Trevor Aaronson discusses the FBI’s dubious techniques for luring people into fake terrorist plots, which very often border on entrapment. In this case he takes up the story of two Americans involved in the “boogaloo” movement, who were approached by FBI agents masquerading as members of Hamas. The FBI was able to induce these young men into cooperating with a scheme that supposedly would have involved attacks on Israeli soldiers. Whether or not these two were at all likely to have committed crimes in the absence of FBI persuasion, Aaronson explains that they will almost certainly take some kind of plea deal and face serious time in prison, just because that’s the way the justice system is set up in such cases.
Discussed on the show:
- “Hamas Disavows FBI Sting Against Righ” (The Intercept)
- “Why the FBI had to pretend Hamas wanted to plot with ‘boogaloo boys'” (Washington Post)
- The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
Trevor Aaronson is a contributing writer for The Intercept and executive director of the nonprofit Florida Center for Investigative Reporting. He is the author of The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism. Find him on Twitter @trevoraaronson.
This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.
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