Birther witness list

Melendres v. Arpaio (2007) is a federal lawsuit filed to stop the practice of racial profiling by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. The Court found that there was racial profiling and issued orders to end the practice. Interested readers can follow the history of that case at “What’s Your Evidence”.

The Court’s orders were not fully carried out, racial profiling continued, and federal judge G. Murray Snow ordered hearings on whether Sheriff Arpaio was in contempt of court. Sheriff Arpaio in an attempt to forestall a hearing admitted being in contempt and offered to pay money to settle the issue, but that didn’t work out.

The hearing was held and Judge Snow asked a few probing questions and then it hit the fan. Sheriff Arpaio admitted paying a Seattle software designer named Dennis Montgomery, widely reported to have sold bogus software to the government for detecting terrorist messages, to help him get dirt on the judge. That’s not how Arpaio couched what happened, but it is surely how it looks in some emails that the Court obtained from the Sheriff’s Office--and therein lies the birther angle. The participants in that email chain included Mike Zullo, head of Arpaio’s birther posse, and noted birther attorney Larry Klayman. Other information in the emails indicate that Montgomery was the source of the universe-shattering investigation that the Cold Case Posse has been talking about for a couple of years.

One cannot escape the question of whether Sheriff Arpaio lied in testimony last April when he said that Judge Snow was not individually targeted in what the Sheriff’s Office came to call “The Seattle Operation.” Charts and tables received by Arpaio from Montgomery appear to be very much about targeting the judge. Since Mike Zullo and Larry Klayman were knowledgeable about who was targeting whom, having participated in email exchanges on the subject, it seems extremely likely that these two will appear in federal court to answer questions. Judge Snow yesterday suggested that Klayman could be a witness.

I doubt much will come out about the birther side of the Seattle Operation because it’s not relevant. Still, strange twists do happen sometimes.

Mike Zullo: Following the money

Reprinted from Obama Conspiracy Theories

The transcript of Day 3 in the Melendres v. Arpaio contempt hearing is now available, courtesy of the Friends of the Fogbow. It contains a somewhat confusing exchange between Judge G. Murray Snow and Sheriff Arpaio relating to the Cold Case Posse’s involvement with confidential informant Dennis Montgomery in Seattle, and in particular with money.

Q. And is zoo -- did you say Zulu? Zullo. Is he a posse member?
A. Yes.
Q. And did you pay funds from Maricopa County for Mr. Zullo to
go to the Washington area?
A. Yes.
Q. And then I assume you paid Anglin and Mackiewicz their travel costs?
A. We don't pay for Zullo, but --
Q. But you paid Mackiewicz and Anglin.
A. Yes.
…
Q. And so Mr. Montgomery proposed to -- who did he propose to at the MCSO that the DOJ was inappropriately -- I assume it was of interest to you if they were wiretapping my phone, among others?
A. Yes. And mine, too.
Q. And yours, too. And so were you conducting this investigation?
A. No.
Q. Who was in your department?
A. This is Zullo and I think Mackiewicz.
Q. What rank does Mackiewicz have?
A. He's a detective.
Q. Who did he report to about this investigation?
A. I think he and Zullo worked together.
Q. And who did they report to?
A. And Jerry Sheridan.
Q. They reported to Deputy Chief Sheridan?
A. At one time, but let me just say that the information we're -- we've been getting is the informer's not very viable.
Q. Well, I understand that, I think the article itself says, that you became aware after a considerable amount of time that the reporter was giving you junk. Is that fair to say?
A. Yes.
Q. Or the informer was giving you junk?
A. Yes
Q. How much money did you spend on the informant?
A. I don't recall.
Q. How much money did you spend on the investigation?
A. I don't have the figures.
…
Q. Did you keep any of the materials that Mr. Montgomery has
provided you?
A. I don't have them.
Q. Who does?
A. I believe Zullo does.
Q. And is he subject to your control --
A. Yes.
Q. -- as a member of your posse?
A. Yes.
…
THE COURT: I just wanted to reiterate some of the
things I said during my questioning of you to make sure
everybody was clear. I was told over lunch that posse funds
like Mr. Zullo -- Mr. Zullo's the head of one of your posses.
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Is it the Cold Case posse?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: I was told that you also have various sources of funding within the MCSO, like the Cold Case posse has its own funds. Is that possible?
THE WITNESS: No.
THE COURT: Okay. Do you know what the possible funding sources were for the investigations that were related to the Seattle operation? When I say "operation," I mean the one involving Mr. Montgomery and the investigations with Brian Mackiewicz and Mr. Anglin.
THE WITNESS: I'm not sure if it was our RICO, which is drugs seized -- I mean moneys seized from drug peddlers, or our general funds.
THE COURT: Were there other possible funds that might be involved that fund various like, for example, the Cold Case posse?
THE WITNESS: They're independent 501(c) --
THE COURT: 501(c)(3).
THE WITNESS: -- and they raise their own money.
THE COURT: All right. And you don't have any control over those funds?
THE WITNESS: No.

OK, you got that?

Where the hell is Mike Zullo?

This is a real question, and I hope that someone who knows will tell me in a comment to this article. I don’t want an address or anything, just whether Zullo is still in the Phoenix area or not. I received a report that all of his and his family’s property was sold last year, and I am not aware of any public sightings of him this year. I ask the question because Mike Zullo may be needed. Here’s why.
Mike Zullo was intimately involved in the Dennis Montgomery confidential informant investigation by Sheriff Arpaio’s office. There is a pivotal question hanging in the Melendres contempt proceedings against Joe Arpaio and Chief Deputy Sheridan: Was the purpose of the investigation to get something on Judge Snow or not? Mike Zullo may have the answer, and the question will surely be asked. Stephen Lemons reported:

But at the recent status hearing, Snow said documents confiscated by the monitor suggested that “previous testimony offered in this matter may have been untruthful.”

Mike Zullo can put things in context, but he cannot be subpoenaed if he can’t be found, and he cannot be compelled to testify if he is outside the court’s jurisdiction.

Update:

Zullo has been found in the Phoenix area, he was subpoenaed, and he did testify at the Melendres trial.

Universe-shattering investigation revealed in court testimony Friday

It was somewhat of an anticlimax when Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan revealed in federal court Friday details of the “universe shattering” investigation Mike Zullo hinted about a year and a half ago. We already knew much of the story. Let’s view the facts chronologically.

Mike Zullo was the one who exposed the universe-shattering investigation in November, 2013. Carl Gallups tweeted:

BREAKING! BREAKING! ANNOUNCED TODAY - Zullo: We have universe-shattering information! PLUS: Arpaio is fully... http://t.co/MSy3DJMHDd

— PPSIMMONS (@PPSIMMONS) November 23, 2013

Zullo spoke to the Surprise Arizona Tea Party Patriots about that time. Sharon Rondeau interviewed an attendee:

Zullo “said that the investigation that they started ‘turned very dark…’

We can place a proximate time on the start of the investigation from a confidential informant inside the Sheriff’s Office. Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times newspaper wrote (in June 2014) that he had discovered:

My sources -- one of whom is a former detective with the MCSO's Special Investigations Division and is well-acquainted with SID and those in it -- say Anglin and Mackiewicz were involved in an odd investigation dating back to October 2013.

Amazing: Mike Zullo now on the Court's RADAR

Mike Zullo

We never expected the Zullo inquisition, but Mike Zullo is now tied up with Joe Arpaio’s contempt proceeding before federal judge G. Murray Snow in Phoenix.

Mike Zullo and two Maricopa County deputies traveled to Seattle to meet with a known con man, Dennis Montgomery. Arpaio admitted in court yesterday that Montgomery was to supply information on federal judges, including Judge Snow. Snow examined Arpaio closely yesterday, with a copy of the Stephen Lemons article from June of last year in hand, exposing the trip. Judge Snow ordered that the Sheriff’s Office and the Cold Case Posse not destroy any records relating to communications with Montgomery.

Zullo, happy to give affidavits in out of state cases, blew off subpoenas from Orly Taitz in birther lawsuits. It is an Obot’s web dream to see Zullo testify under oath. Will he say that public funds went to a con man to investigate the judge in Arpaio’s case, or will he say that the money was funding the Cold Case Posse’s “universe shattering” investigation of Barack Obama’s birth certificate?

Explosive: Arpaio Admits Awful Accusation

Day 3 of Arpaio contempt hearing

Arpaio critics have known for some time that Sheriff Joe Arpaio was involved with a Seattle con man named Dennis Montgomery. He sent two deputies plus Mike Zullo to Washington State to meet Montgomery, reports of payments in excess of $100,000 plus $50,000 in computer equipment have appeared, and there was also a meeting between Arpaio and a Montgomery associate in Phoenix. Phoenix New Times reporter Stephen Lemons spilled the beans from a confidential source early last June.

I also believe that the "universe-shattering" reveal from Mike Zullo and the Cold Case Posse was also based on the Montgomery information, explaining why it was very suddenly hushed up when Montgomery's identity and past history became public.

Despite third-party denials, Sheriff Arpaio admitted in court today that he did indeed pay Montgomery for information on Judge Snow, and that he had paid a private investigator to dig up information on the judge's wife. Phoenix New Times article in hand, Judge Snow grilled Arpaio about all of this. This comes on the heels of a negative barrage of publicity in the local news media.

By way of explanation of why he deliberately ordered staff not to implement the court's orders, Arpaio said that it "slipped through the cracks."

Read more at KPHO:

• Arpaio admits to hiring private agents to investigate judge's wife
• 'Meeker' Arpaio testifies a 2nd day in racial-profiling case
• Arpaio shifts blame over disobeying court order
• Arpaio attorney quits; top deputy turns on boss
• Sheriff Joe Arpaio in court over profiling case
• AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio faces contempt hearing in profiling case

Read more at the Phoenix New Times:

• Noose Tightens Around Arpaio's Neck as He Channels Ronnie Reagan in Day Two of Contempt Trial