Right Richter: The Trump Internet Freaks Out Russiagate’s Fizzle

See what’s happening with the extreme Right Wing from the safety of your inbox. [Daily Beast]( [Right Richter]() See what’s happening with the extreme Right Wing from the safety of your inbox. Whether RIGHT RICHTER’s keeping track of pro-Trump grifters or conspiracy theory crazies, Beast Inside membership makes it possible. We deeply appreciate you reading, and hope you’ll consider teaming up with us to keep this journalism from the furthest depths of the right-wing internet coming every week. [RIGHT RICHTER subscribers can now get $10 off when they sign up for an annual membership.]( They promised criminal charges. Now, they’re fuming at Bill Barr. On to this week’s newsletter! This week: - Spygate disappointment looms - Jacob Wohl gets his day in court The Durham comedown It’s hard to stress how much effort the pro-Trump media has devoted over the last year-and-half to John Durham. The top federal prosecutor in Connecticut with a bushy, meme-ready goatee, Durham was appointed by Bill Barr in May 2019 to investigate the origins of the 2016 Russia probe. Or, in other words, to try to make something of what the president hears every night on Sean Hannity’s show. Durham’s much-awaited report was supposed to be some kind of pre-election boost for Trump and his supporters. After revving up their audiences with claims that Trump was the victim of a “silent coup” and convincing them to obsess over people whose names mean next to nothing to the average voter — Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, for example, or Bruce and Nellie Ohr, or George Papadopoulos and Joseph Mifsud— conservative media needed a payoff. “I have no doubt there’s gonna be criminal charges with Durham,” Rush Limbaugh told his audience in December, predicting some of the most villainous creatures of the “swamp” would be charged by June 2020. Fox News got in on the act. In May, the network [reported]( that Durham had evidence to bring criminal charges against the federal officials who investigated Michael Flynn. Fox legal analyst Gregg Jarrett kept his Durham torch lit as late as this August, promising that the cathartic arrests were just around the corner. “I would actually expect it to be sometime around Labor Day, I would expect there to be some indictments,” Jarrett declared in a Fox appearance. “Don’t believe for a moment the mainstream media that says, ‘oh, you can’t indict 60 days before an election.’ That’s a canard, that’s a lie.” But as the election got closer and Durham failed to indict anyone—aside from [a little-known FBI lawyer](—Durham-heads became a little nervous. In late September, Fox’s Maria Bartiromo revealed that her sources said Durham’s report wouldn’t come out until after November 3. “TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE!” moaned The Gateway Pundit. And now, Axios [reports]( that it’s official:” Durham’s report, indeed, won’t be the big October surprise that Trumpland was hoping for. With the letdown, however, comes the backlash. And now, like so many other once lovingly memed Trumpworld figures before him, Durham is coming in for his shaming. “Barr and Durham are scared to do anything in case the dems ‘win’ the election... cowards,” [fumed]( a popular post on The Donald, the internet’s leading pro-Trump forum. Even the president is getting in on the act, launching tweetstorms demanding his foes’ arrests and griping on Limbaugh’s show Friday. “I think it’s a disgrace,” Trump said. “It’s an embarrassment.” And that’s not even counting the disappointment from [QAnon]( fanatics, who were convinced that Durham would kick off their much-anticipated purge and send Hillary Clinton to Guantanamo Bay. Egged on by clues from the anonymous “Q,” QAnon fans had fixated on the fact that George Washington crossed the Delaware River in a flat-bottomed “Durham” boat, attaching some significance to the fact that Barr would appoint someone who shares a name with a boat to the post. Shockingly, it appears Barr wasn’t engaging in some sort of crypto coup-signalling. Durham, in the end, was just a surname. The Jacob Wohl saga heads to court The life of a conservative operative is a tumultuous one. Sometimes, you manage to turn a Twitter following and a willingness to promote Pizzagate into a cable news career, as in the case of One America News correspondent Jack Posobiec. Or you get to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from gullible conservative donors for a doomed congressional bid, like current Republican House nominee Laura Loomer. But other times, as in the predicament now faced by blundering conservative operative Jacob Wohl, you end up arraigned on felony charges that could put you in prison for years, while your court hearing is streamed live on YouTube. Wohl and associate Jack Burkman were arraigned in Michigan on Thursday, each facing multiple felony charges after allegedly [arranging a robocall]( meant to dissuade minority voters from using mail-in ballots. Bafflingly, the robocall itself announced that it came from an organization run by Wohl and Burkman, meaning investigators didn’t have far to look to find the alleged culprits. The robocall ran in several other states, as well, potentially exposing them to other criminal charges outside of Michigan. The scheme comes at a particularly unlucky time for the pair, giving Democratic attorneys general around the country a chance to launch headline-grabbing cases about voter suppression right when that’s a hot topic for their party. Meanwhile, Wohl and Burkman are also facing an [unrelated FBI investigation](, while Wohl faces other felony charges in California over alleged violations of securities laws. This week’s arraignment offered some insight into the Michigan attorney general’s investigation. A prosecutor said investigators had executed a search warrant to find out who had ordered the robocall, which purportedly led straight to Burkman — which would debunk Burkman’s earlier claims that a detractor had set up the robocall themselves to frame him. Then, intriguingly, the prosecutor claimed to have an email from Wohl with the robocall’s audio attached. The hearing also offered a glimpse into a potential defense strategy. With Burkman’s face covered in an American flag bandana, his attorney claimed that the robocall was protected First Amendment speech and accused Michigan’s attorney general of trumping up the case for her own political benefit. For now, Wohl and Burkman are out on bail, after bringing a camera crew and stacks of hundred-dollar bills to court in an apparent attempt to get a photo-op of the duo brandishing rolls of cash to get out of the clink. The judge in the case set bail at $100,000, and secured one commitment from the perpetually scheming pair: no more robocalls. Still, I’m left wondering why Wohl and Burkman allegedly put this robocall together in the first place, and, in the prosecutors’ version of events, made it comically easy to trace it back to them. Obviously, they love media attention — but at the cost of lengthy prison sentence? You can [sign up for Right Richter here]( and follow me on Twitter [@WillSommer]( for even more. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( © Copyright 2020 The Daily Beast Company LLC 555 W. 18th Street, New York NY 10011 [Privacy Policy]( If you are on a mobile device or cannot view the images in this message, [click here]( to view this email in your browser. 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