Defiant Stop the Steal leader Ali Alexander says he will 'fight the FBI' and blasts comments by Trump as 'reckless'

(MORE TO COME...)

Stop the Steal leader Ali Alexander is a political operative who has a long history of contradicting his own words and actions.

Sometimes he's humble, sometimes he's defiant. Sometimes he's calmly calling for peace. Other times he's inciting violent actions.

Before he supported Mitt Romney's unsuccessful 2012 campaign for president, Alexander was a hardcore critic. He once managed a teenager who falsely claimed President Obama had blocked him on Twitter, then began trolling him after they had a falling out. And Alexander has spent the last few months, alternating between violent rhetoric and calls for peace, much like President Trump.

After being suspended for a week by Twitter at his @ali account, roughly at the same time Trump was on Wednesday, Akbar has tried to use other social media outlets to defend himself.

For the last two days, Alexander has made contradictory statements in rambling videos, claiming he's for violence, but against it, and he also began bashing Trump.

Yesterday, on a Periscope video (see link), posted at the StopTheStealUS twitter account, Alexander profusely defended himself - but alternated between praising insurrectionists wanted for domestic terrorism for breaking windows and storming the US Capitol, while the Vice President and Congress were certifying the results of the election, that Alexander has vociferously contested, with no real evidence to back up his claims - and condemning violence.

He blamed "mass psychology and peer pressure" as the reasons why most had gone into the US Capitol building, but that "99.9%" of the protesters on Wednesday "did nothing wrong."

The Stop the Steal tweet reads: "@Ali Alexander, calls for PEACE, Twitter suspends him for 7 days. Please share." He called on Twitter to stop suspending accounts that were needed for the "coming civil war."

Alexander began turning against Trump in the video, yet his entire Stop the Steal movement was formed to defend Trump.

"I'm disappointed that the president has pumped the gas and the brakes," Alexander complained, adding: "A lot of these failings are his own. The fact that Trump did not regulate big tech when they were regulating our speech illegally was a failing. He did not recognize the moral importance of the issue there and that was his own arrogance."

Everyone from the government to the Supreme Court to the US Senate and anyone "not well read" is "illegitimate", according to Alexander.

Alexander kept saying he was against violence, but that it was wrong to say he denounces all violence. He oddly called anyone that calls the police or uses a bodyguard a hypocrite, because those are acts of "force." Yet, one day later, Alexander began asking for money so he could hire a full-time bodyguard.

He "doesn't denounce all violence," but does support violent "revolutionary acts against tyranny" or to defend women and children.

"Force is an unfortunate, natural, and justified, and obvious end to the threat of other force," Alexander stated.

Today, Alexander complained about another Twitter suspension ("Twitter just suspended General Flynn. We are under attack") and quoted Rush Limbaugh on Parler (see link), a right-wing leaning social media network that is less stringent about hate speech and threats than Twitter: "There’s a lot of conservatives on social media who say that any violence or aggression at all is unacceptable, regardless of the circumstances. I’m glad Sam Adams, Thomas Paine — the actual Tea Party guys, the men at Lexington and Concord — didn’t feel that way."

Later today, the @StopTheStealUS twitter account showcased another Periscope video, while claiming he was "being targeted by ANTIFA" and "forced to flee DC."

"I won't take an iota of blame that doesn't belong to me," Ali intones slowly but firmly.

Alexander calls comments by Trump that criticized protesters on Wednesday "frankly reckless" and comments by Democrats about BLM demonstrations during the summer were "satanic and demonic." But, even though he sported a Stop the Steal sweatshirt, he only mentioned Trump once or twice during the entire video.

Then he spent much of the video, defending nearly every single person involved in what is widely being called domestic terrorism and sedition, arguing that they might have "violated norms, but remained broadly peaceful." In contrast, Alexander argued, Black Lives Matters demonstrations were far worse than what transpired on Wednesday. He doesn't even seem to think many people violated laws this week, but, that, in contrast, Antifa and BLM protesters were committing "heinous crimes, destroying businesses and lives, and assassinating police officers", despite Democrats calling it the "summer of love."

Alexander believes no one should have gone inside to begin with, but blasted anyone on the right or in law enforcement who were "maligning the patriots that followed" a few "agitators" into the US Capitol building. No one that entered the building that didn't destroy property or commit violence should be facing charges, according to Alexander. He also called Vice President Pence a "scumbag."

Alexander repeatedly said "I will sue your fucking ass" if you blame anyone in the Stop The Steal movement for anything that happened on Wednesday. "My rally never turned violent," Alexander insists.

(1/26th Update: I just noticed that I accidently deleted parts of my last paragraph, where I noted that Ali Alexander threatened to sue the FBI, and said he would "fight the FBI." I'll try to find the video, so I can add direct quotes regarding that.)

According to Alexander, he and Alex Jones - a crackpot conspiracy theorist (who I saw personally trying to get protesters to attack police officers at the WTC remains during the 2004 RNC) - acted like heroes, on the outside of the building, on the steps. And he made up conspiracy theories, blaming Antifa for all the bombs that are being found around D.C.

In the video posted yesterday, Alexander claimed that Secret Service agents escorted him and Jones away from the initial rally, before Trump finished his speech, so that they could "be servant leaders" and march to the US Capitol to "help rescue people", and that they "could have died" doing it. They led 25,000 to the backside of the Capitol, according to Alexander, then went to the top of the steps, and allegedly asked everyone else to back down the steps, but they were overwhelmed.

(Update:On Saturday, January 9, 2021, @andrewkimmel tweeted a video of Infowars' Alex Jones, in which the "performance artist" asserts that "the White House told him three days before" the rally: "We're gonna have you lead the march, the Secret Service, before Trump finishes thirty minutes before...and take you out of the front row and lead you to the place where they want you to start the march and Trump will tell people, 'go and have a meet at the Capitol.'")

Alexander argued that everyone was only rowdy outside, but since no one was harmed, it was all justifiable.

In the second video he posted today, Alexander used lots of profane language, while also claiming that he was called on by Jesus Christ to lead the Stop the Steal movement.

He said that his followers should remain "truthful, moral and rowdy", but not "violent, yet." Then, he whipped himself into a fury, advocating violence against the government in other circumstances: "If the government starts pushing us into camps, I say get violent. I say get very violent. If the government seeks to take your children away from you, get violent. If the government seeks to force shots into you or put chemicals inside you, you should get violent."

As usual, Alexander asked for money, and complained about others who called it "begging."

"My friends, we've been asked to walk on water, Alexander said, "so, lets walk on water."

According to a video posted today by controversial (see link) journalist Greg Palast - who helped expose voter purges in Georgia a few years ago (see link) - Alexander was at a protest in Georgia in December with Alex Jones outside the governor's mansion, where he screamed through a bullhorn, "We'll burn the whole shit down!" (see link)

Also in December, the Associated Press reported (see link): "The Arizona Republican Party late Monday appeared to ask supporters to consider dying to keep Trump in office. The state party’s official Twitter account retweeted conservative activist Ali Alexander’s pledge that he was “willing to give my life for this fight."He is. Are you?” the Arizona GOP added."

From an article posted at the Anti-Defamation League (see link): "Many extremist and mainstream Trump supporters are framing the rallies as a last stand to prevent Biden from being sworn in as the next President, and some chatter indicates that there is a desire to engage in radical and sometimes violent tactics to ensure that the election is not stolen from President Trump. For instance, “Stop the Steal/Wild Protest” organizer Ali Alexander warned in video posted on Twitter on December 27, 2020 that if President Trump tells people not to leave D.C. then he will not leave and he will have truckers sit on the bridges so that no one else can get out."

UPDATES

On Friday 1/8/21, CNN reported, "Ali Alexander, a political activist who has organized pro-Trump rallies, including one of the demonstrations that converged on the Capitol lawn Wednesday, accused the left of 'trying to push us to war.' In late December, Alexander told followers on Periscope that he and three GOP congressman -- Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona and Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama -- were planning something big."

CNN's investigtive team - Rob Kuznia, Curt Devine, Scott Bronstein and Bob Ortega - reported that Alexander said on the video: "It was to build momentum and pressure and then on the day change hearts and minds of Congress peoples who weren't yet decided or who saw everyone outside and said, 'I can't be on the other side of that mob.'"

A spokesman for Rep. Biggs told CNN: "Congressman Biggs is not aware of hearing of or meeting Mr. Alexander at any point -- let alone working with him to organize some part of a planned protest. He did not have any contact with protestors or rioters, nor did he ever encourage or foster the rally or protests. He was focused on his research and arguments to work within the confines of the law and established precedent to restore integrity to our elections, and to ensure that all Americans -- regardless of party affiliation -- can again have complete trust in our elections systems."

Alexander claimed that he "was the one who came up with the January 6th idea with Congressman Gosar, Congressman Mo Brooks and, then Congressman Andy Biggs. We forced schemed up of putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting so that who we couldn't lobby we could change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body hearing our loud war from outside."

At a Stop the Steal rally held in Phoenix, Arizona on December 19, 2020, Ali said: “We will not go quietly. We’ll shut down this country if we have to." Congressman Paul Gosar also spoke at the rally, and tweeted: "I took the stage and made it mine. Arizona patriots are not giving up. Some conspiracy theorists claim, without evidence, that it was a fair election. Right. #StopTheSteaI2020."

"Smile," Gosar said at the Stop the Steal rally (see video), "Arizona and the USA are worth fighting for." After a woman from the crowd shouted out the New Hampshire state motto, Gosar repeated it: "Absolutely, live free or die."

While he didn't attend the rally, Congressman Andy Biggs did address the crowd by phone (link).

However, Biggs and Alexander were interviewed in Washington, D.C. by Brave Hearts host Sean Lin, who wrote on December 14, 2020 (see video), "After the huge Stop The Steal Rally over the past weekend, we had dialogues with Congressman Andy Biggs from Arizona, religious leader Brian Gibson, and his wife Jessica Gibson, along with Stop The Steal organizer Ali Alexander about Trump's campaign's path forward and their challenges ahead."

Alexander told Lin that Brooks would object to the certification on January 6, and that they would prove "foreign agitators and domestic enemies" had "compromised our election in key swing states."

Biggs and Alexander don't appear on camera together, but Lin is wearing the same clothes, and the interviews took place at the same location, as shown in the following screenshots:

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Alexander's history as a felon was first revealed by a blogger who called himself Liberal Grouch in 2012, while I was being falsely sued for a series of swattings committed against conservatives, related to Weinergate, and I was wrongly accused of working with convicted bomber Brett Kimberlin and accused cyberstalker Neal Rauhauser. Ali helped spread lies about me, and raised money for the multi-million dollar lawsuit that was tossed out of court. Liberal Grouch defended Kimberlin and Rauhauser, but viciously smeared me, and has also been accused of cyberstalking by a few far right bloggers that worked with Ali Alexander.

As a result, even though I've reported on Alexander many times since 2012, including just a few days before the Georgia Senate run-off, it's been extremely difficult to get mainstream media journalists to report on the Stop the Steal founder's many ties to the Romney president campaign, Senator Ted Cruz, and other established conservatives, instead of the far right kooks that Ali has mostly worked with since Trump was elected president in 2016.

I've had the same problem trying to get journalists to report on my stories about Kimberlin and Rauhauser, who have a long history of spreading hoaxes about Republicans during presidential races.

Past stories include:

Washington Post journalist Philip Bump ignores tips regarding convicted felon Ali Alexander's ties to Team Romney

Former Leadership Institute operative linked to a convicted felon now works for Romney campaign

Team Romney Did Not Quietly Fire Social Media Director Bill Murphy

Washington Post journalist Philip Bump ignores tips regarding convicted felon Ali Alexander's ties to Team Romney

2012 Mitt Romney POTUS campaign Digital Director Zac Moffatt - now, Targeted Victory CEO - blocked me after I exposed Social Media Director Bill Murphy tweets about "race war", then scrubbed tweets to Ali Akbar Alexander. Now, Moffat's firm could be working on Georgia Senate run-offs.

UPDATE: On July 11, 2019, Marie C. Baca reported for The Washington Post that Ali Alexander and Zack Moffat were both at President Trump's social media summit. Roca wrote that "[an] attendee with mainstream credentials was Zac Moffatt, chief executive of Targeted Victory, a Republican-leaning digital strategy and marketing firm, who was digital director for Republican Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign" and that "Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft, who has long been criticized for spreading conspiracy theories online, was there as was Ali Alexander, who recently became notorious for questioning in an inflammatory tweet whether Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), a Democratic presidential candidate, was actually an “American black.” However, Alexander's ties to the Romney campaign and Moffatt were not reported.

Less than a month ago,Washington Post journalist Philip Bump wrote a story called "A decade of wringing money and power out of conservative victimhood nears its apex", which began with a paragraph about Ali Akbar Alexander, who first entered the limelight eight years ago, when he helped raise money for an absurd lawsuit against me, falsely accusing me of being in a conspiracy with convicted bomber Brett Kimberlin and cyber-stalking hoaxer Neal Rauhauser to commit swattings against conservatives, that was dismissed with prejudice.

Bump wrote: "Ali Alexander is a right-wing personality who has worked with a rogue’s gallery of notorious characters in that world: Alex Jones, Roger Stone, Jacob Wohl, Laura Loomer, you name it. A decade ago, he was flitting around on the fringes of the conservative movement where his past legal troubles contributed to scrutiny of his efforts to raise funds for an online publishing venture. Now, he identifies himself as 'national organizer' for 'Stop the Steal,' an organization which adopts the tagline of President Trump’s ploy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election."

However, Bump and other journalists have ignored for eight years, my reporting on Ali Alexander's ties to Republican Congresspeople and other important figures in the GOP who aren't considered "notorious characters."

I sent Bump emails, DMs and tweets trying to get him to respond to stories I've written, and additional research I have on Alexander's past, but like other journos, he ignored my tips, but then at least immediately blocked me, after I gave up and asked him, so I could write this article.

Days before the Georgia Senate run-off, which could completely change which political party controls the chamber, Bump chose to ignore these initial DMs - cleaned up just a bit for clarity's sake - that I sent him on Saturday.

"Hello, for the last 8 years I haven't been able to get one journalist to report on Target Victory CEO Zac Moffatt's ties to felon and fraudster Ali Alexander aka Ali Akbar and how he scrubbed all evidence of it. Even though my reporting led to their mutual pal (and longtime Akbar colleague) Bill Murphy who was Mitt Romney's Digital Media Director but had to stop tweeting the day before Romney's speech at the RNC in 2012 and he scrubbed his blog and resume because i exposed their ties to Akbar while he was still on probation and showed that Murphy had used that same twitter account to tweet about 'race war' and hype Ali Akbar."

I continued: "Bill Murphy then went to work for the Senate Republican Committee for two years, because no one will report on what I reported as it happened and in other articles (LINK). Eight years, and still not one journalist I've contacted will report on any of this, plus tons of other research i have about Ali Akbar's past. Also, none of you report on the fact that when Ali Akbar got booted from CPAC, the only person that showed up was Sen.Ted Cruz."

"Isn't it more important to report on this Stop the Steal fraudster's ties to actual legit republicans than his ties to wackadoos on the right?" I added. "I mean, wtf, how is it not a story that Alexander is tied to the Romney presidential campaign in 2012"?

After he ignored my DMs, even though he had just tweeted, I tweeted: "After 8 years, I still can't get 1 MSM journalist to report on ties between Stop the Steal fraudster, convicted felon Ali Akbar aka Ali Alexanderm & the 2012 Mitt Romney POTUS campaign. I'm sure @pbump will be the latest journo to ignore my tweets & DMs."

Still getting no response, I made another tweet: "2012 Mitt Romney POTUS campaign Digital Director Zac Moffatt - now, Targeted Victory CEO - blocked me after I exposed Social Media Director Bill Murphy tweets about "race war", then scrubbed tweets to Ali Akbar Alexander. [Huffington Post reporter] @LukeOBrien won't report on this.

Giving Bump the benefit of the doubt, that he might have not read what I sent him, I wrote an email to him that included my DMs and my entire story, with this header: "No one will report on Ali Akbar Alexander ties to Mitt Romney & Ted Cruz." A second email asked, "How is this still not a story?"

I waited a day, but Bump didn't respond and since time was running out before the run-off, I sent him more DMs: "Seriously, are you going to ignore all my tweets, DMs and emails about this? Someone eventually will report on this all....it's a shame that you've chosen to ignore me. I used to love WaPo more than anything in the world....until you hired back Dave Weigel, who decided to threaten me in an email that your outgoing Managing Editor Kevin Merida personally apologized to me over. Is it because you just blacklist me or would it be inconvenient to report about Mitt Romney,now?"

I then sent him the screenshot, displayed below, figuring that would finally attract his attention, since Moffatt's firm could be working on the run-off election, too.

Losing my patience, I added, "See, that, Phil? I'm about to tweet how you are ignoring that I've tied Targeted Victory to Ali Akbar...and they were paid millions just a few months ago by the Georgia Action Fund. That's a really good look for you." Then I showed why it could be important in the following tweet with the screenshot appended: "Zac Moffatt's firm, Targeted Victory, was paid $4,257,259 by the Georgia Action Fund just before the election, yet @PBump ignores emails, tweets & DMs about my article proving ties to Stop the Steal hoaxer Ali Akbar Alexander & how Zac scrubbed his tweets."

I waited a few more hours, but still didn't hear back from Bump, so then I got a bit angrier, which I believe was justified, but I'm sure many of my longtime critics will just use these final DMs as excuses on why my reporting is often ignored, no matter how important it could be to readers.

"You should have contacted me to begin with when you reported on Ali Akbar," I complained, then added: "I just don't understand why you all refuse to report on any of this or anything I break. I've worked with John Solomon, Tom Fitton and Chuck Johnson, and many other people connected to Trump scandals surrounding WikiLeaks etc. No one uses my research. No one contacts me to interview me. You all ignore what many of these people did to me.It's absurd."

Bump finally proved he read these DMs, at least, because he blocked me, immediately after I sent them: "Can you just please block me on Twitter, so I can add that to my stories? So, that, when they do eventually break, you make yourself look worse? You know who else is connected to Ali Alexander Akbar? Dave Weigel. He wrote countless stories on Ali Alexander and his little group of pals on the far right for years at different media outlets, without revealing he was pals with them all. They used to hang out and get drinks. Ali Alexander and Bill Murphy worked together on the Bob Turner campaign after Weiner resigned."

My final DMs included some information about other research I had, and which the Washington Post ignored when I proved it in countless emails to Merida and other editors: "Instead of reporting on Ali Alexander's work and relationship with elected Republicans etc. you all only note his connections to the far right fringe people. There are countless FEC violations committed by Dan Backer with all these people. Ladd Ehrlinger was bought and paid for, and he created commercials for many of these people, plus he was involved in the SuperPAC Supreme Court decisions, which Trump SuperPAC treasurer Dan Backer won, and changed all of politics. And Ladd, Backer and Akbar have a convoluted history, but Dave Weigel refuses to probe those connections, he'd rather get drunk with them, and shill for them."

I added: "It's outrageous. Then you wonder why people fall for fake news. Because you all just ignore tips....barely do any research....but find lots of time to tweet and retweet your pals at other media outlets, while ignoring criticism, tips, etc.Why do you even put your email address on your twitter account if you can't even respond to emails? It's really sad. You're like the deaf, dumb and blind monkeys all combined in one."

"Okay, Philip, I give up," I continued, "It's been real nice talking to a brick wall. I'll return to the search to find journalists who are willing to report on all the things these wackadoos have done...their ties to established GOP...and then I guess publish all these emails, tips etc that I sent in vain to journos who ignored them. The Washington Post has plagiarized me many times over the years....so don't do it again."

(Editor's Note: In a future article, I will go into greater detail on the numberous emails I sent to the Washington Post regarding how Weigel had shilled for Alexander and his pals, without noting his friendship with them all. As one example, on April 3, 2013 Weigel reported for Slate: "Simple: The Bostic campaign bet late on social media without really understanding its relevance. In the short two-week stretch of the runoff, the campaign hired roving new media guru Ali Akbar to beef up its presence. Akbar bought the web domain “TrustCurtis.com,” and hashtagged the slogan. Rick Santorum, whose PAC has co-sponsored Akbar’s CPAC 'Blog Bash' parties for two years running, flew down to South Carolina for one day of campaign events with Bostic. On Twitter, certainly, mentions of Bostic surged from nothing to something. ViralRead.com, a news site co-founded by Akbar in 2012, became a one-stop shop for #SC01 news, with a jaundiced view of Sanford.")