GoFundMe removed the account of a former FBI counter-terror specialist, after he raised thousands of dollars in funds to fight back against a lawsuit in Rep. Ilhan Omar’s district.
The former FBI agent, John Guandolo, alleges the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), instigated his account’s removal.
Richard Stanek, the former sheriff of Hennepin County Minnesota, filed a lawsuit against Guandolo and his organization Understanding the Threat in 2017, alleging Guandolo assaulted him at a sheriff’s conference at the Atlantis Casino resort.
In June 2017, Stanek spoke at the National Sheriffs Association’s annual conference in Reno. He claims he met with Guandolo during the conference to discuss allegations published by UTT accusing Stankek of ignoring the growing jihadi threat in Minnesota.
Guandolo allegedly accused Stanek of supporting Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and then a physical altercation ignited. Following the incident, Stanek requested a restraining order accusing Guandolo of shoving him into a wall.
“Stanek wrote that he grabbed Guandolo’s necktie and locked his arm in self defense and Guandolo then threw two punches at Stanek, hitting him once on the left side of his face,” the restraining order said according to an ABC local affiliate.
UTT, an organization dedicated to providing strategic and operational threat-focused consultation to law enforcement officials, claims video and audio recordings show that Stanek initiated the violence and Guandolo acted in self defense after Guandolo refused to remove the article that was critical of Stanek and provoked the confrontation.
In October 2017, prosecutors in Nevada decided not to press criminal charges in the brawl between Stanek and Guandolo.
Stanek then filed a $1 million civil lawsuit against Guandolo and UTT seeking claims against assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Stanek alleges he had to undergo significant medical expenses following the injuries he sustained from the brawl and has not fully recovered.
A pre-trial hearing took place Friday at 9:00 am at the Civil District Court of Dallas, Texas. The day before court, on Thursday, the GoFundMe account Guandolo used to raise funds for his legal expenses went defunct.
Paul Sperry, a Hoover Institution media fellow, broke the news Thursday on his Twitter.
BREAKING: CAIR intimidates GoFundMe into shutting down the account of ex-FBI counterrorr agent who is training local police to ID radical mosques and jihadist fronts like CAIR after account raises $15,000 of $20,000 goal to defend against lawfare suit in Rep. Ilan Omar's district
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) August 29, 2019
Guandolo posted a blog on UTT’s website claiming the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an organization internationally recognized as an Islamic terrorist organization, is responsible for GoFundMe taking down his account.
“In its work to speak, teach, train, and consult about National Security Threats to the United States, Understanding the Threat (UTT) comes under significant assaults, threats, and legal action. This is a part of the war in which we are engaged,” Guandolo explained on his now defunct GoFundMe page.
Jihadists specialize in using the law to their advantage, he warned.
“Lawfare, a jihadi specialty, the use of litigation to suppress truth, has been deployed against UTT to bleed us financially and take us off mission. Matters have now come to a head, and we urgently need funding to fight off this attack—and win our countersuit to teach them a lesson,” Guandolo wrote.
“No specifics were provided by GoFundMe about which terms and/or conditions were violated. Several emails sent by John were ignored. Donors will be reimbursed by GoFundMe for donations already made before GoFundMe shut John Guandolo/UTT’s account down,” he continued. “UTT suspects it was because of efforts by Hamas doing business as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),” UTT states.
Guandolo has now resorted to using UTT’s website to raise $15,000 for his legal fees.
“Guandolo is a disgraced ex-FBI agent and anti-Muslim extremist who has long peddled conspiracy theories about Islam and Muslims,” CAIR wrote.
The group then touted their success in persuading organizations, including sheriff’s offices and other law enforcement personnel, to blacklist Guandolo and his associates from educating them about the nature of Islam.
“CAIR similarly welcomed a decision by Virginia’s Amherst County Sheriff’s Office to drop an event featuring Islamophobic conspiracy theorist Chris Gaubatz. Gaubatz is a former employee of Guandolo’s anti-Muslim hate group Understanding the Threat. Gaubatz is now the President of another anti-Muslim hate group, RAIR (Resistance Against Islamic Radicals),” they wrote.
Along with being classified as a terrorist organization in the United Arab Emirates in 2014, CAIR has been labeled as a Muslim Brotherhood entity by the United States Justice Department and was found by a federal judge, the U.S. Attorney General’s office, and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals as having direct ties to Hamas. On July 1, 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Solis upheld CAIR’s designation as a co-conspirator, saying there was “ample evidence” linking CAIR to Hamas.
Hamas has also been classified as a designated terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department and is listed as a co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation HAMAS terror funding trial in 2008, which is the largest terrorism financing case in U.S. history. In the Covenant of Hamas, which outlines the goals and motive of Hamas and its members, it states that one of its main goals is the destruction of Israel.
Ibrahim Hooper, a white American convert to Islam who serves as the National Communications Director and spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations stated that if Muslims were ever to become a numerical majority in the U.S., they would likely seek to replace the Constitution with Sharia law.
This isn’t the first time CAIR has lobbied social media companies, fundraising platforms, and payment processors to ban conservatives who expose Islamic terror.
In April, investigative journalist Laura Loomer filed a lawsuit in a Florida court for harm caused by her November 2018 ban from the social media platform Twitter.
WSJ Reveals CAIR Lobbied Twitter to Ban Laura Loomer https://t.co/QKztaCXqNj
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 8, 2019
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Loomer’s ban came at the instigation of CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) and was carried out shortly after CAIR’s meeting with Twitter executives.
#Breaking
Re: The DELETION of @Zionistgirl18 Twitter account – We have received information that a decision inside #IlahnOmar's staff to call on #CAIR to DEMAND Twitter took action against the top Israeli account last week over her tweets against #MuslimBrotherhood pic.twitter.com/ePiO6tcMiT— JerusalemWarrior (@JerusalemVow) August 29, 2019
CAIR has been accused of targeting Jewish conservative Twitter users who oppose Islamic terror and Ilhan Omar, who they endorsed and financially supported.
Article posted with permission from Laura Loomer
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