Mainstream reporting from Reuters claims that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now probing into an alleged meeting between conservative groups at a downtown Washington, D.C. parking garage in the days prior to January 6th, 2021. The story was a disconcerting one, alleging breathlessly that a deep-throat, Watergate-esque meeting had taken place between leaders of the Proudboys, the Oathkeepers, and other Pro-Trump groups, based purely upon two anonymous witnesses, a video clip that hasn’t been released to the public, and a single named witness whose account doesn’t match their narrative. To say that it’s troubling to see a major newswire like Thompson Reuters put out something this thin with such little evidence or even sources on-record is a brutal understatement.
The MSM Peddling Conspiracy Theories On Conservative Groups
After spending about 1,300 words fleshing out a fantastical account that conspiratorially ties together the disparate groups that the leftists in Congress and the mainstream media are most threatened by in the garage near the Phoenix Park Hotel, they had to concede several different points that the Feds have refuted the story. First, they concede that “The FBI’s investigation of the meeting has not previously been reported, nor have the circumstances of the gathering.” slapping on another unsourced claim that “A short clip of the gathering appeared in a British Channel 4 documentary last year about the Proud Boys, spurring some chatter on Twitter.”… Cool guys… So where’s the clip? Try Googling it, we’ll wait.
They further revealed,
“So far, however, the Justice Department has not disclosed clear evidence that the far-right groups plotted to come together on January 6.
An FBI spokesperson declined to comment.”
Later regarding the video clip, that allegedly details the meeting, they only report that an unnamed source told Reuters that “The FBI has obtained a copy of the footage”. The only thing more worrisome that Reuters put this out, is that it has been reproduced word-for-word on at least 20 other websites that are paying impressive sums of cash to Reuters for the privilege of reprinting it.
Let’s recap what we learned:
- Did Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio, fresh off of his convenient arrest for carrying an empty custom magazine for delivery to a customer in the area meet with Oath Keepers head, Stewart Rhodes? Yes. Breifly.
- Tarrio told Reuters in June that he ran into Rhodes “By coincidence,” adding “he was inside … that parking garage.” and that he shook hands with Rhodes solely to be polite. “He’s here, I’m not going to not shake somebody’s hand.”
- Tarrio flatly denied there were any planning discussions between him and Rhodes.
- Rhodes’ attorney emailed Reuters and told them “there was no coordination” between Rhodes and Tarrio.
- Tarrio told Reuters in June that he ran into Rhodes “By coincidence,” adding “he was inside … that parking garage.” and that he shook hands with Rhodes solely to be polite. “He’s here, I’m not going to not shake somebody’s hand.”
- Reuters alleges that Bianca Gracia of Latinos for Trump and an affiliated Political Action Committee named Latinos For America First was also in the so-called “meeting”. Was she? Yes. But not to meet with Rhodes.
- Reuters single named witness, Kellye SoRelle, a lawyer for the Oath Keepers and Latinos for Trump told Reuters she was invited by Gracia to meet Tarrio and share information about criminal defense attorneys.
- She said she met Tarrio briefly and that the conversation “did not concern plans for the next day.”
The only ‘planned’ meeting we see here was for Gracia and SoRelle to give Tarrio info about a good lawyer after his extremely thin arrest at Dulles Airport. Rhodes was evidently in the parking lot at the time which if they were staying at the same hotel isn’t at all curious and they met briefly and shook hands. It is with this thin gruel that Reuters and potentially a source within the DoJ are attempting to concoct a veritable feast of conspiracy and it just doesn’t stretch.
What we have here is several pages of circumstantial, coincidental, conjectural narrative that pretty much boils down to ‘these people stayed at the same hotel so they planned the Capitol riot together!’ Its a constructed narrative that gives the leftist media everything they want, but has virtually zero evidence, witnesses, or sources willing to go on record, so in short: This seems to be bullshit.
