Right-wing radio host John B. Wells says that “patriot groups from all over the country,” along with Oath Keepers and Bikers for Trump, plan to have a “strong presence” at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. next week for the scheduled sentencing of Michael Flynn.
In an email sent to reporters on Tuesday, Wells said, “We have it on solid authority that various gaggles of Antifa from as far away as Berkeley and Portland, Oregon are planning on showing up to do what they do best: attack innocent people with violence and attempt to silence patriots through force or intimidation. But this time, it isn’t going to work.”
Wells hosts “Caravan to Midnight,” “a nightly cyber delivered television show,” and a Saturday night radio show called “Ark Midnight.” In November, Wells raised funds for Flynn’s defense fund at a “red-pill” conference he called Operation Classified. Here’s how Wells describes Operation Classified in a note sent to reporters:
Operation Classified was a very successful debut conference that we held recently in the Greater Dallas-Fort Worth area. The event occurred on November 9th through the 11th and served two purposes: one, we had a coterie of world renowned featured speakers who covered all of the topics that when considered together, create the world view that many people may have heard of, but are unsure what it means: taking the “red pill.” So the speakers dealt with a couple dozen critical issues in our country today, everything from the threat of Islamification to Western Culture to Artificial Intelligence, the inner machinations of the Deep State to nanotech, biotech, you name it. Secondly, we held a black tie gala on the final evening of the event and raised a healthy five figure donation, given by the generosity of patriots from all over the country, to the Lieutenant General Michael T Flynn Defense Fund.
Listening to a few moments of the conference opener, which has had more than 41,000 views on YouTube, gives you a sense of the Wells worldview: There is a “spectacular level” of manipulation of the citizenry by the media, he said. He went on: Progressivism is Communism. We’re in a war between good and evil. The left does not believe in human freedom.
“This Q Anon phenomenon? Q is a real thing,” Wells told attendees. “Q is real. That’s not some dreamed-up thing.”
“What has happened in South Africa,” Wells warned, “is exactly what is planned for this place, the United States of America.” He turned the microphone over to his wife Brendi Wells, who complained that the left in South Africa had weaponized words like “apartheid” and “racism.”
Other speakers, according to the group’s website, included Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and anti-Mueller activist Sidney Powell.
At the conference, Wells said Flynn had been on “Caravan to Midnight,” discussing his testimony about Benghazi. Flynn, former national security adviser to President Trump, pleaded guilty late last year to lying to the FBI about conversations he had with the Russian ambassador after the 2016 election. Special Counsel Robert Mueller announced earlier this month that he would recommend that Flynn not serve any prison time because he had provided “substantial assistance” with Mueller’s investigations.
Flynn is a favorite of anti-Muslim activists. During the summer of 2016, he called Islam a “cancer” and a “political ideology” that “hides behind being a religion,” and he falsely accused Florida Democrats of voting “to allow Sharia law to be used” in the state’s judicial system. Flynn has also been defended by such Religious Right figures as Rick Joyner, who explained Flynn’s lying to the FBI by saying that his work in the intelligence community meant that he was “wrapped in deception all the time.” Former Pizzagate conspiracy-theory promoter Mike Cernovich said last year that Flynn was targeted by the deep state because he had been investigating a pedophile ring.
