Thread by @emlas

The dark web of Leonard Leo, Kavanaugh & GOP legal cesspool. Been working w/@JamesFourM on all things LL. This wk brings new context, exposing GOP conspiracy behind this SCOTUS nom

I'll lay out domestic front & soon Jay's gonna drop the international heat 🔥🔥🔥

[THREAD]

July 9, 2018: Trump Announces Brett Kavanaugh as SCOTUS Nominee

Trump began his speech noting key attendees in the East Room that evening, including Scalia's widow, Maureen. A similar intro to the one he gave during the Gorsuch announcement in 2017.

At the beginning of Trump's speech there was a 2nd shoutout that got little to no attention

nytimes.com/2018/07/09/us/…

No one really seemed interested in exploring why Reagan's AG--a major conservative legal activist-- was in the East Room during the Kavanaugh announcement + got shoutout before Trump even named his pick.

But for me.. This detail was my key takeaway👇

Good ole Maggie had a different *but perhaps equally important* take @JamesFourM

She saw the Kavanaugh nomination as a big Sekulow win (& that this detail was worth pointing out).

It's all about what happens in the shadows:

Jay Sekulow is not just "one of Trump's private lawyers" (per Maggie H descrip)

Edwin Meese III is not just a former US Attorney General

C. Boyden Gray is not just a tobacco heir

Leonard Leo is not just Exec VP- Federalist Society

Quick refresher: This GOP crew (Sekulow, Meese, Gray, Leo) are the 4 horsemen (circa George W. Bush presidency)

As WH counsel for HW Bush, Gray ordered FBI to investigate Anita Hill's accusations during Thomas hearings. The game has since changed.

wsj.com/articles/SB111…

This Leonard Leo mega-thread covers most of what you need to know about the man Clarence Thomas considers 3rd most powerful in the world⤵️

Let's run-through the highlights:

Leonard Leo & Scott Pruitt are BFFs.

HHS Secretary Price made a quick exit for a fraction of the corrupt activity we saw from Pruitt. LL is linked to nearly every Pruitt scandal you can name. I rounded them up here.

Leo owns Trump (& Mitch) (& SCOTUS)

Leonard Leo & his fellow horsemen are behind all those dreadful Judicial Crisis Network TV commercials you are seeing 24/7.

thedailybeast.com/dark-money-gro…

If you unplugged your cable, don't own a TV, or are living under a rock - you can check out Judicial Crisis Network ads here on their YouTube channel.

youtube.com/channel/UCii6a…

You've probably seen lots of this woman, Kavanaugh character witness Louisa Garry.

Louisa Garry is a Judicial Crisis Network CRISIS ACTOR as @SpicyFiles will tell you...

Video:

Louisa Garry was cited in yesterday's New Yorker piece on Kavanaugh accuser from Yale.

@SpicyFiles has you covered w/deeper analysis here⏬

I hope @RonanFarrow & @JaneMayerNYer listen to Spicy's call to follow up w/Louisa Garry & JCN‼️

You won't be able to find all of Judicial Crisis Network's ads on their YouTube channel. Like the Trump campaign in 2016, JCN has many "Unlisted" YouTube videos 📺

Unlisted is essentially the YouTube equivalent of a Facebook dark post. I explain here:

Here is one of JCN's "unlisted" videos -- a TV ad from early 2016.

You might be asking yourself -- which US President nominated Jane Kelly to SCOTUS?

No one nominated Jane Kelly.

In March 2016, she was reported as a **potential** SCOTUS nominee. Judicial Crisis Network pounced on Kelly immediately.

Buying the highest court in the land requires some serious dedication. No stone unturned.

thedailybeast.com/dark-money-gro…

Buying the highest court in the land is also quite expensive.

Leonard Leo & his horsemen have an endless flow of dark money at their fingertips and they spend big via Judicial Crisis Network -- to the point of saturation as @SpicyFiles reports:

And if you're buying the highest court in the land, you make sure ur 💰's on the right horse, cc @LuluLemew

LL/horsemen learned lesson w/Justice Roberts' betrayal (⬇️)

To ensure loyalty to their agenda they need puppet judges (& some Kompromat) 🤔

The 4 horseman of the GOP judiciary coup are very tight w/Justice Thomas:

-Clarence sats LL is 3rd most powerful person in world
-Linked to Ginni Thomas (wife) via Corkerys
-Leo & Ginni were the founders of Groundswell, synchronized GOP "journalism"

I know this is a lot of info but Groundswell is an important piece of the GOP judiciary coup. Leonard Leo & Edwin Meese were known contributors to Groundswell

@DavidCornDC did epic rptg on this in 2013.

Groundswell significance/key pts broken down here:

Groundswell is important: shows breadth of GOP conspiracy to stack compromised, conservative activist judiciary--beyond legal sphere

The 4 horseman are 4 lawyers; 4 lawyers at head of a secret grp helping right-wing journalists to collaborate

@DavidCornDC got his hands on notes from a Groundswell mtg, describing "a 30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation"

Groundswell may have looked like it was just about issue advocacy. But it was always about taking the courts.

motherjones.com/politics/2013/…

Steve Bannon, Matt Boyle & other Breitbart writers were known Groundswellers.
Trump nat sec advisor John Bolton was also an active participant (Recall his PACs activities 2013-14.

4 Horsemen + Mercers? These 2 links form Exhibit A.

4 Horsemen + Mercers

Exhibit B: Mercer family has given millions to the Federalist Society (of which Leo is Exec VP).

Note timing: "since 2013"

publicintegrity.org/2017/04/28/208…

4 Horsemen + Mercers

Exhibit C: Same time you have the birth of Reclaim New York. Founded ~2013-14.

Leonard Leo has long sat on Reclaim's very small board w/Mercer daughters (+ Bannon who left in Aug 2016)

h/t @WendySiegelman

Sept 5, 2018: Day 2 Kavanaugh hearings; Sen Sheldon Whitehouse lays out a near copy of Groundswell 2013 agenda looking at recent SCOTUS 5-4 cases

Vast conspiracy: GOP waged + winning their "30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation"

pic:

Also in late 2013, The Federalist (as in #WhoFundsTheFederalist) was founded. For those who confuse Federalist w/Federalist Society-- you are excused b/c you're prob right in the end

4 horsemen launched "30 front war" -- multiple fronts, workstreams..

Worth repeating: Federalist launched Sept 2013, few mos after Groundswell took off

Federalist content aligned w/GSwell goals.

Federalist's been ground zero for GOP fave fake narratives from hoax Planned Parenthood vids (2015) to DOJ attacks (2018)

Worth mentioning that seemingly shared agenda of GOP 4 Horsemen & Federalist pub often echo the sentiments of a specific faction of the George W. Bush White House--specifically, Team Cheney

Both John Bolton & Blackwater resurface, Libby pardoned - lots of Cheney lurking about🤔

And worth everything to the Cheney faction.. the Libby pardon

These dark GOP operatives generated all that neg sentiment towards GW Bush for pubs like Breitbart to push.

1 GSwell workstream was Karl Rove smear campaign. What timing, Jeff Sessions! ⬇️

Which is why it was no shock to find this old tweet from husband of Chuck Grassley aide BARBARA LEDEEN (you know, Judge Kavanaugh's email buddy who had a mole spying on the left...)

GW Bush was dead to them when he only commuted Libby's sentence, despite their pleas & demands.

Browse through what is still live of The Federalist's views on both Scooter Libby & Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.

Start here.

If you were wondering where Trump got his early witch hunt talking pts--look no further...

thefederalist.com/2017/03/01/tru…

Know who cared an awful lot about Scooter Libby's situation?

Former US AG Edwin Meese III

(also Tucker Carlson's dad...)

scooterlibby.com/committee/defa…

Meese was on the advisory cmte of the Libby Legal Defense Fund.

This may explain the type of work the former AG did within the Groundswell project...

scooterlibby.com/committee/defa…

A little detail in @DavidCornDC 2013 Groundswell follow-up:

Former US Attorney General's place in the "30 front" war was leading the Karl Rove smear campaign. Sick dude.

Guessing Meese has Jeff Sessions on speed dial (or at least did back in '13)...

motherjones.com/politics/2013/…

This 2013 piece fills in all the missing pieces on the strange civil war that catapulted the GOP to the blindly partisan, loyalty-obsessed, no morals party it is today in 2018.

THE ROVE PROJECT was key moment along GOP's road to Trump (& Kavanaugh)

motherjones.com/politics/2013/…

So fast-forward to July 9, 2018 announcement of Kavanaugh SCOTUS nom.

Trump had good reason to name-drop Former AG Edwin Meese in his intro. Meese's role & connections to the Kavanaugh pick...pretty deep.

Meet Meese doppelgänger John Malcolm.

Director of the MEESE Center for Legal & Judicial Studies, and Senior Legal Fellow, with The Heritage Foundation.

Malcolm, the Director of the MEESE Center for Legal & Judicial Studies was right by the boss' side in the East Room of the WH for the Kavanaugh announcement.

law.com/nationallawjou…

The Kavanaugh nomination was a cake baked long before that night in early July 2018.

We know the Kavanaugh web domain was acquired in 2017; thanks @ninaandtito & @spicyfiles for loading us up w/receipts.

And the GOP's four horsemen have deployed their coalition to defend Kavanaugh & destroy anyone that gets in the way of his confirmation at all costs.

Not many new names making headlines here...

JCN operatives, and of course, Ed Whelan.

The 4 horsemen & their henchmen are in hail mary mode.

Ed Whelan is not a rogue GOP operative. He is part of a robust team.

This @SteveSchmidtSES thread 🔥 

Again, Ed Whelan is no rogue right wing conspiracy nut. His recent efforts were aided by a GOP PR "powerhouse," CRC

politico.com/story/2018/09/…

The same GOP PR shop that acquired Kellyanne Conway's polling company.

@SpicyFiles paints a clear picture: there's little-to-no distance between this coalition & the WH.

In light of Mr. Whelan's Kavanaugh evil twin conspiracy dumpster fire, his org, the Ethics & Public Policy Center (EPPC) released a statement yesterday.

Barely a slap on the wrist. So much for those ethics.

eppc.org/publications/s…

So @MrFelt_ took a peek under the hood at the EPPC and their roster of "ethical" folks in the company of Ed Whelan.

Felt's highlights caught my eye.

So as @MrFelt_ points out, Leonard Leo has a presence w/the EPPC as does a new & interesting name w/both old and new Russian ties - Howard A. Dahl.

Through the EPPC, Dahl is connected to 1 of the 4 horsemen, our shadow POTUS Leonard Leo.

This new name - Howard Dahl - sits alongside a 2nd member of the GOP dark horsemen w/his board affiliations. Dahl serves on the Board of Trustees of The Trinity Forum w/none other than the Honorable(?) Edwin Meese III.

ttf.org/board-trustees…

Howard A Dahl, a new name w/interesting connections:

📌Ed Whelan (via EPPC)
📌Leonard Leo (via EPPC)
📌Edwin Meese (via Trinity Forum)
📌Brett Kavanaugh (via all the above)

🚨 Old & new Russia ties -- what can we make of these dots @JamesFourM?

Lots to unpack + can't wait to see @JamesFourM findings

But you see what we already have here?

-Elevating compromised, puppet judges
-Disinfo ops via Groundswell, Federalist
-Propaganda saturating airwaves

GOP adopted Russian playbook long ago

[art thx to Claude/@maddogpac]

Doesn’t stop here..

Follow Jay’s thread to connect more dots and how Howard Dahl fits into the bigger picture here.

You know @JamesFourM is a puzzle master—now watch it all come together..

⏪Rewind to Edwin Meese's Groundswell workstream b/c this is interesting. cc @JamesFourM

Tweet posted during same timeframe as Meese-led Karl Rove smear campaign, ROVE PROJECT.

Was Trump already colluding w/right-wing media in 2013? Who sent him the Groundswell talking pts?