing fitting our search terms between June 24 and July 21. Of those, 470 -- 86% -- used far-left framing, while only 77 -- 14% -- used far-right framing. Fox News, unsurprisingly, had the largest disparity with a ratio of more than 10-to-1; of 296 instances discussing an extreme right or left, 270 contained the far-left framing while just 26 had the far-right framing. Both CNN and MSNBC were also more inclined to employ the far-left framing; such terminology appeared on those two networks four times as often as far-right framing.

Cable news channels applied the far-left framing to wide-ranging subjects: Oftentimes, it was applied to the Democratic Party as a whole or to the 2020 Democratic candidates -- particularly Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) or as a juxtaposition to former Vice President Joe Biden. Networks also applied it to House Democrats, including members of “The Squad” and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), future Supreme Court nominees, Democratic voters, party activists, antifa, Warren’s economic plans, economic policies in general, student debt forgiveness plans, health care plans, pro-choice policies, immigration policies, tax plans, identity politics, Google filters, legal challenges against President Donald Trump’s administration, the Green New Deal, and the Netroots Nation political conference.

Despite cable news applying far-left framing to a variety of Democratic and progressive policy platforms, recent polling from NPR/NBC/Marist College of national adults shows the American people support many of these positions with majorities. 70% of respondents think a Medicare-for-all plan that supplements private insurance is a “good idea.” Likewise, respondents believe that a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants (64%), the Green New Deal (63%), a Warren-style wealth tax on high-income earners (62%), and free college tuition at state schools (53%) are good ideas.

Tyler Monroe and Alex Walker contributed to this research.

Methodology

Media Matters reviewed the SnapStream video database for instances of any of the following phrases: “far left,” “far right,” “too far” within five words of “left” or “right,” “so far” within five words of “left” or “right,” or “extreme” or “extremist” within five words of “left” or “right.”

We counted each instance on CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC that aired between 4 a.m. and midnight EST every day from June 24 through July 21, 2019 where a speaker said any one of the phrases. We made an exception for post-debate coverage between midnight and 4 a.m., which was also included. We only included original programming; reruns of previously aired episodes were excluded from the analysis. However, we did include pre-recorded news packages that aired on multiple different shows each time they aired. We excluded video and audio clips and direct quotes read by hosts or correspondents that featured the phrases.

Alleged Gilroy shooter promoted a favorite book of far-right message boards

Media Matters for America

Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

Shooter kills multiple people at California festival

At least three killed at California garlic festival. At least “three people were killed and 12 more were injured in a shooting at a garlic festival in Gilroy, Calif.” on July 28, according to The New York Times, and “a suspect carrying an assault-style rifle was fatally shot by the Gilroy police.” [The New York Times, 7/28/19]

Alleged shooter recommended a book that claims the “white race” is superior to all others

Alleged shooter recommended a white supremacist, misogynistic book. The alleged shooter, who was identified to CBS News and who posted an image of the festival before the shooting, reportedly recommended on Instagram that people read Might Is Right by Ragnar Redbeard. [Heavy.com, 7/29/19]

Might Is Right is “widely popular and present among ethnocentric white nationalists.” The book “essentially advocates for social Darwinism, or the idea that members of certain races or ethnicities are inherently better equipped for survival than others,” that “true egalitarianism does not and cannot exist, and that the ‘white race’ is inherently biologically superior to other races,” according to Rolling Stone. [Rolling Stone, 7/29/19]

Users on 4chan and 8chan have repeatedly recommended Might Is Right recently

8chan user: “Have you read any Ragnar Redbeard?” As recently as hours before the shooting on July 28, a user on 8chan’s “/qresearch/” message board, in response to attacks on Jews and religion by other users, asked, “Have you read any Ragnar Redbeard?”

[8chan, 7/28/19]

4chan user: Anyone who thought New Zealand shooter was not justified “need to read (or listen to) ‘Might is Right.’” On March 25, a user on 4chan’s “/pol/” message board urged people who criticized the New Zealand shooter’s actions to read the book.

[4chan, 3/25/19]

8chan user: “Might is Right by Ragnar Redbeard has helped shape my mind to be geared for action.” On May 3, a user on 8chan’s “/pol/” message board posted an image of Might Is Right’s book cover and wrote that they “wanted to reference this book” because it "will gear you up for war."

[8chan, 5/3/19]

8chan user urged others to “spread” Might Is Right “everywhere,” alongside Mein Kampf. On September 16, a user on 8chan’s “/fascist/” message board urged others to “spread these books out everywhere to kill censorship,” listing Might Is Right alongside Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

[8chan, 9/16/18]

8chan user: “Have a look at ‘Might is Right.’” Discussing book suggestions on 8chan’s “/pol/,” a user responded, “Have a look at 'Might is Right' by Ragnar Redbeard.”

[8chan, 9/1/18]

4chan user: “READ: Might Is Right” to “learn” what the “enemy” has planned. On July 8, a user on 4chan’s “/pol/” wrote:

[4chan, 7/8/19]

4chan user: “You need to read Might is Right” as part of “essential /pol/ reading.” On July 9, in response to a user on 4chan’s “/pol/” asking for “the essential /pol/ reading list,” a user responded, “You need to read Might is Right.”

[4chan, 7/9/19]

4chan user: Some of the “points” in Might Is Right “are hard to rebut.” On July 17, a user on 4chan’s “/pol/” asked if anyone had read the book, writing they “don't really agree with all his points but some of them are hard to rebut,” adding that a PDF of the book “is easy to find online.”

[4chan, 7/17/19]

Conservative media use Gilroy festival shooting to push dishonest "gun-free zone" talking points

Media Matters for America

Mass shooting in Gilroy, CA, leaves three dead and 12 injured.

Gunman opened fire at a popular food festival, killing three including a 6-year-old boy. On July 28, a gunman “carrying an assault-style rifle” began shooting at the annual three-day Gilroy Garlic Festival in California. The shooter reportedly “crossed a bordering creek and cut a perimeter fence” to gain entry into the festival. Local police responded and stopped the shooter within one minute, but authorities are reportedly still searching for a possible second suspect who may have aided the gunman.

At least three people were killed and 12 more were injured in a shooting at a garlic festival in Gilroy, Calif., on Sunday, the authorities said.

A suspect carrying an assault-style rifle was fatally shot by the Gilroy police, the city administrator, Gabriel Gonzalez, said in a statement. Late Sunday evening, the police were continuing to search for a possible accomplice in Gilroy, which is about 30 miles southeast of San Jose.

“We believe based on witness statements that there was a second individual involved in some way, we just don’t know in what way,” Chief Scot Smithee of the Police Department said at a news conference.

A six-year-old boy who had been playing at an inflatable bounce house was among those killed, his father told local news outlets. [The New York Times, 7/28/19]

Police inside the festival responded within one minute

Gilroy law enforcement confirm there was a large armed police presence inside the festival. According to local reports, police officers were stationed “at the festival” and engaged the gunman in less than a minute after he opened fire. Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said security at the festival was “very tight.”

The first reports of gunshots at the festival came in around 5:41 p.m. local time, just as the event was wrapping up, Smithee said. He added that officers already stationed at the festival “engaged the suspect in less than a minute.” More than a dozen ambulances and firetrucks were also dispatched to the scene located about 30 miles southeast of San Jose, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

…

The shooter was carrying an “assault-type rifle,” the City of Gilroy said in a statement early Monday. Investigators believe the suspect entered the festival by cutting through a perimeter fence, Smithee told reporters. He noted that security at the festival’s official entrances is “very tight,” despite a lack of posted security cameras. In addition to a police presence, attendees are subject to bag searches and metal detector wands, he said. [The Washington Post, 7/29/19]

There is no evidence that the carrying of guns by civilians is the solution to public mass shootings

A 2000-2013 FBI study found only one incident was stopped by an armed citizen. An FBI study of 160 active shooter incidents -- events in which “individuals [were] actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in populated areas” -- found that only four incidents were stopped by armed security guards and just one was stopped by a licensed and armed citizen. In comparison, 21 incidents were stopped by unarmed citizens. [Media Matters, 11/14/18]

Dallas police chief explained how a “good guy with a gun” adds to the chaos. During a July 2016 press conference following a mass shooting in Dallas, TX, police chief David Brown explained that when “people have AR-15s slung over and shootings occur in a crowd, … we don’t know if they’re the shooter or not.” Brown went on to say that if civilians start shooting in response to a gunman during a mass shooting situation, “we don’t know who the good guy is versus who the bad guy is”:

REPORTER: We know that there was at least one gentleman who was a subject -- person of interest, during the demonstration he had an AR-15 around his -- around his shoulder. What does this tell you about people using the new Texas law of open carry at a demonstration like this?

DAVID BROWN (DALLAS POLICE CHIEF): That it's difficult at best. We expressed this, it's a little different here in Texas. Where are you from?

REPORTER: Here.

BROWN: You're from Texas? Oh, you know. All right, so, it's a little different here in Texas in the way we view open carry, concealed carry. We've had great dialogue with our state legislators about this. We've expressed all of our concerns. We are trying as best as we can as a law enforcement community to make it work so the citizens can express their Second Amendment rights. But it's increasingly challenging when people have AR-15s slung over and shootings occur in a crowd and they begin running, and we don't know -- or we don't know if they're the shooter or not, or they begin, it's been the presumption that a good guy with a gun is the best way to resolve some of these things. Well, we don't know who the good guy is versus who the bad guy is if everybody starts shooting, and we've expressed that concern as well. I have every belief and trust that our folks are listening at the state on this issue, particularly as it involves protests, particularly as it involves protest. [Media Matters, 7/11/16]

Conservative pro-gun media spread false claim that the festival was a “gun-free zone.”

Fox’s Dan Bongino: “Gun-free zones are inherently dangerous.” During the July 29 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, contributor Dan Bongino said that a security lesson from the Gilroy shooting is that “gun-free zones are inherently dangerous” because “you’re guaranteeing yourself an unarmed target base where people can’t shoot back.” The Fox News contributor, who previously worked for the National Rifle Association’s now defunct media operation NRATV, then seemingly contradicted himself by acknowledging that armed police “were present to engage and stop this maniac.”

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): These images out of California are so troubling. It was a soft target to start with. It doesn't sound like security was too -- it wasn't like going to the airport because they didn't apparently check everybody's bags. But this guy wasn't even going to chance that. He just cut a hole in the fence in the back and snuck in.

DAN BONGINO (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): Sure. And first, I would like to salute those brave police officers. You know, when those problems start, they're the only ones running towards it. And I think everybody needs to remember that on days like today. This is what our cops do. You know, they don't get paid to give traffic tickets. They’re getting paid, but they get paid because one day, they may be the ones facing down a gunman like they did, so a salute to them. Yeah, there are a couple of takeaways here, Steve. The first one is you know, you're only as good as the patrol on your perimeter. You know perimeters, whatever they may be, a fence -- we used to use pipe and drape in the Secret Service which is literally just a piece of fabric. They’re obstructions but they're not designed to be foolproof. You have to have someone actually watching them because this is the kind of thing that can happen. You can breach them very easily or you can just -- with a fence, you can climb right over. That principle applies pretty much everywhere. Secondly, you know gun-free zones are inherently dangerous. I've been calling these out for a long time now on this network. You're guaranteeing yourself an unarmed target base here where people can't fire back. Thank God those police officers were present to engage and stop this maniac before it got worse than it did. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/29/19]

Breitbart: “The festival prohibited ‘weapons of any kind.’” In a July 29 article, Breitbart “Second Amendment columnist” AWR Hawkins claimed there were no “weapons of any kind” permitted in the festival and falsely stated the country saw “similar gun-free zone shooting” incidents in Virginia Beach, VA, Parkland, FL, and Orlando, FL .

As gun-control advocates seize the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting to justify even more gun control it should be noted that the festival prohibited “weapons of any kind.”

In other words, the festival had 100 percent gun control as far as it related to law-abiding citizens.

The festival was held in Christmas Hill Park where the possession of “pocketknives and weapons of any kind” are clearly prohibited. Moreover, a perusal of the city of Gilroy’s “Park Rules and Regulations” unambiguously states that “guns, slingshots, or fireworks” are prohibited.

The nation witnessed a similar gun-free zone shooting on May 31, 2019, in Virginia Beach. That gunman opened fire in the employee-portion of a city building, and employees were barred from bringing firearms to work. We saw the same thing in gun-free Parkland (February 14, 2018), gun-free Orlando Pulse (June 2016), the gun-free San Bernardino County Building (December 2, 2015), the gun-free DC Navy Yard (September 16, 2013), gun-free Sandy Hook Elementary (December 14, 2012), and the gun-free Aurora movie theater (July 20, 2012). [Breitbart, 7/28/19]

Ammoland.com: California festival was “a gun free zone” and attendees were “sitting ducks.” Popular pro-gun blog Ammoland.com called eye witness reports of the mass shooting “typical hysteria” and said “the only thing we know for a fact” is that the location of the festival “is a gun free zone.” The July 28 blog post went on to call the festival attendees “sitting ducks.”

Early reports coming over the news channels on the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting are all over the place, with eyewitness claims of machine-guns, multiple active shooters, 100 of bullets whizzing by heads, etc. All the typical hysteria we see in the first reports of any tragic mass shooting.

Early Police reports are that as many as 11 people were injured and three people are dead, in a shooting Sunday at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California.

The only thing we know for a fact at this moment is that the Gilroy Garlic Festival and the host location in Christmas Hill Park is a Gun Free Zone. That means none of the law-abiding festival attendees were armed. They were all sitting ducks.

The Gilroy Garlic Festival website clearly lists the Christmas Hill Park as a gun-free killing zone, banning “weapons of any kind”.

Christmas Hill Park is a 51-acre community park operated by the City of Gilroy in southwest Santa Clara County, California. Gilroy lists the park as a deadly Gun-Free zone.

The anti-gun Brady Center for Gun Control ranks California number one (#1) for having the “strongest” (read most oppressive) gun laws that help keep guns out of the hands of lawful U.S citizens. [Ammoland.com, 7/28/19]

BearingArms.com: “Clearly, the whole ‘gun-free zone’ thing didn’t work” at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. In a July 29 post on pro-gun blog BearingArms.com, writer Tom Knighton claimed the festival was “a gun-free zone” with “security in place to make sure that it stayed a gun-free zone,” but that “didn’t work here.”

However, since the usual suspects are already making this about gun control, here are a few things that we do know.

One, this was a gun-free zone. There was even security in place to make sure that it stayed a gun-free zone. Yet at least one person bypassed that security in a way that pretty much anyone could and gained entry with their firearm. Clearly, the whole “gun-free zone” thing didn’t work here.

Second, while anti-gunners are going on about gun control, let’s keep in mind that this is California. This is the most anti-gun state in the country. This is a state that doesn’t seem to dislike any anti-gun proposal. Yet if gun control works so well, then just how in the hell did this happen?

The truth of the matter is that right now, we don’t know anything. We don’t know who the shooter was, how many shooters (some say there were two, after all), or anything like that, much less how they got their gun or even what kind of gun, though early reports are that it was some kind of “assault rifle.” We simply don’t know much of anything right now. [BearingArms.com, 7/29/19]

These are Sean Hannity's leading advertisers

Media Matters for America

Sean Hannity is functioning as a propagandist in order to advance a political agenda in support of Donald Trump. To this end, he peddles disinformation and aggressively promotes discredited conspiracies.

Given the intensity of his promotion of Trump’s political interests as well as his reported clandestine collaborations, companies that sponsor Hannity’s show are essentially supporting financially a partisan operation. 21st Century Fox (Fox News’ parent company) has yet to hold Hannity accountable for his extremism, deceit, and reckless conspiracy peddling.

Leading advertisers

Trivago.com (Expedia)

Progressive

Autograph Collection Hotel/Resort

Norwegian Cruise Line

Sanofi

This list was originally published 5/23/17. It was last updated 7/26/19.

These are Fox News' leading advertisers

Media Matters for America

Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

Fox News in its current incarnation is operationally a propaganda network for Donald Trump, using any amounts of racism, sexism, and bigotry necessary to push his message, whatever the cost. Media Matters has repeatedly documented the network's increasing and dangerous promotion of extremism, its embrace of white nationalism, and more. Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Jeanine Pirro, Tucker Carlson, Lou Dobbs, and Fox & Friends are the tip of the spear, but the entire network is culpable.

Following recent right-wing terrorist events with documented connections to Fox News, the media is starting to catch on. A number of leading commentators called for a boycott of all Fox News advertisers following these terrorist events. “The most effective thing Americans can do is boycott companies that advertise on Fox,” said Edward Luce, the U.S. national editor of the Financial Times. Right-wing columnist Max Boot called for companies to "boycott Fox News until they pull back from the hate."

Media Matters President Angelo Carusone made a prescient warning when he wrote recently that the biggest cause of Fox News’ reported advertiser problem was the channel’s own talent. Today, he urged media buyers and advertisers to strongly reconsider financially supporting what is going on at Fox News until there are some meaningful changes there:

This latest controversy over Lou Dobbs’ Fox program promoting an anti-semitic lie is nothing new. Racism, anti-semitism, and dangerous conspiracy theories aren’t unusual for Fox News; they’re the network at its core. But lately the programming is only getting more extreme and volatile, and this explains why the time in between major controversies at the network just keeps getting shorter.

Fox News’ never-ending focus on demonizing political opponents and front-line communities - echoing Trump and framing the struggle against these groups as an urgent matter of life or death - makes the network an increasingly bad business decision for advertisers.

Given all this, it's not surprising to see more and more brands and media buyers avoid portions of or all of Fox News. But for those brands that still haven't gotten that message: The latest acts of right-wing violence fomented by the bigotry and lies on Fox News and outlets like it are a reminder of what their advertising dollars are supporting.

We urge Fox News advertisers to talk to their media buyers, listen to their customers, and consider suspending their relationship with Fox News until the network makes meaningful changes to curb its propagandistic narratives that intentionally spread disinformation and incentivize violence.

Leading advertisers

Allstate

Procter & Gamble

Bayer

Trivago.com (Expedia)

Safelite Auto Glass Co

Elite Singles Dating Service

Norwegian Cruise Line

AC Hotels by Marriott

This list was originally posted October 29, 2018. It was last updated on July 26, 2019.

These are Laura Ingraham's leading advertisers

Media Matters for America

Leading advertisers

Safelite Auto Glass Co

Elite Singles Dating Service

The Zebra

Eli Lilly

Novo Nordisk

This list was originally published 3/29/18. It was last updated 7/26/19.

These are Tucker Carlson’s leading advertisers

Media Matters for America

Tucker Carlson’s thinly veiled racism has catapulted into full-throated white supremacy since he ascended to a prime-time spot on Fox News. Carlson constantly stokes fears about the cultural displacement of white Americans and the ongoing threat to the national culture purportedly posed by immigration and diversity.

Several major companies have distanced themselves from Tucker Carlson Tonight in the wake of the host saying that immigration “makes our own country poorer, and dirtier, and more divided."

This list will be updated when companies issue statements.

Leading advertisers

Super Beta Prostate

Other current advertisers

Voya (Dropped, then later resumed)

Samsung (Dropped, then later resumed)

Sleep Number

Long Johns Silvers

CustomInk

Companies that have distanced themselves

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This list was originally published 12/19/18. It was last updated 7/26/19.

A baseless smear targeting Ilhan Omar made its way to Trump thanks to Fox and these far-right figures

Media Matters for America

Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

Trump pushed a conspiracy theory about Omar’s marriage

Trump: “There's a lot of talk about the fact that [Omar] was married to her brother. I know nothing about it.” Responding to a question from a One America News Network correspondent about Omar’s marriages, Trump said, “There's a lot of talk about the fact that she was married to her brother. I know nothing about it.” [Business Insider, 7/18/19; Twitter, 7/17/19]

The smear against Omar relies on baseless assumptions and leaps of logic and is similar to the birther conspiracy theory against Obama

Omar has denied the conspiracy theory multiple times, calling it “absurd and offensive.” While running for the Minnesota state legislature in 2016, Omar released the following statement:

In 2002, when I was 19 years old, Ahmed Hirsi (whose name before he received citizenship was Ahmed Aden), the father of my children and love of my life, and I, applied for a marriage license, but we never finalized the application and thus were never legally married. In 2008, we decided to end our relationship in our faith tradition after reaching an impasse in our life together.

I entered into a relationship with a British citizen, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, and married him legally in 2009. Our relationship ended in 2011 and we divorced in our faith tradition. After that, he moved home to England. I have yet to legally divorce Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, but am in the process of doing so. Insinuations that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is my brother are absurd and offensive.

Since 2011, I am happy to say that I have reconciled with Ahmed Hirsi, we have married in our faith tradition and are raising our family together. Like all families, we have had our ups and downs but we are proud to have come through it together.

In 2018, while running for Congress, Omar again denied the conspiracy theory, saying, “We choose not to further the narrative of those who oppose us.” [MinnPost, 8/8/16; The Associated Press, 10/17/18]

NY Times: Omar’s list of siblings does not include Elmi. In a fact check of Trump’s remark, The New York Times noted that in 2018, “Omar showed a reporter cellphone images of documents from her family’s entry into the United States in 1995. They listed her father and siblings by order of birth, with Ms. Omar listed as the youngest of seven children. Mr. Elmi’s name did not appear in the documents.” The fact check also noted that the couple’s marriage certificate listed Elmi as “three years younger than Ms. Omar, whose mother died when she was 2 years old.” [The New York Times, 7/18/19]

Fact-checker Truth or Fiction: “There is no credible evidence” for the conspiracy theory. From a June 26 fact check from Truth or Fiction:

All claims that Rep. Omar married her brother Ahmed Elmi traced back to the same single third-hand account originally shared by Power Line Blog in 2016. Omar and a man in the United Kingdom by the name Ahmed Elmi have denied all the claims. Omar has provided access to the limited records she has as a refugee to journalists, efforts on her part that are later dismissed as non-cooperation. No one has ever substantiated the claim, and “new” information repeatedly spread by partisan blogs almost inevitably consists of speculative details such as a name appearing to exist in website code for a URL belonging to her sister.

Multiple aspects of the theory taken examined in part also fail to make sense, such as how a UK citizen (Elmi) purportedly sought US citizenship (which he did not pursue) or the insinuation the family’s youngest member somehow went off on his own to a separate country (England) as a small child. Finally, we were unable to determine the standard of evidence by which proponents of the claim demand Omar disprove it. Omar has categorically denied the claim and provided records to journalists seeking information, and we were not able to identify any specific information she has refused to provide. [Truth or Fiction?, 6/26/19]

The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer: Anti-Omar conspiracy theory relies on “Pizzagate-levels of delusion.” A review of the conspiracy theory from The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer noted that the conspiracy theory “has begun to spin off into confusing, lengthy investigations incomprehensible to anyone who hasn’t already read dozens of blog posts,” and that much of it relies on “social-media posts in which someone with Elmi’s name refers to Omar as his ‘sister.’” But as Sommer wrote, “according to Somali language experts and language learning websites.‘brother’ and ‘sister’ can be terms of endearment in Somali that don’t necessarily constitute a familial relationship.” Sommer also noted that Omar’s “critics never appear satisfied with her explanations.” From the July 19 article:

Omar’s efforts to disprove the claims have been stymied by the fact that — like earlier right-wing conspiracy theories alleging that Hillary Clinton eats children in a Washington pizzeria or murdered Democratic staffer Seth Rich — her critics never appear satisfied with her explanations. In 2018, Omar showed a reporter from the Star Tribune pictures of immigration documents from when her family entered the United States that list her siblings’ names. The list did not include anyone by Elmi’s name.

“It’s really strange, right, to try to prove a negative,” Omar told the paper. “If someone was asking me, do I have a brother by that name, I don’t. If someone was asking… are there court documents that are false… there is no truth to that.”

The conspiracies around Omar’s marriage have been further fueled by the lack of documents her family has because of their status as refugees from war-torn Somalia, Omar’s reluctance to discuss the smear, and her own complicated marriage history — which critics have used to sow confusion about her marriage.

…

Though the political significance of this history is confusing, it has shadowed Omar’s pursuit of elected office. As she ran for a Minnesota House position in 2016, the discrepancies between her marriage dates surfaced, and Omar’s campaign paid an accounting firm $1,500 to resolve the joint tax issues. Omar divorced Elmi in 2017 and married Hirsi in 2018. This June, Omar was fined $500 for improperly using the $1,500 in campaign money to resolve the tax issues, providing more fodder for critics looking to allege that there’s something suspicious taking place.

On Twitter, Sommer wrote that the conspiracy theory was based on “Pizzagate-levels of delusion,” adding that a recent Star Tribune review of the conspiracy theory noted, “Omar incorrectly filed her taxes and used campaign money to fix it — that doesn't mean she married her brother!” [The Daily Beast, 7/19/19; Twitter, 7/19/19, 7/19/19]

Conspiracy theory about Omar is similar to Obama birtherism. Sommer noted in his report, “As with ‘birther’ claims that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, promoters of the Omar smear are using it to strike at the heart of Omar’s status as an American citizen, even though it’s about ‘her brother’ entering the country under false pretenses.” On Twitter, Sommer wrote that a response from Omar could be similar to “Obama releasing his birth certificate — only to have birthers demand the ‘longform’ birth certificate.” [The Daily Beast, 7/19/19; Twitter, 7/19/19]

Conspiracy theory started on a message board and multiple right-wing and far-right figures boosted it

User on message board Somali Spot claimed Omar committed “marriage fraud” and “married her brother.” In August 2016, user AbdiJohnson on the message board Somali Spot posted a now-deleted thread titled “Ilhan Omar marriage fraud exposure” which claimed, “Omar married her brother Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.” Sommer’s review of the conspiracy theory noted that the user “was notorious on the site as a troll known for making up claims to rile up the site’s other members.” [Somali Spot, August 2016, August 2016; The Daily Beast, 7/19/19]

Power Line’s Scott Johnson pointed to thread to claim “marriage and immigration fraud” by Omar, which is then shared by Twitter accounts and Reddit. On August 12, 2016, Scott Johnson of the right-wing blog Power Line wrote that the message board thread was evidence of “Omar’s involvement in marriage and immigration fraud,” because it “notes that Omar married her brother,” which would be “illegal under Minnesota law.” Following Power Line’s post, Twitter accounts that had bot-like activity pushed the conspiracy theory, and the post was shared in the “r/Minnesota” subreddit the following day. [Power Line, 8/12/16; Reddit, 8/13/16, Twitter, 2/19/19]

YouTube video: “Muslim wins Minnesota Democrat primary while married to her own brother.” The next day, a local news segment about Omar’s primary win was uploaded to YouTube with the title “Muslim wins Minnesota Democrat primary while married to her own brother.” Though the news segment didn’t mention the conspiracy theory, the uploader interspersed images of the text that pushed the conspiracy theory in the video. The video’s description included: “Marrying a sibling is illegal in Minnesota but they did it anyway, probably to skirt immigration laws.” [YouTube, 8/13/16]

The Gateway Pundit: Media “Forgets to Mention [Omar’s] Married to Her Brother.” The same day the YouTube video was uploaded, Jim Hoft of the far-right and notoriously inaccurate blog The Gateway Pundit cited Power Line’s blog post in a piece headlined “Media Cheers ‘Historic’ Somali Muslim’s Primary Victory – Forgets to Mention She’s Married to Her Brother.”

[The Gateway Pundit, 8/13/16; Media Matters, 7/9/19, 1/25/17]

Star Tribune: “Marriage discrepancy clouds Ilhan Omar's historic primary victory.” The Star Tribune cited “recent reports that she married her brother to commit immigration fraud while remaining married to the man who is the father of her three children,” crediting Power Line and noting that Omar and her campaign spokesman denied it. The Tribune also paraphrased Johnson telling the outlet that there were “many unanswered questions.” [Star Tribune, 8/16/16]

WND: Power Line report a “bombshell.” The following week, conspiracy theory blog WND claimed that Power Line “dropped a bombshell a few days after the primary” because Omar was “accused of being married to two men, at the same time, including one who may be her brother,” calling the report “shocking,” and quoting former Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) that an investigation was needed. [WND, 8/19/19]

Alpha News: “Further Investigation Suggests Omar Married Brother.” A few days later, Preya Samsundar -- now a communications staffer for the Minnesota Republican Party -- wrote a post for Alpha News, a right-wing site bankrolled by a Republican donor, which claimed that “research” found that Omar had been involved with Elmi and Hirsi “at the same time,” primarily relying on social media posts that The Daily Beast’s Sommer noted were not confirmed to “even belong to the right Elmi.” Four days later, Samsundar published another piece claiming the Elmi identified from social media posts wrote an email “demanding we remove his picture from our site” and claiming that “in no way am I affiliated with anyone in your articles.” [Alpha News, 8/22/16, 8/26/16; The Daily Beast, 7/19/19; Twitter, 7/17/19]

Jihad Watch: “Immigration fraud: Muslim Minnesota House candidate married her brother; no investigation.” On August 27, 2016, anti-Muslim blog Jihad Watch cited the first Alpha News report to claim Omar “may also be guilty of immigration fraud, as she apparently married her own brother, who is not a US citizen, in 2009.” [Jihad Watch, 8/27/16]

Reddit’s pro-Trump forum “r/The_Donald”: “The left have gone full retard: Muslim wins Minnesota Democrat primary while married to her own brother.” A user on the subreddit “r/The_Donald” posted the August 13, 2016, YouTube video and its title, adding it showed that the “left have gone full retard.” [Reddit, 8/28/16]

Power Line’s Scott Johnson in City Journal: Omar may have “engaged in some kind of dishonest activity in connection with her marriage to her brother.” Writing for The Manhattan Institute’s City Journal on September 9, 2016, Johnson again cited the Somali Spot message board thread to suggest that Omar could have “engaged in some kind of dishonest activity in connection with her marriage to her brother (which by itself would be illegal).” [City Journal, 9/9/16]

The Gateway Pundit: “We reported on [Omar’s] immigration fraud where she married her brother in order to help him gain entry to a U.S. University.” While criticizing an April 2017 vote from Omar in the Minnesota legislature, The Gateway Pundit’s Cristina Laila wrote, “Omar has been on our radar here at TGP for quite a while. We reported on her immigration fraud where she married her brother in order to help him gain entry to a U.S. University.” [The Gateway Pundit, 4/21/17]

PJ Media: Omar stayed in touch with Elmi despite denying it in court. On August 8, 2018, PJ Media’s David Steinberg claimed that pictures supposedly of Omar with Elmi, including one Alpha News had previously posted, were “newly uncovered evidence” for the conspiracy theory because Omar had told a family court in 2017 that she had not been in contact with Elmi for years. [PJ Media, 8/8/18]

Jihad Watch’s post on PJ Media report spread by anti-Muslim Twitter troll. That same day, Jihad Watch wrote a blog post hyping the PJ Media report, which was later tweeted by notorious anti-Muslim Twitter troll Amy Mek, who also tweeted the August 13, 2016, YouTube video that pushed the conspiracy theory. [Jihad Watch, 8/8/18; Twitter, 8/9/18; HuffPost, 5/31/18]

Reddit’s “r/The_Donald”: “Could this State Rep Democrat Have Committed Immigration Fraud?” On the same day the PJ Media report was published, a user on the subreddit “r/The_Donald” posted a link to the site conservatives.al, writing, “State Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) Swore To Apparent Falsehoods in Court — While Divorcing Her Alleged Brother.”

[Reddit, 8/8/18]

Laura Loomer interrupted Omar at an event to ask, “Why did you marry your brother?” On August 11, 2018, far-right anti-Muslim bigot Laura Loomer interrupted a rally Omar had with then-Democratic congressional candidate Rashida Tlaib to say, “Ilhan, why did you marry your brother?” An independent research collective found the incident correlated with a spike in Twitter mentions of the conspiracy theory. [Vice, 8/14/18; Media Matters, 5/2/19; Mother Jones, 7/19/19]

PJ Media accused media of ignoring conspiracy theory that Omar “married her own brother to assist him in committing immigration fraud.” Steinberg claimed that media outlets “just whiffed on covering” the conspiracy theory since it suggests “Omar married her own brother to assist him in committing immigration fraud or some other crime.” [PJ Media, 8/13/18]

Brigitte Gabriel: Omar “committed immigration fraud by marrying her brother.” A day later, anti-Muslim extremist Brigitte Gabriel tweeted, “Ilhan Omar committed immigration fraud by marrying her brother to help him immigrate to the United States,” calling it a “travesty.” She later added that Omar is “a refugee who married her brother and is openly anti-Semitic,” urging “patriotic Americans all over Minnesota” to “stand up against this horror.” [Twitter, 8/14/18, 8/15/18; Media Matters, 5/31/19]

Fox’s Tucker Carlson: Omar “accused of executing a bizarre immigration fraud involving a marriage to her own brother.” During the August 16, 2018, edition of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight, host Tucker Carlson said Omar had been “accused of executing a bizarre immigration fraud involving a marriage to her own brother.” Carlson hosted Johnson to again push the conspiracy theory, citing Alpha News and saying the conspiracy theory “seemed to check out.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8/16/18]

4chan “/pol/” user: “Minnesota elects Somali immigrant who married brother.” That same day, a user on 4chan’s “politically incorrect” message board known as “/pol/” wrote a thread citing PJ Media’s coverage.

[4chan, 8/16/18]

8chan user: Omar “had an incestuous marriage for the purpose of immigration fraud.” A user on 8chan’s “/pol/” message board in September claimed Omar “had an incestuous marriage for the purpose of immigration fraud,” citing Johnson’s 2016 article in City Journal.

[8chan, 9/25/18]

Fox’s Laura Ingraham tweeted PJ Media article titled “Official School Records Support Claims That Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) Married Her Brother.” On October 23, Steinberg wrote that “exclusive new evidence” for the conspiracy theory showed that someone also named Elmi was supposedly enrolled at St. Paul Public Schools and had the same birthday as the Elmi that Omar divorced. Fox News host Laura Ingraham later tweeted the article.

[PJ Media, 10/23/18; Twitter, 10/23/18]

Fox’s Lou Dobbs: Omar is “facing questions she married her brother.” During an October 24 review of some races in the 2018 midterm elections, Fox Business host Lou Dobbs said Omar was “facing questions that she married her brother as part of a fraudulent immigration scheme, an allegation she denies.” [Fox Business, Lou Dobbs Tonight, 10/24/18]

PJ Media: Omar “Still Lived With Her First Husband Throughout Marriage To Her Apparent Brother.” In a piece titled “Address Records Show Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) Still Lived With Her First Husband Throughout Marriage To Her Apparent Brother,” Steinberg claimed “new evidence” showed Omar lived with Elmi and Hirsi at the same time. [PJ Media, 10/30/18]

Sebastian Gorka: “Some people say [Omar] married her brother.” Radio host and former White House national security aide Sebastian Gorka said on his January 23 radio show that “apparently some people say [Omar] married her brother to get a green card for him, and she refuses to answer questions with regards to that.” [Salem Radio Networks, America First with Sebastian Gorka, 1/23/19]

QAnon supporter Dylan Wheeler: Omar “married her brother.” Dylan Wheeler, a supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory who goes as “Educating Liberals” on Twitter, tweeted that Omar “married her brother & was against a bill that increased penalties for female genital mutilation.” [Twitter, 1/27/19; Right Wing Watch, 4/15/19]

The Gateway Pundit: “TEN YEARS AGO TODAY: Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar Marries Her Biological Brother from Somalia.” [The Gateway Pundit, 2/12/19]

OANN’s Jack Posobiec: “There’s actually a large amount of evidence supporting” the conspiracy theory. In February, One America News Network aired a segment from Jack Posobiec, a far-right conspiracy theorist who pushed the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, saying, “For several years now, local reporters in Minnesota and conservative bloggers have been breaking a shocking story regarding newly elected Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.” Posobiec claimed that she “may have married her own brother in 2009 in an immigration fraud scheme,” mentioning Alpha News and PJ Media, and adding that “there's actually a large amount of evidence supporting it.” Posobiec also posted the segment on Twitter, and an independent research collective found a spike in Twitter mentions of the conspiracy theory soon after. [YouTube, 2/13/19; Twitter, 2/12/19; Media Matters, 11/14/18; Mother Jones, 7/19/19]

Stranger Than Fiction News: “Documents show [Omar] married her brother in immigration scheme to acquire a green card.” The Twitter account for Stranger Than Fiction News, an outlet known for spreading fake news on social media, tweeted a video of Omar along with the caption: “Documents show she married her brother in immigration scheme to acquire a green card.” A chyron below the video also included the accusation. [Twitter, 2/14/19; Lead Stories, 5/22/18; PolitiFact, 11/21/18]

Loomer and Jacob Wohl claimed they “tried to serve Ilhan Omar with a sworn affidavit that says she never married her brother.” Jacob Wohl, a far-right figure who regularly pushes false claims and schemes including a hoax smear against special counsel Robert Mueller, tweeted on February 17 that Loomer and fellow far-right figure Ali Akbar (also known as Ali Alexander), would be traveling with him to Omar’s district “to gather evidence of the SHAM MARRIAGE to her brother.” A few days later, Wohl tweeted an image of himself with Loomer, claiming they “just tried to serve Ilhan Omar with a sworn affidavit that says she never married her brother.” Loomer posted similar language on her Facebook page with the same photo.

[Twitter, 2/17/19, 2/22/19; Facebook; 2/22/19; Media Matters, 4/30/19, 7/9/19]

Wohl, Loomer, and Jack Burkman held press conference at CPAC to push the conspiracy theory. Wohl, Loomer, and right-wing figure Jack Burkman held a press conference on February 28 outside the Conservative Political Action Conference to push the conspiracy theory. [Mediaite, 2/28/19; Twitter, 2/28/19; Media Matters, 4/30/19]

Wohl, Loomer, and Akbar released film pushing the conspiracy theory. On March 11, Wohl, Loomer, and Akbar released a film called Importing Ilhan, which was filmed during their visit to Omar’s district and pushed the conspiracy theory. During the documentary, Wohl appeared to report a fake death threat from one of the Twitter accounts he controlled to police as real. [The Daily Beast, 5/8/19]

Geller Report and Posobiec pushed Gateway Pundit piece claiming, “Official High School Records Support Claim that Democrat Ilhan Omar Married Her Brother.” The Gateway Pundit published a piece on April 16 about school records supposedly proving the conspiracy theory -- the same claim PJ Media reported in October. The Geller Report, a blog run by anti-Muslim bigot Pamela Geller, cited the Gateway Pundit article to criticize the “enemedia’s censoring, whitewashing and scrubbing of” the conspiracy theory. The article was also tweeted by Posobiec, which an independent research collective found may have contributed to a spike in Twitter mentions of the conspiracy theory. [The Gateway Pundit, 4/16/19; Geller Report, 4/16/19; Twitter, 4/16/19; Mother Jones, 7/19/19]

The Gateway Pundit and Michelle Malkin claimed incorrect tax return filings prove conspiracy theory. The Gateway Pundit published another piece in June headlined “HUGE! Investigation Into Ilhan Omar Reveals Alleged Fraudulent Tax Returns Linked to Marriage to Her Brother.” The article cited Steinberg, who noted discrepancies in Omar’s jointly filed taxes to push the conspiracy theory. Omar agreed to pay a fine over joint returns she had filed with Hirsi in 2014 and 2015 before they were legally married, which was discovered during an investigation over misused campaign funds. Michelle Malkin also cited the discrepancy as proof of the conspiracy theory, tweeting a YouTube video of Loomer’s August 2018 badgering of Omar and Tlaib about using “campaign funds to pay for your divorce from your brother.” [The Gateway Pundit, 6/6/19; Twitter, 6/6/19, The Associated Press, 6/12/19]

Loomer falsely claimed Star Tribune report vindicates conspiracy theory. Loomer that same day posted on the messaging app Telegram that “the Left wing Star Tribune is now reporting in agreement with us,” adding, “Thank you to Alpha News, PJ Media and PowerLine for their work in outing Ilhan even though the MSM is trying to rob us all!” [Telegram, 6/23/19]

Far-right “Pizzagate” conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich: “She married her brother to commit immigration fraud.”

[Twitter, 6/23/19; Media Matters, 4/21/18]

Fox’s Carlson cited Wash. Examiner report to claim Omar “may have committed immigration-related marriage fraud.” Carlson on June 24 cited a Washington Examiner report to say that “Reporters are finally taking a closer look at allegations from several years ago -- well publicized allegations, but widely ignored in the media -- that Omar may have committed immigration-related marriage fraud.” Carlson also hosted a Minnesota Republican state representative, who mentioned Steinberg and said it looked “very likely” that Omar committed “marriage fraud.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/24/19; Washington Examiner, 6/23/19]

Posobiec, The Gateway Pundit, and The Daily Caller pushed Steinberg’s claim that “source code” shows Elmi lives in Kenya with Omar’s sister. Steinberg claimed that “source code” showed Elmi helping with a website that was supposedly run by Omar’s sister as proof that Elmi was living with her in Kenya. OANN’s Posobiec, The Gateway Pundit, and The Daily Caller all ran with Steinberg’s claim as evidence for the conspiracy theory about her family. [Twitter, 6/23/19, 6/23/19, 6/23/19, 6/24/19; YouTube, 6/26/19; The Gateway Pundit, 6/25/19; The Daily Caller, 6/23/19]

Dinesh D’Souza cited the conspiracy theory to call for Omar’s indictment. Right-wing pundit Dinesh D’Souza on June 23 tweeted: “I’m trying to keep the @IlhanMN story straight. She marrried her brother to evade immigration laws? Then she divorced him and illicitly filed joint tax returns with another guy years before they were married? I was prosecuted for doing far less; why hasn’t she been indicted yet?” [Twitter, 6/23/19]

Tim Pool falsely claimed Star Tribune claimed that Omar “may have married her brother.” Tim Pool, a YouTuber with connections to multiple white nationalists and far-right figures, uploaded a June 23 video falsely claiming that the Star Tribune showed Omar “may have married her brother.” [YouTube, 6/23/19; Media Matters, 7/9/19]

Republican congressional challenger to Omar, Danielle Stella, on QAnon YouTube channel: Omar “was in fact married to a gentleman who I believe to be her brother.” During an appearance on a June 24 video on Patriots’ Soapbox -- a major QAnon YouTube channel -- Danielle Stella, a Republican congressional candidate running for Omar’s seat, said Omar “was in fact married to a gentleman who I believe to be her brother.”

[YouTube, 6/24/19; The Daily Beast, 7/23/19; NBC News, 8/14/18]

Fox’s Carlson hosted Johnson, who said Elmi “may or may not be her brother.” On June 25, Carlson attacked media outlets for ignoring the conspiracy theory and once again hosted Johnson, who said he, Samsundar, and Steinberg had been “following a trail of evidence suggesting that Omar entered into a sham marriage” and that Elmi “may or may not be her brother.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/25/19]

Trump campaign surrogate and QAnon supporter Stacey Dash: Omar “married her brother to become a citizen.” Stacey Dash, a QAnon supporter and now co-chair of Women for Trump, a coalition group for Trump’s reelection campaign, tweeted on June 27, “#VoteHerOut This is America. If we don’t STAND together we will fall to the feet of people like her. She married her brother to become a citizen.”

[Twitter, 6/27/19, 7/23/19; women.donaldjtrump.com, accessed 7/23/19]

Fox’s Sean Hannity: “There are a lot of questions” about Omar’s “marriage to her brother.” On his radio show, Fox host Sean Hannity said, “I don’t know what the issue is about her marriage to her brother, whether that’s true or not” but “there are a lot of questions about it,” adding that he was “looking and reading all the articles” and “we’ll keep looking.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 7/15/19]

Rush Limbaugh: Omar “married her brother illegally” to get to America. Right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh said on July 16 that Omar “married her brother illegally,” adding that she showed Democrats will “break any law” and “will do anything they have to do to get to America.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 7/16/19]

The Gateway Pundit: “Birth Date of Ilhan Omar’s Brother-Husband on Wedding Certificate Matches His School Records.” The Gateway Pundit published yet another blog post claiming that Omar and Elmi’s marriage certificate and Elmi’s supposed school records were evidence for the conspiracy theory. The piece claimed they had “several updates on Ilhan’s story in the past two days” but added, “Our sources are hesitant to go public due to concerns of retribution from certain segments in the US Somali community.” [The Gateway Pundit, 7/16/19]

Posobiec tweeted Alpha News video pushing conspiracy theory. Posobiec tweeted a video on July 16, the day before Trump made his remarks about Omar, from Alpha News pushing the conspiracy theory, adding, “Be a shame if this went viral.” [Twitter, 7/16/19]

Akbar took credit after Trump floats conspiracy theory. The day after Trump mentioned the conspiracy theory about Omar to reporters, Culttture, a site Akbar co-runs with other far-right figures, posted a since-deleted tweet with video of Akbar floating the possibility that Trump had watched Importing Ilhan, saying he was “really excited and I’d like to thank the president.” Akbar added that he wanted “everyone to tweet the president” and “thank” him and other Trump officials for “validating the work that I have done, the work that Alpha News has done, the work that PJ Media has done, the work that Power Line blog has done, the work that Laura Loomer has done, even the work that Jacob Wohl has done.”

[Culttture, 7/18/19; The Daily Dot, 1/22/19]

Right-wing media speculate about Mueller’s health, claiming he may not have written the Mueller report

Media Matters for America

Conservative media reacted to former special counsel Robert Mueller’s July 24 congressional hearings by claiming that his “feeble” appearance before Congress was a sign that “he didn’t write [the Mueller report] himself.”

The suggestion that Mueller did not write the report himself has been floated before -- Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade said in June that he doesn’t think Mueller “knows the details of the report.” Now that the hearings have begun, right-wing media figures from "Pizzagate" conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec to Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace are pushing some version of the claim that the hearing “does raise questions” about whether Mueller wrote the special counsel report.

Fox News anchor Wallace said the hearing “does raise questions about the degree to which” Mueller “was actually in charge of -- in control of this report.” Wallace concluded that Mueller “doesn’t seem very much in control or charge of what the final report was.”

One America News Network’s Posobiec claimed that “Mueller can’t clearly remember what his report said” because “he didn’t write it himself. Weissman did.” Posobiec also tweeted: “Does the Mueller you see today seem like the author of the Mueller Report?”

Conservative commentator Buck Sexton suggested that Mueller was “really just a figurehead to give some degree of swamp gravitas to this sham investigation.”

Fox News host Mark Levin said Mueller is “feeble,” which “underscores that the person who influenced this investigation most was Andrew Weissman, his top lieutenant.”

Conservative commentator Wayne Dupree questioned whether Mueller “was in charge of this investigation” because “he's sitting up there bumbling and asking for questions to be repeated like he doesn't understand the inquiry ....almost like his motor skills are at a snail's pace.”

The Daily Caller’s Derek Hunter also questioned Mueller’s involvement in the investigation, adding that he “comes off as senile if he's required to say anything more than ‘yes.’”

The Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft wrote that Mueller is “stuttering, confused, doddering, lost,” and “nervous.” Hoft asserted, “NO WAY DID HE RUN THIS THING!”

Kilmeade said before the first hearing started, “His chief of staff, his longtime aide is going to be next to him. A late request within the last 12 hours. A lot of drama. What's with that? I mean, is it because maybe Robert Mueller doesn't know the report that well?”

Conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza asked, “Who wrote the report that appears under Mueller’s name? Was Mueller just the ventriloquist doll for Weissman and a Democratic hit team?” D’Souza also asserted, “The telling fact is that Mueller doesn’t seem to know what’s IN his report.”

The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway suggested that Mueller was “just a figurehead, placed to protect the special counsel from having any accountability or scrutiny.”

National Review’s Rich Lowry asked, “With all due respect, who was running the Mueller investigation?”

Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy claimed it was “inconceivable that Mueller was involved in this investigation.”

The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro claimed that Mueller spent two years "chain smoking cigars out back" while his team wrote the report.

Fox News’ Outnumbered guest co-host Tom Dupree said Mueller seemed “disconnected from his own investigation.” Co-host Melissa Francis agreed, saying that Mueller was “struggling” and it seemed like “he didn’t know his own report,” speculating, “Maybe he didn’t put it together.”

Update (7/24): This piece has been updated with new examples

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This list was originally published 3/27/19. It was last updated 7/23/19.

The Fox News anchors of the Robert Mueller hearings have pushed misinformation about his investigation

Media Matters for America

Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

Fox announced Baier and MacCallum will anchor its coverage of Mueller’s congressional testimony

Mueller will testify July 24 to the House judiciary and intelligence committees. Former special counsel Robert Mueller agreed to testify on July 24 before the House judiciary and intelligence committees “about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by President Trump.” [The Washington Post, 7/12/19]

Fox News announced Baier and MacCallum will anchor all-day coverage of the Mueller hearings. [Fox News, 7/16/19]

Baier and MacCallum have spread misinformation about the Trump/Russia investigation

Baier said the Obama administration “start[ed] a wiretap at Trump Tower,” which Trump later used to justify his conspiracy theory that he was wiretapped during the campaign. During a March 2017 interview with former House Speaker Paul Ryan, Baier said the Obama administration “start[ed] a wiretap at Trump Tower with some computer.” Trump later cited Baier using the word “wiretap” to justify claiming the Obama administration had “wiretapped” him during the 2016 presidential campaign. [Business Insider, 3/16/17; Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 3/15/17; Media Matters, 3/15/17]

Baier validated the “deep state” conspiracy theory in an interview with then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Baier asked Pompeo, “So for all that's been written about the deep state, what's your thought as the head of one of the agencies that's said to be part of the deep state and the leaks and everything else?” [Fox News, Special Report, 9/11/17]

MacCallum joined with pro-Trump Fox opinion hosts in pushing the bogus Uranium One conspiracy theory, a Fox effort to distract from the Trump/Russia investigation. [Media Matters, 11/9/17; Slate, 10/19/17]

Baier pushed the quickly abandoned conspiracy theory that text messages between two FBI officials pointed to the existence of an anti-Trump “secret society” in the agency. Fox’s mentions of the texts dropped off after ABC News reported the full exchange and revealed it was likely a joke. [Fox News, The Daily Briefing, 1/23/18; Media Matters, 1/25/18]

MacCallum’s show pushed a previously debunked story about FBI text messages to undermine the agency during the Trump/Russia investigation. Fox News had claimed that FBI text messages showed that President Barack Obama was “keeping tabs on” the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails to potentially influence the 2016 election. In fact, before MacCallum pushed the claim, reports had already debunked that narrative and explained that Obama actually wanted information about the investigation into Russia’s election interference. [Fox News, The Story, 2/7/18; Media Matters, 2/7/18; 2/8/18]

MacCallum misleadingly suggested there were multiple FISA warrants targeting the Trump campaign. But the only known FISA warrant issued to monitor anyone associated with the Trump campaign was for foreign policy adviser Carter Page, and the application for that warrant was not submitted until a month after he left the campaign. [Fox News, The Story, 2/19/19; The Washington Post, 5/6/19]

MacCallum pressed a Democratic lawmaker to support retaliatory investigations against the Obama administration after the Mueller probe wrapped up. [Fox News, The Story, 3/25/19]

MacCallum falsely stated that the Trump/Russia investigation was started because of “the [Steele] dossier and an article that was written on Yahoo News.” As FactCheck.org explained, the investigation began weeks before the FBI received Christopher Steele’s dossier, and it was started after the FBI received information from another source that former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos “had contacts with Russian intermediaries during the campaign.” [Fox News, The Story, 3/25/19; FactCheck.org, 3/27/19]

MacCallum gave support to Papadopoulos’ claim that he was set up and allowed him to campaign for a presidential pardon. Even though MacCallum noted that Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, she reacted credulously to his claim of a “setup,” saying there were “similar suspicions about some of the other gentlemen that you spoke to, that they maybe also were in on this plot to sort of entrap you into this situation.” [Fox News, The Story, 3/26/19; Media Matters, 3/28/19]

MacCallum falsely claimed that rules prevented Attorney General William Barr from releasing the unredacted version of Mueller’s report to Congress. In fact, the law allows members of Congress to access classified information and grand jury material. [Fox News, The Story, 4/5/19; Media Matters, 5/9/19]

MacCallum falsely claimed that Trump couldn’t obstruct justice if there was “no underlying crime.” Trump later cited her. MacCallum had said that “when there's not an underlying crime with regard to collusion ... it's difficult to say that someone is obstructing something. … If there’s no underlying crime, that is one of the reasons that Robert Mueller was unable to make a finding there.” As a law professor wrote in The Washington Post, “It’s black letter law that a defendant can satisfy the corrupt intent criterion for obstruction even if the defendant himself committed no underlying crime.” [Twitter, 4/18/19; Fox News, The Story, 4/18/19; The Washington Post, 3/26/19]

Baier claimed that “we do know one thing: There was no interference” in Mueller’s probe because the special counsel turned over a finished report. In fact, Mueller’s report highlighted multiple instances of possibly obstructive behavior and actions from Trump. [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 4/18/19; Media Matters, 5/30/19]

Baier claimed that Barr was “kind of laying it out straight, cut, and dry” in his press conference just prior to the public release of the redacted Mueller report. The subsequent release of the report showed that Barr misrepresented several sections of Mueller’s report. [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 4/18/19; The Atlantic, 5/1/19]

MacCallum claimed Trump “was so forthcoming” with the Mueller probe. In reality, Trump refused to be interviewed for the investigation. [Fox News, The Daily Briefing, 4/18/19; USA Today, 1/10/18]

MacCallum defended Barr’s hundreds of redactions in the Mueller report: “It is, I think by most standards, fairly lightly redacted.” In fact, about one-third of the more than 400-page report had at least one redaction, including 12 pages that were entirely redacted, and there were more than 900 separate redactions in total. [Fox News, The Story, 4/18/19; BuzzFeed News, 4/18/19; The Hill, 4/18/19]

Baier gave credence to conservatives’ calls to investigate the Trump/Russia investigators. Baier falsely stated, “We don't yet know about the origins of the investigation -- the [inspector general] may shed some light on that, other investigations in the early stages.” In fact, February 2018 House Intelligence Committee memos explained that the investigation was triggered in July 2016 after the FBI received information that Papadopoulos claimed to have access to Russian “dirt” about Hillary Clinton. [Fox News, Special Report, 4/19/19; FactCheck.org, 3/27/19]

MacCallum claimed Mueller’s job “was to determine whether or not there was a criminal charge that should be made” against the president. In fact, Mueller explained that “Justice Department regulations do not permit the indictment of a sitting president,” so “charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider.” [Media Matters, 5/30/19]

A comprehensive review of the revolving door between Fox and the Trump administration

Media Matters for America

Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

Editor’s Note: This post reworks and adds to our previous report, “A comprehensive list of former Fox employees who have joined the Trump administration.” It will be updated as additional former Fox employees join or leave the Trump administration, and as former Trump administration officials are hired by Fox or its parent company

President Donald Trump’s unprecedented relationship with Fox News has created a revolving door between the network and the White House.

Trump has stocked his administration with former Fox employees. Cabinet secretaries overseeing federal departments, senior White House aides advising the president on crucial issues, and U.S. ambassadors representing the country abroad, among others, all worked for the network before joining Trump’s administration. Those are just the ones who actually made the jump to the Trump administration -- several other current or former Fox employees have been connected to various administration jobs but have not received them.

Meanwhile, several former senior members of the Trump administration have joined Fox or its parent company, either in top executive roles or as on-air commentators.

Nine current Trump administration officials previously worked at Fox as of July 22, while eight more officials worked at Fox before joining the administration but have since left. Five former Trump administration officials subsequently took jobs at the network or its parent company after leaving government.

Current Trump administration officials who used to work at Fox

Former Trump administration officials who used to work at Fox

Current Fox employees who used to work in the Trump administration

While Fox has long served as a comfortable landing spot for Republicans between stints in politics or government, these hires are happening within the context of the network fusing with Trump’s administration. The president’s worldview is shaped by the hours of Fox programming he watches each day -- both his public statements and his major decisions often coming in response to what he sees -- leading him to treat Fox employment as an important credential in hiring.

At the same time, prior employment in the Trump administration is apparently valued by Fox founder Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, whose media empire benefited greatly after becoming a pro-Trump propaganda outlet.

Trump’s affinity for staff with a Fox pedigree extends outside the administration. He hired Jay Sekulow to join his legal team because the president liked the way Sekulow defended him on Fox, and he nearly added the similarly credentialed Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing to the group as well. Then there’s Kimberly Guilfoyle, who left her job co-hosting a Fox show and became the vice chairwoman of a pro-Trump super PAC the next week (she is also dating Donald Trump Jr.).

Trump also consults with a “Fox News Cabinet” of current network employees. He reportedly speaks frequently with Rupert Murdoch. And Fox hosts including Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro, Tucker Carlson, and Pete Hegseth all reportedly influence Trump not only through their programs, but advise him privately as well.

Current Trump administration officials who used to work at Fox

Ben Carson, secretary of housing and urban development. Carson, formerly a prominent neurosurgeon, became a right-wing media sensation after using a February 2013 speech in front of President Barack Obama to trumpet conservative economics and health care arguments. He joined Fox News as a contributor in October 2013 and left just over a year later to run for president. After Trump’s election, Carson joined his administration as the secretary of housing and urban development. His tenure has been dogged by scandals involving lavish spending for office furniture and other ethics issues, as well as a general failure to carry out his department’s mission.

Elaine Chao, secretary of transportation. After a career in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors capped by serving as labor secretary in President George W. Bush’s Cabinet, Chao became a Fox News contributor. She left the network in 2012 and took a seat on the board of directors of News Corp., at the time Fox’s parent company. In 2016, she stepped down from the board after Trump nominated her as secretary of transportation. Chao is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); former Fox News contributor Erick Erickson has alleged that he was taken off the air because of his criticism of McConnell at Chao’s behest.

John Bolton, national security adviser. Long recognized as one of the most hawkish members of the foreign policy community, Bolton served in the Bush State Department and as ambassador to the United Nations. He joined Fox as a contributor in 2006 and became the network’s go-to voice for national security stories for the next decade, using the platform to push for military options in North Korea and Iran. Those appearances caught the attention of Trump, who said during a 2015 interview, “I watch the shows” for military advice, and that he liked Bolton because “he’s a tough cookie, knows what he’s talking about.” In March 2018, Trump named Bolton as his national security adviser.

Scott Brown, ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. Glowing Fox News coverage helped power Brown to victory in his 2010 run for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. After losing his reelection bid two years later, he joined the network as a contributor, using it as a platform to burnish his profile over the next year while exploring a run for Senate in New Hampshire. He left the network, lost that 2014 race despite the network’s efforts to promote him, and was rehired two weeks later. After Brown endorsed Trump in February 2016, Fox hosts began promoting him for the vice president slot. In August 2016, former Fox host Andrea Tantaros named him in the sexual harassment lawsuit she filed against Fox and several network executives. Trump nonetheless nominated Brown to be ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa in April 2017, and he was confirmed that June. He subsequently faced a State Department inquiry after making inappropriate comments to a female server at an official event.

Georgette Mosbacher, ambassador to Poland. Mosbacher, a Republican businesswoman and donor, longtime Trump friend, and a Fox News contributor, was nominated to be ambassador to Poland in February 2018 and confirmed by the Senate that July.

Richard Grenell, ambassador to Germany. Grenell, a Republican communications professional who spent seven years as spokesperson for the U.S. delegation to the U.N., joined Fox News as a contributor in 2009 and was still in the network’s employ when he was nominated to be ambassador to Germany in September 2017. He was confirmed in April 2018 “despite objections from Democrats that his past epithets about prominent female politicians made him unfit for the job.”

Morgan Ortagus, State Department spokesperson. After working in the Bush and Obama administrations, Ortagus became a Fox contributor, then was named State Department spokesperson in April.

Lea Gabrielle, State Department special envoy. In February, the State Department named Gabrielle, a former Fox News reporter, as special envoy and coordinator of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, an agency that counters foreign propaganda and disinformation.

Monica Crowley, Treasury Department assistant secretary for public affairs. A C-list conservative commentator who spent two decades as a Fox contributor, Crowley was a reliable source of the network’s typical combination of bigotry, right-wing talking points, and attacks on the press. Most notably, she pushed several bigoted conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama’s heritage, including promoting a documentary about his purported “real father.” Trump’s plan to name her to a top National Security Council post was scuttled by revelations that she had plagiarized parts of her 2012 book and Ph.D. thesis, but she was appointed to the Treasury position in July 2019.

Former Trump administration officials who used to work at Fox

Bill Shine, White House communications director. Shine, a close friend of Hannity’s who once produced his show, rose through the executive ranks at Fox News, eventually becoming network founder Roger Ailes’ right-hand man and then Fox co-president. Shine resigned from Fox in May 2017 after his reported role helping to cover up the network’s culture of sexual harassment became too embarrassing, but he landed a plum White House job as assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for communications. Shine left the White House for a role on Trump’s reelection campaign in March 2019. His exit reportedly came in part because Trump “feels he was sold a bill of goods by Hannity,” who had urged the president to hire Shine to improve his press coverage.

Heather Nauert, acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. Nauert worked at Fox from 1998-2005 and 2007-2017 in a variety of roles. In April 2017, she left her position reading headlines as a news anchor on Fox & Friends, the morning program the president watches religiously, to become spokesperson for the State Department. In March 2018, she was named acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, replacing an official close to Rex Tillerson, who had just been ousted as secretary of state. She was nominated as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in December 2018, triggering stories about her lack of qualifications for the role outside of her Fox News connection. She withdrew from consideration for the post and left the administration in February, reportedly because her nomination was complicated by the fact she had “employed a nanny who was in the United States legally but was not legally allowed to work.”

Anthony Scaramucci, White House communications director. Scaramucci, a hedge fund mogul and a former Fox Business contributor and host, spent 10 days as White House communications director before his proclivity for giving expletive-laced interviews and publicly feuding with other White House staffers triggered his removal.

K.T. McFarland, deputy national security adviser. After serving in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations and losing a race against then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), McFarland became a Fox national security analyst. She used that position to push for war with Iran, defend the use of torture, and push for the profiling of Muslim Americans. In November 2016, Trump picked her to be deputy national security adviser under Michael Flynn. She served only briefly in that position. Flynn was replaced by H.R. McMaster in February 2017 following the revelation that Flynn had lied to the FBI and Vice President Mike Pence about whether he had discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition. McFarland was subsequently offered other opportunities in the administration and nominated to be U.S. ambassador to Singapore, but the nomination stalled over her connection to the Russia investigations -- she had reportedly been in contact with Flynn during his conversations with the Russian ambassador -- and she withdrew in February 2018.

Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president. A bombastic, self-proclaimed national security “expert” with dubious credentials, a proclivity for anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, and ties to foreign extremist groups, Gorka made frequent appearances on Fox News during the 2016 presidential campaign and was briefly hired by the network before decamping for the Trump White House. His job was ill-defined, and he apparently did little other than go on television to support the president before he was canned in August 2017. He then returned to Fox News as a full-fledged contributor, albeit one who was reportedly banned from appearing on the network’s “hard news” programming. In March, he left Fox for Sinclair Broadcast Group, whose stations now broadcast his bigotry around the country.

John McEntee, personal aide to the president. Fox hired McEntee as a production assistant in 2015. He later served as Trump’s personal aide both during the presidential campaign and in the White House. When McEntee was fired in March 2018, CNN reported that it was “because he is currently under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security for serious financial crimes.”

Tony Sayegh, Treasury Department assistant secretary for public affairs. Sayegh, a former Republican communications consultant and Fox contributor, served as the top spokesperson for the Treasury Department from April 2017 to June 2019.

Mercedes Schlapp, White House director of strategic communications. Before joining the White House in September 2017, Schlapp was a Republican political consultant and a Fox News contributor. In July 2019, she left the White House for Trump’s reelection campaign.

Current Fox employees who used to work in the Trump administration

Hope Hicks, executive vice president and chief communications officer at Fox Corporation. Hicks, who first entered Trump’s orbit as a public relations flack working on Ivanka Trump’s fashion line, is reportedly one of Trump’s close confidates. In January 2015, a few months after she joined the Trump Organization, Donald Trump selected her to be press secretary on his 2016 campaign, one of its earliest hires. After Trump’s election, she served as White House communications director and was promoted to director of strategic communications. Hicks left the White House in April 2018. That October, she was announced as executive vice president and chief communications officer of what became Fox Corporation, Fox News’ parent company.

Raj Shah, senior vice president at Fox Corporation. A former Republican political operative and a senior aide at the Republican National Committee, Shah served as White House principal deputy press secretary before leaving the administration in January 2019. In July 2019, CNN and The Washington Post reported he had joined Fox Corporation as a senior vice president.

Abigail Slater, senior vice president for policy and strategy at Fox Corporation. Slater, an attorney who specializes in technology issues, worked for the Federal Trade Commission and a trade association for internet companies before joining the White House in February 2018 as special assistant to the president for technology, telecommunications and cybersecurity. In April 2019, she left the administration to lead Fox Corporation’s federal policy team.

David Bossie, Fox News contributor. A right-wing operative who has a history of employing dirty tricks and smears, Bossie was Trump’s deputy campaign manager in 2016. Fox News hired him as an on-air contributor in February 2017, even though he is reportedly bound by a non-disparagement agreement that prohibits him from publicly criticizing Trump. Indeed, Bossie has used his Fox platform to offer boilerplate defenses of Trump. In December 2018, as Fox personalities recommended him to replace White House chief of staff John Kelly, Bossie made an on-air pitch for the post on Fox & Friends.

Tom Homan, Fox News contributor. Homan served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement from January 2017 until his retirement in June 2018, using that post to promote the president’s inhumane policies while spreading fear of and among immigrants, often on Fox. Homan joined the network as a contributor in August 2018. As a Fox employee, he staunchly supported the president’s immigration policies and statements and called for draconian responses to the purported migrant “invasion.” During a June 2019 Fox interview, Trump announced that he had hired Homan for a “border czar” position in the White House -- to the visible shock of the interviewers -- but Homan subsequently said that he had considered taking such a position but had not done so.

A pro-Trump subreddit went full-blown anti-LGBTQ during Pride Month

Media Matters for America

Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

Reddit prohibits posts that “threaten, harass, or bully”

Reddit: “We do not tolerate the harassment of people on our site, nor do we tolerate communities dedicated to fostering harassing behavior.” Reddit’s “account and community restrictions” prohibit content “dedicated to fostering harassing behavior.” From the policy:

We do not tolerate the harassment of people on our site, nor do we tolerate communities dedicated to fostering harassing behavior.

Harassment on Reddit is defined as systematic and/or continued actions to torment or demean someone in a way that would make a reasonable person conclude that Reddit is not a safe platform to express their ideas or participate in the conversation, or fear for their safety or the safety of those around them.

Being annoying, vote brigading, or participating in a heated argument is not harassment, but following an individual or group of users, online or off, to the point where they no longer feel that it's safe to post online or are in fear of their real life safety is. [Reddit, accessed 7/9/19]

Reddit has previously taken action regarding multiple subreddits that violated its policies. Reddit “shut down several Nazi and white supremacist subreddits” in 2017 after its policy came into effect, according to The Verge. In 2018, the site banned the largest subreddit dedicated to the QAnon conspiracy theory, citing “repeated violations of the terms” of its content policy, NBC News reported, noting that the forum was “host to a stream of violent threats.” And on June 20, the platform banned the subreddit “r/frenworld,” which “featured racist and anti-Semitic Pepe the Frog-style cartoons,” with a spokesperson saying it “violated rules against encouraging and glorifying violence,” according to The Daily Beast reporter Will Sommer. [The Verge, 10/25/17; NBC News, 9/12/18; Twitter, 6/20/19]

Reddit quarantined “The_Donald” in June after users issued calls for violence against law enforcement and public officials. In June, Reddit quarantined “The_Donald” after a Media Matters report found multiple comments on the subreddit calling for, or glorifying, violence against law enforcement and elected officials -- a clear violation of Reddit’s policy. The quarantine restricts the subreddit so it cannot be “accidentally viewed by those who do not wish to do so” because its contents are “extremely offensive or upsetting to the average redditor.” [Media Matters, 6/24/19, 6/26/19]

Reddit has multiple subreddits fostering extremism. Multiple subreddits on Reddit continue to foster extremism, such a subreddit that was created due to Gamergate, a subreddit focused entire around conspiracy theories that has pushed Pizzagate, and multiple subreddits focused around “men’s rights.” A recent study, according to Wired, found that “misogynist rhetoric” on Reddit “has been increasing in frequency and violence, especially since 2016.” [BuzzFeed News, 10/30/14; Polygon, 11/2/17; The New Yorker, 4/22/19; Wired, 7/10/19]

Users of the subreddit “The_Donald” posted comments during Pride Month demeaning and threatening LGBTQ people

Users on the subreddit posted comments suggesting being LGBTQ was a mental disorder or perversion or that LGBTQ people are degenerates.

A user wrote that gay people are “‘proud’” to “have another mans semen dripping from their asshole,” adding, “These people are fucked. They are not all there, they are actually very sick mentally and psychologically, some don't even realize or don't want to.”

[Reddit, 6/12/19]

A user called the LGBTQ community “mentally ill.”

[Reddit, 6/2/19]

A user complained about “gays” and “trannies” being “normalized,” claiming, “Next we’ll have the goat fuckers be normalized unless we reset the clock and put back the lines of normalcy where they once were before it wasn’t a disorder to be gay.” Another user agreed, writing, “There’s something seriously damaged in their brain.”

[Reddit, 6/10/19]

A user wrote that “both trans and pedo are incurable mental disorders,” and another user replied, “Trans is a pyscotic disease.”

[Reddit, 6/10/19]

A user claimed that “wanting to cut your dick off is a mental illness” and said that being transgender is “like if a band of gamblers got together and decided ‘you know what? theres nothing wrong with me wanting to spend money. its not an addiction. I'm perfectly fine now.’”

[Reddit, 6/15/19]

A user wrote that “the function [of] sex is reproduction” and “homosexuality is thus a sexual perversion,” adding that it is “immoral.”

[Reddit, 6/1/19]

The following day, in response to a different post, the same user wrote, “The sexual degeneracy that LGB engage in is an alteration of the function of sex.”

[Reddit, 6/2/19]

A user posted that “the entire LGBT community is nothing but a community of degenerates,” to which another user responded, “The community of gay pride parade supporters is 100% a community of sexual degenerates (and those on the path to eventual sexual degeneracy).”

[Reddit, 6/8/19, 6/8/19]

In response to a post about the “Straight Pride Parade” in Boston (whose organizers had connections to far-right figures), a user wrote, “I don't need a parade to celebrate my lack of a mental illness but it's fun to watch the reeeeing.”

[The Daily Beast, 6/5/19; Reddit, 6/5/19]

A user compared being gay to getting “cancer and rabies” and called homosexuality “viscerally repulsive,” adding, “What sane man looks at a dude butt and says ‘damn, I'd like to insert my reproductive organ in that poop chute.’”

[Reddit, 6/9/19]

A user wrote that gay people “should not have pride in their lifestyle” because they have “mental retardation of a functioning hypothalamus due to neonatal endocrine disruptor exposure.” Another user agreed, writing that, “I will never accept their backward and degenerate lifestyle.”

[Reddit, 6/9/19]

A user claimed, “All gays are degenerate.”

[Reddit, 6/7/19]

A user claimed that while “I don’t hate” LGBTQ people, “I'm not going to recognize a mental disorder as a lifestyle choice” because “it's irresponsible to both the community and the one suffering from the disorder.” Users responding to the message agreed that being LGBTQ is “a mental illness,” which they would not want to “recognize and celebrate.”

[Reddit, 6/22/19]

A user wrote about Pride, “Mentally ill people act like monsters and then pikachu face when they are looked at as monsters.”

[Reddit, 6/16/19]

A user wrote that being LGBTQ “can never be normal” because it is a “mental disorder” and that to argue otherwise is “propaganda.”

[Reddit, 6/3/19]

A user wrote that being gay is “pure degeneracy and completely erodes western values.”

[Reddit, 6/1/19]

The same user also wrote that homosexuality is “built on degeneracy” and that “gay acceptance of the 90's” led to “this tranny bullshit” and to a situation where “we’re on the verge of legalizing pedophilia.”

[Reddit, 6/1/19]

A user wrote that being gay is “a mental disorder” and that “no one can explain why they use 700% more drugs than normal people.”

[Reddit, 6/9/19]

A user claimed there was “no such thing as a functioning homosexual” because it is “a mental illness.” Another user called being gay “a personality flaw” that “we never should have started normalizing.”

[Reddit, 6/6/19, 6/7/19]

A user wrote that “Lgbt is just a mental illness” and complained raged that “we are growing more accepting towards this crap.”

[Reddit, 6/6/19]

A user in response to a post claiming “LGBT ruined my childhood” wrote, “The T part is a mental illness.”

[Reddit, 6/18/19]

In response to a post about the Senate confirming a judicial nominee who that had said being transgender was a “mental disorder,” a user wrote, “Being transgendered IS a mental disorder.”

[Reddit, 6/19/19]

A user posted, “I support LGB. T is a mental illness.”

[Reddit, 6/2/19]

A user called “trannys” “wilfully mentall ill” people “who refuse to accept they are mentally ill.”

[Reddit, 6/10/19]

Users on the subreddit posted comments using dehumanizing language against LGBTQ people.

In a discussion about discrimination by businesses against LGBTQ people, a user used the slur “fags,” adding they are “old news and no one cares about fake problems.”

[Reddit, 6/12/19]

A user commenting on the San Jose City Council’s vote to fly Pride flags near a Chick-Fil-A claimed it will cause “further galvanization and division which will result in a massive blowback to the fags,” warning that the user and others were “sick and tired of this bullshit” and that their anger could “turn into something ugly.”

[NBC News, 4/11/19; Reddit, 6/4/19]

A user wrote of Vox host Carlos Maza (a former Media Matters employee), “Whoever this guy is he sounds like a fag.”

[Reddit, 6/4/19]

Users on the subreddit posted comments suggesting being LGBTQ is harmful to society.

A user claimed that being “LGBT is a cancer to society.”

[Reddit, 6/12/19]

A user claimed that the “purpose of the LQBTQHIV movement is to undermine the fabric of society- specifically the family.”

[Reddit, 6/12/19]

A user claimed that “legitimizing” LGBTQ people “has destroyed society,” and that there is “a reason that homosexuals were kept on the fringes of society” previously.

[Reddit, 6/19/19]

A user claimed that LGBTQ people had “pissed off most of the straight community by trying to make our kids queer,” along with “trannies in libraries, men in girls bathrooms, teaching anal sex in schools,” and “chemically castrating children.” Because of that, the user wrote, LGBTQ people had “earned” “backlash,” adding, “I, for one, will light a smoke and sip my cocktail as the entire LGBTQRS burns to the ground” because no other “fringe group has done as much harm in as short amount of time.”

[Reddit, 6/15/19]

A user wrote in response to a post about an Ohio library canceling its Pride event, “Well good, it’s about time someone had the balls to put a stop to this political train wreck of AIDS spreading madness.”

[Reddit, 6/3/19]

Users on the subreddit posted comments likening or connecting the LGBTQ community to pedophilia.

A user wrote in response to the San Jose City Council vote, “the lbgt was always controlled by an elite with the end goal of sterilizing the white population and promoting pedophilia,” adding that the “good-hearted gays and lesbians” are just “proxy warriors.”

[Reddit, 6/2/19]

A user posted, “Pedophiles are calling themselves Minor Attracted Person (MAP) on Twitter. They are trying to become a protected class by entering the LGBT community.” The claim has its roots in a 4chan hoax about LGBTQ people embracing pedophiles.

[Reddit, 6/10/19; Media Matters, 12/23/18]

A user posted a meme of an arm holding a rainbow-colored gun against a person’s head with text claiming that in 2020, “LGBT ‘Rights’” include “Let me [blurred word] your 8 yo kid, pedophobe.”

[Reddit, 6/12/19]

A user claimed that gay people are “trying to normalize pedophilia.”

[Reddit, 6/10/19]

A user wrote, “Gays can reproduce, and pedophilia is how they do so,” calling that “one of the most uncomfortable redpill modern society doesn't want to talk about.”

[Reddit, 6/2/19]

A user claimed that “homosexuals reproduce by molesting children who then become homosexuals themselves,” and another user also wrote that gay people “reproduce through molestation.”

[Reddit, 6/3/19, 6/3/19]

A user claimed that “gay people rely on pedophiles to produce more gay people.”

[Reddit, 6/2/19]

A user claimed that “gay people reproduce by molesting children.”

[Reddit, 6/3/19]

A user wrote that “homos reproduce by touching children,” calling it a “fact.” Another user claimed that gay people reproduce through “sexual trauma and desensitization,” claiming children who have been assaulted “have an over 80% chance of being homoxseual adults.” The user also claimed that “when a monkey turns gay, most other monkeys in the colony will try to kill it” because it is “viewed as sick and contagious” and “a threat,” adding that people should “keep your gay to yourself” because “you actually can infect people with it.”

[Reddit, 6/24/19, 6/24/19]

A user claimed that the rainbow pride flag is “a pedo flag.”

[Reddit, 6/23/19]

A user wrote that Gay Pride is “the celebration of a culture” “that pushes the sexualization of children,” claiming that “40 percent of all child molestation is by homosexuals.”

[Reddit, 6/21/19]

A user criticized another user for defending gay people, writing “don’t for one second try to tell me that the gay population isn’t trying to recruit children because we see that shit all day long.”

[Reddit, 6/6/19]

“Mismanagement, cronyism and self-dealing”: Following the shuttering of NRATV, turmoil continues at the NRA

Media Matters for America

The NRA pulls the plug on NRATV

June 25: The NRA shuts down its broadcast platform. LaPierre wrote to NRA members, “After careful consideration, I am announcing that starting today, we are undergoing a significant change in our communications strategy. We are no longer airing ‘live TV’ programming.” The NRA executive vice president said the move came after several board members expressed concern the organization was moving away from gun rights advocacy. The NRA’s embattled longtime advertising agency, Ackerman McQueen, which ran NRATV, put out its own statement pledging to continue fighting “against the N.R.A.’s repeated violations of its agreement with our company with every legal remedy available to us.” [The New York Times, 6/25/19]

Initial fallout after NRATV was shuttered

June 25: Ad agencies reject the NRA’s pitch. The advertising company Publicis Groupe confirmed that it will not participate in the NRA’s pitch for business after the gun rights group bitterly parted ways with its advertising agency of four decades, Ackerman McQueen. Publicis Groupe’s position echoes that of another ad agency, IPG, which also refused the gun group’s pitch. IPG’s CEO was quoted as saying the company’s departments “just don’t want to work on an engagement like that.” [MediaPost.com, 6/25/19]

June 26: The NRA’s chief lobbyist and second-in-command resigns amid allegations of a failed attempt to oust LaPierre. Chris Cox, the executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, resigned after being accused of plotting an alleged coup attempt against LaPierre. [Bloomberg, 6/26/19]

July 1: NRA members launch a campaign to reform the pro-gun organization. After reports of cronyism and infighting, a group of NRA members created a “Save the Second” campaign to reform the NRA. Among other things, the group wants to shrink the NRA’s board of directors by more than half, create “attendance requirements for meetings,” encourage more members to vote in board elections, and refocus the organization “away from its current broad reactionary politics to a stricter focus on Second Amendment advocacy.” [The Trace, 7/1/19]

July 2: Ackerman McQueen is reportedly withholding health care benefits from employees until they sign a nondisclosure agreement. Ackerman McQueen reportedly placed its employees on unpaid leave and ended their health care benefits. The agency offered to “reactivate their insurance” provided they sign nondisclosure agreements. According to one NRATV employee, lawyers are likely to review Ackerman McQueen’s offer to evaluate whether the company can legally avoid paying its NRATV employees while extending health care benefits only to those who sign the NDA. [Media Matters, 7/2/19]

July 2: Big-ticket NRA donors pledge to withhold money until LaPierre resigns. The New York Times reported on “a network of wealthy N.R.A. donors who would cumulatively withhold more than $134 million in pledges” until the “radioactive” LaPierre steps down. The leader of the reported network of donors is also asking the organization to shrink its board of directors, remove its accounting firm, and prevent past presidents from serving on the board. [The New York Times, 7/2/19]

July 3: Ackerman McQueen accuses the NRA of withholding severance from employees. In a statement, the ad agency claimed the NRA “is contractually obligated to cover severance” for NRATV employees but is refusing to “honor their agreement.” The statement also accused the NRA of threatening employees with the loss of their benefits and said the pro-gun organization has been unwilling to negotiate. [Twitter, 7/3/19]

July 3: The Republican Party is reportedly nervous that the scandal-plagued NRA won’t be a force in upcoming elections. Turmoil within the NRA during an election cycle reportedly worried GOP senators enough that some “privately expressed concerns about the group to National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Todd Young.” The pro-gun group launched a huge campaign to help President Donald Trump win in 2020, but some NRA employees aren’t sure a 2020 strategy will emerge amid the group’s current scandals. Republican Party officials reportedly said the NRA’s reach in battleground states is what makes it “such a potent force.” [Politico, 7/3/19]

July 4: LaPierre’s lavish travel expenses reportedly cost the NRA tens of thousands of dollars. The Washington Post reported July 4 on extravagant spending by LaPierre in the days following the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. After giving “fiery public appearances” defending the NRA, LaPierre and his wife took a trip to the Bahamas which was billed back to the NRA at a cost of nearly $70,000. An NRA spokesperson insisted the trip to the Bahamas was for fundraising and outreach but claimed that LaPierre must fly “by private plane for security reasons”:

Twenty young children had just been gunned down by a semiautomatic rifle in their classrooms in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012, and inside the hardened bunker of the National Rifle Association, rattled officials were wrestling with rare feelings of self-doubt.

In the past, the gun rights organization had responded to mass shootings with unapologetic, high-profile attacks on any attempt to restrict firearms. But several senior NRA officials — laid low by images of sobbing parents planning their children’s funerals rather than tucking presents under Christmas trees — thought the organization should take a less confrontational approach this time, according to multiple people familiar with the internal debate.

Over the objections of some top officials, however, NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre struck a defiant posture. In fiery public appearances crafted by Ackerman McQueen, the organization’s longtime advertising firm, LaPierre announced that the group would create a model program to train armed security guards who could protect schools from shooters, saying that was the only measure that would keep children safe.

Then LaPierre and his wife left for the Bahamas, a trip they billed through Ackerman McQueen — and was ultimately paid for by the nonprofit organization. Their post-Christmas flights to and from Eleuthera, known for its pink beaches, cost the NRA nearly $70,000, according to internal documents and people familiar with the trip. [The Washington Post, 7/4/19]

July 6: NRA member says three board members have been removed from committees following criticism of LaPierre. In a July 6 Instagram post, NRA member Rob Pincus said board members Timothy Knight, Esther Schneider, and Allen West had lost committee positions after they spoke "out about problems and the need for reform." In a letter Pincus shared, Schneider noted that she had expressed "dire points of concern” and twice requested that LaPierre resign, and she said the removal "sends a clear message of retaliation." [Instagram, 7/6/19]

July 8: Popular gun blog calls on LaPierre to step down. The popular firearms blog The Truth About Guns published an editorial by Managing Editor Dan Zimmerman slamming the NRA’s “mismanagement, cronyism, and self-dealing,” as led by LaPierre. The editorial said LaPierre and “every member of the organization’s audit, finance and executive committees should resign immediately,” and it called on NRA members to starve the organization of cash. Zimmerman instructed average NRA members to maintain their membership enough for voting rights, but “beyond that, cut off all funds bound for Fairfax,” home of the NRA’s Virginia headquarters, until LaPierre resigns. [The Truth About Guns, 7/8/19]

July 10: Documents show that an increase in revenue from NRA membership dues doesn’t mean an increase in members. Bloomberg News reported that the NRA disclosed an increase in revenues from 2018 membership dues by up to 33%. The seemingly good news for the NRA is reportedly a result of the group increasing its “annual dues twice in two years” and offering “multiyear memberships in the first year,” not because of a substantial increase in the number of members. [Bloomberg, 7/10/19]

July 11: In a new countersuit, former NRA President Oliver North claims LaPierre blocked any internal investigations. In a new countersuit filed by former NRA President Oliver North, who was forced out after an alleged coup attempt against LaPierre, North denied trying to oust the embattled executive vice president. Instead, the suit claims that “North had a fiduciary duty as President of the NRA and a member of the Board of Directors to responsibly address allegations of financial misconduct,” which included creating a “crisis management committee to address the reports.” North’s countersuit alleges that LaPierre shut down all attempts to investigate potential financial improprieties and retaliated by removing him as president. [The Trace, 7/11/19]

July 12: D.C. attorney general subpoenas the NRA’s financial documents. Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine is requesting documents from both the NRA and its charitable foundation “as part of an investigation into whether these entities violated the District’s Nonprofit Act.” The D.C. attorney general is looking specifically at documents detailing “financial records, payments to vendors, and payments to officers and directors.” Racine is the second attorney general to issue subpoenas for financial records to the NRA this year -- New York Attorney General Letitia James opened an investigation into the NRA’s tax exempt status in April. [The Washington Post, 7/12/19]

July 15: The NRA faces growing financial uncertainty as two more donors withhold contributions. On July 15, The Trace reported that two additional NRA donors -- including a former NRA board member who asked not to be named -- are attempting “to force reform at the scandal-rocked organization by starving it of funding.” The two donors are halting plans to leave the NRA large sums in their respective wills until the board of directors is restructured and LaPierre steps down. One of the donors referred to the board as “the disease” while the scandal-ridden leader of the organization is “the symptom.” [The Trace, 7/15/19]

July 18: NRA board member and former President Marion Hammer demands other falls in line behind LaPierre. The group "Save the Second" posted to its Facebook page a leaked email from former NRA President Marion Hammer regarding board members who lost committee assignments, which some alleged was retribution for criticizing LaPierre. In her email, Hammer said board members “have a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interests of” the NRA, but “some have chosen not to do so.” Hammer went on to say those board members who did not get a committee assignment should “consider whether or not they want to help us save the Second Amendment or continue on a course detrimental to NRA and our mission.” [Slate, 7/18/19]

July 30: Former NRA employee alleges organization’s outside law firm bullied those who sounded the alarm about “problematic payments.” ProPublica, in partnership with The Trace and The New Yorker, reported that a former senior employee in the NRA’s treasurer’s office, Emily Cummins, produced a written statement saying that outside counsel William A. Brewer III “tried to thwart” NRA accountants’ efforts to “draw attention to to the problematic payments” made by the gun group's leadership. Brewer's firm billed the NRA $24 million over 13 months, including charges for more than $97,000 per day in the first quarter of 2019. According to ProPublica, Cummins accused Brewer of “trying to intimidate, deceive and silence NRA staff” and some accountants were “growing increasingly troubled by the organization’s mismanagement” and spending. Cummins wrote that the NRA’s outside counsel “threatened our professional livelihoods” and kept “‘burn books’ filled with personal information that he could use against individuals.” Both Brewer’s firm and the NRA denied Cummins’ allegations. [ProPublica, 7/30/19]

August 1: Three NRA board members resign after their confidence in the organization’s management was “shattered.” Three NRA board members -- Esther Schneider, Sean Maloney, and Timothy Knight -- resigned on August 1 after raising concerns about the NRA’s exorbitant spending and mismanagement. In their resignation letter, the former board members said they hoped NRA leadership would “recognize the seriousness of these allegations and work with us,” but they were instead “stonewalled, accused of disloyalty, stripped of committee assignments and denied effective counsel” to properly resign from the board. Board member, lobbyist, and former NRA President Marion Hammer said the departing group “made a treacherous attempt to overthrow leadership” and told them, “Don’t let the door hit you in the back on the way out.” [The Washington Post, 8/1/19]

This piece was originally published July 11 and is being updated with additional information as the story develops.

Correction (7/12/19): This piece originally mischaracterized Rob Pincus as a member of the NRA's board and erroneously said he had been removed from committee assignments; he is a member of the organization but not the board. It also misattributed quotes to him that were from one of the board members who lost assignments.