Morgan Loew and the CBS 5 TV investigation team in Phoenix have been digging into the Cold Case Posse and the money trail. Tonight their story aired and it opens with a shocker:
After two years of denying he personally profited from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office investigation into the validity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, the head of the sheriff’s Cold Case Posse [Mike Zullo] admitted to CBS 5 Investigates that he accepted a large monetary gift from one of the sources in the investigation.
If Zullo had been a real law enforcement officer and someone related to an investigation gave him $10,000 for his personal use, I think most people would call it a bribe. But then Mike Zullo is not a real law enforcement officer and he is not bound by any legal or ethical rules in his attempts to get some dirt on President Obama. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office declined comment on whether they thought such a gift was proper.
The $10,000 came from someone whose name I didn’t immediately recognize, Bill Wolf, but it turns out that Wolf supplied not only money to Zullo, but was also a major source for investigative material. (Wolf was also a plaintiff in a 2011 lawsuit against Loretta Fuddy and the Hawaii Department of Health.) Zullo finally came clean about the money in a series of emails, linked from their story. Wolf is deceased, so we can’t ask him about any of this.
I thought the Morgan Loew story was very effective. Footage from the Joe Show corroborates Reilly’s claim on camera that this the birther investigation was all about getting campaign donations. It shows Zullo denying accepting money one day, and admitting it the next. It brings in the IRS loophole (what Reilly calls a “black hole’) that keeps their money off the books. It points out that even after Secretary of State Bennett authenticated the birth certificate, WorldNetDaily and the Cold Case Posse are still soliciting donations. For someone like me, the story had almost nothing new, but the report makes a strong case and this package on a major local news outlet must have appeared shocking to some folks in Phoenix.
Here’s the video:
Following is extended footage of the interview with Brian Reilly:
Read more:
Whatever the reports say, and whatever the outcome, birthers’ irrational faith in Arpaio and Zullo will continue.
yep, but i’m curious to see if there is any response from the piece by joe average maricopa county citizen.
Maybe Sheriff Joe will arrest the TV crew before the story can air.
Interesting. It’s about time somebody caught on to this scam.
Be still my heart!!!
Joe Arpaio has done a lot of damage in Maricopa County. This birther stuff is pretty minor compared to the civil rights abuses and multi-million dollar lawsuits. This will be an interesting story for Arpaio’s critics, but I would not expect it to affect his popularity among the wingnuts at all.
The way in which Zullo waves off the reporter asking about CCP fundraising is suspiciously effeminate. What’s Mike REALLY hiding?
I agree.
The part about him accepting the $10,000 for his own personal use can’t look good. Since when does a real cop accept money from someone with a stake in his investigation?
Channel 5 livestream–
http://www.kpho.com/category/275023/livestream-newscasts
I think I might do popcorn for this one.
Doc:
“Since when does a real cop accept money from someone with a stake in his investigation?”
In the old days wasn’t that called a bribe?
To play devil’s advocate, Commander Zullo is not a real cop, just a patriotic volunteer who has donated his time and energy to the CCP. It seems only fair that he receive some kind of remuneration, and $10,000 is not very much money considering the number of years he’s been working on this, an inquiry that is clearly one of the most important investigations in the history of the world.
Real cops don’t do that kind of crap. Zullo isn’t a real cop but he is toast.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of posse members in Maricopa County who do a lot more work than Zullo and, in the case of the search and rescue units, work that is pretty dangerous.
They all do it for nothing……nada. Why should Zullo get what they don’t?
Then, of course, there is the problem with the non-profit status of the organization, its bylaws and simple openness and honesty.
It’s on.
Aw….extended teaser. But it was good. Zullo’s flashing a badge out of state, letting people know he’s a cop.
A lot more useful work, yes. But I doubt that there are that many who put in more total hours per year (although I could be wrong, given the large number of pensioners in the area).
I would be inclined to agree with Arthur’s devil’s advocacy IFF Zullo had not misrepresented his snipe hunt as “an official law enforcement investigation” AND the CCP had been open about its finances.
But I’ve said before that I believe that the evidence available to the public is definitely sufficient to indict him, and probably to convict him, as a con man. And that, in the words of Arpaio, “probable cause exists” that he’s violated federal laws and regulations governing non-profits.
Oh my! The ninnies at Gerbil Report are in full blown damage control mode. John will no doubt drop by, to explain to us how this is of no concern.
Two things: We have no idea how much time Zullo puts into the effort. Since it has produced nothing I am inclined to think it has been very little.
Members of the patrol posses – like those in the retirement communities – put in lots of hours. Their organizations patrol their communities 24 hours a day.
The search and rescue policies train continuously and are on call 24/7.
They all do it as a commuity service and don’t expect any payment.
As far as Zullo being indicted I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one. Hopefully now the IRS will take another look at the operation and get to the bottom of its finances.
Well, Mr. Reilly sure seems to have turned around, but I have a hard time overlooking this one:
http://ncrenegade.com/editorial/surprise-az-tea-party-project/
Three years ago.
This so-called “video”, which as we can clearly see is on a web site, is thus obviously a clumsy forgery.
Definitely popcorn time, and I’ll bet there is a subzero line between where ever the Shurf is right now and where ever Zullo is, and I’m not betting on a thaw any time soon either. Zullo’s stupid is contagious, and I don’t think Joe wants any.
Meh. I don’t see this going anywhere. To call Mr. Wolf a “source”is a bit of a stretch. We know he didn’t provide anything new to Zullo because the Cold Case Posse relied almost entirely on “expert” analyses that were already publicly available, mostly because they had already been published by WND. Yeah, it looks bad for Zullo, but it’s entirely consistent with his reputation among non-birthers as being basically a grifter. Grifters grift. I am not shocked. I hope I’m wrong. I hope this is the final straw. We’ll see.
I doubt it: if there’s any significant political influence on the IRS, or anyone in charge who wants to avoid the kind of hit they took over the scrutiny of questionable 501(c)4 applicants, they’ll avoid feeding the “persecution” fantasies of the wingnuts by going after the CCP.
Called it.
Five months ago today:
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2014/05/breaking-arizona-corporations-commission-responds-to-complaint-against-cold-case-posse/#comment-332579
“I believe that Zullo and Arpaio also planned/hoped to net a tidy sum by gulling the rubes; I look forward to the Kold Kase Klavern’s finances being laid bare just so we can rub it in Birferstan’s faces how much they were taken for, what it was spent on, and what results (none) they got for it.
The depressing thing is that most of what Zullo and Arpaio have netted from this went and will always go unreported, even after the Kold Kase Klavern’s finances are laid bare, because it was likely off the books and came from the very wealthy backers who wanted this issue to disrupt the election in the first place.” (Emphasis added.)
I don’t for a minute believe that it stops at this $10k.
I’m not shocked because I have known about the gift for quite a while, but didn’t publish it because I didn’t have two sources. No matter how you spin it, Zullo flat out lied about not receiving any money, and now he has admitted receiving money. This is the first Zullo has acknowledged one of his lies.
And Mark Gillar is already spamming the story trying to claim the connection between the reporter and Perkins Coie. Nevermind that Perkins Coie is a huge firm with tons of lawyers who probably don’t even know each other. There’s obviously some conflict of interest here somewhere yet Gillar doesn’t know. He claims Perkins Coie represented Obama on all his cases, etc.
He doesn’t think Zullo being on an all volunteer posse while pretending to be law enforcement took money from someone who was providing him with information he used in his “investigation”. This sounds like a pay to play now. The reason John Woodman was ignored is because he didn’t write Zullo a check.
Anyway Gillar has a vested interest in this since he made the videos for the press conferences. The videos that were filled with errors. I wonder how much Gillar has had to donate in order to get zullo on his show?
Long standing marriages can end over trifles, but the union that binds to birthers to Arpaio and Zullo is supernaturally resilient.
That well may be true. Something is not right because we are left with the question of how Zullo fed his family while he was investigating 24-7 for 3 years.
I think Brian Reilly came across extremely well in the interview.
The report video is now up:
http://www.kpho.com/clip/10796145/birther-posse-chief-i-accepted-10000-gift-from-source
And your evidence that he did that would be? Have _you_ seen any sign of them lately? The footage in the news story only showed one car next to the house.
Maybe the $10,000 wasn’t for his birfering: maybe that was his price for selling ’em 😉
Gerbil Reports collective knickers are in a twist. They’re in full blown denial/damage control mode.
Whats that phrase they’re always using? Flak means your over the target?
I agree. It demonstrates how a strongly-held political ideology can blind intelligent, articulate people to the facts, and lead them to embrace liars and cheats.
It can also mean you’re about to be shot down.
A middle-class family can live quite comfortably on what the Koch brothers leave between the couch cushions, and we’ve seen that they have no compunction about funding any number of questionable activities to advance their interests.
Add in Pat Boone’s personal interest in the Klown Kar Klavern and his eight-figure fortune, and Donald Trump’s resources and mendacity, and it’s no stretch to posit that Zullo has been well-funded in his curious endeavor.
And all for naught, except the financial benefit of the grifters themselves; if I were an average Birfoon donor, I’d be righteously pissed. Since I’m just a normal person, I’m merely disgusted.
Absolutely. $10,000 is little more than walking-around money.
By any measure…for a police officer to accept a gift from an individual associated with an investigative matter that officer is engaged in is a serious and irreconcilable breach of ethics and possibly illegal. Zullo’s only way out of this is to acknowledge he’s not a cop and not conducting an official investigation on behalf of the MCSO.
Also by any measure, using public resources for political campaign purposes is not just unethical, it’s against the law. Arpaio’s use of his so-called cold case posse to help generate campaign funds is clearly actionable and there appears to be enough evidence now upon which to act. One hopes that’s what happens.
After all this time, it’s still unimaginable to me that someone who has $10,000 to flush down the toilet can believe that Obama is somehow ineligible to be president.
“The IRS Whistleblower Office pays money to people who blow the whistle on persons who fail to pay the tax that they owe. If the IRS uses information provided by the whistleblower, it can award the whistleblower up to 30 percent of the additional tax, penalty and other amounts it collects.”
. . .
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Whistleblower-Informant-Award
currently got bird boy backed up on the ropes and spinning like a dervish on meth.
post deletion and ban in 3….2….1….
Really? On what grounds? They didn’t do any direct “Vote for Joe” advocacy. Arpaio hasn’t made any public statements I’m aware of that would show he doesn’t believe the “It’s a fraud” BS he’s been spouting.
He could argue that he expected the stunt (not that he’d admit is is one) to bring in lots of money because it showed he was diligent, responsive to his constituents, and showed he was being frugal with County money by having volunteers do the work.
The judge might hate it, but he’d probably have to rule in his favor unless someone came up with some hard evidence to rebut that claim.
There is still the possibility that I was wrong when I said he was smart enough to avoid taking any birfer bux directly, and be content with letting his campaign war chest fill faster, but I haven’t even seen any credible speculation, much less evidence, of that.
I’m inclined to agree with Ran although I am of course totally ignorant of the AZ laws with respect to campaign finance. But somehow I don’t think Arpaio has really crossed the line. Zullo, OTOH, is a loose cannon because of his “loose” status. Here, passing yourself off as a policeman would swiftly get you into trouble, but we don’t have posses, volunteers, what-nots. Since it is doubtful that the actual victims (the birthers) will want to prosecute, I think they’ll get away scot free.
Well, who’s a better judge of character, you or bird boy?
“Generally speaking, Reilly is the kind of neighbor that everyone hates and some actually move and take a loss on their house to get the hell away from him. Reilly is the kind of person that had burned every bridge throughout his life and then claims victim status. Reilly is the kind of employee that the owners of a company have to call in their attorneys for high-level discussions to determine how they can fire him and not end up in a five year protracted legal battle. Reilly is the kind of person that family members have learned not to cross because the amount of family pain he can cause lasts for decades and divides families. And those are his good traits.”
This, my friends, is what’s known as projection, “a defense mechanism that involves taking our own unacceptable qualities or feelings and ascribing them to other people.” http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/defensemech_7.htm
I agree.
ok, now banned.
seems bob nelson is as scared and bird-boy about the difficulty of explaining how if zullo is a police officer that accepting 10 grand from an interested party is not a problem.
still, it was fun making them sweat for a bit.
I have a feeling on felatio friday if Zullo comes on he’ll claim he donated the money to his church like when he got checks from Amazon. He must have a magic mailbox it seems checks randomly show up there.
Do we know when the payment took place?
Could it have been before the investigation started- i.e. as an ‘incentive’ to start the investigation.
The “Joe Show” has Arpaio on tape meeting with his campaign committee talking about how he can use the birther issue to raise money for his campaign. Public resources from the MCSO were then used to support the “Cold Case Posse.” In particular, the two press conferences, which used public facilities and MCSO staff, cost a considerable amount of public money to organize, advertise and conduct. And, in fact, several members of his campaign committee are MCSO staffers and they participated in the press conferences.
It is my understanding that it was received after the “investigation” was underway.
Beginning of May, 2012.
looks like oily is in full blown gloat mode on her site.
she sure doesn’t like anyone poaching on her turf
Arpaio’s campaign manager, Chad Willems, tried to get CBS 5 not to run the story last night, so reports Mr. Loew.
There could be tangible repercussions if the IRS decides to conduct an audit of the Cold Case Posse. And possibly an audit of Zullo – did he declare the $10,000 on his tax return?
The only birther who might conceivably agree to file a lawsuit is Brian Reilly, but that might be too risky for him.
There’s a “patriot” on the comments section of the report that is trying to convince some of us that there’s nothing at all wrong with a witness/source in an investigation giving thousands of dollars to an investigating officer.
You can bet your butt if Obama dropped a quarter in the cup of a street busker who once met a person who deivered mail to the laywer who was representing a liberal charged with a bylaw infraction, he’d be screaming “BRIBERY!!!”
It’s much worse than that. Wolf was a target of the investigation.
Zullo’s mandate from Sheriff Arpaio was to validate the information from Jerome Corsi. Some of the Corsi information came from Wolf, so Zullo’s job was to look critically at the work Wolf did. It was specifically in Wolf’s interest that Zullo make a favorable report on his work.
Did he offer him the job of Supreme Commander of the Ice Cold Margarita Posse? ‘Cause that would totally work on me.
That’s a bush league stunt. Amateurish, in fact.
He would face the wrath of Arpaio for trying to come between him and a television audience? What an intrepid soul!
Nope: listen carefully to what was said. His publicist and campaign manager say it will have a negative effect. He says that it will have a positive effect. But he never says he took it up because it would. That’s a reasonable inference, but he has plausible deniability because there’s no evidence to back it up.
Okay, let me get this straight. Grand Commandant Zullo has been screaming for major media coverage while putting up with Podunk, backwater media coverage from Florida. A CBS affiliate walks up to his door to give GCZ media coverage in a huge market area. And GCZ refuses, I mean refuses to give an interview. This really has become a comical farce. What is he hiding?
I remember Volin quite well. But, not Mark Gilar. Gilar does not ring a bell with me.
Okay, let me get this straight. Supreme Commandant Zullo has said he works 24/7, 365. That means all of his time is consumed with the investimagination leaving apparently no time for gainful employment. He’s given a $10,000 check to help him with his personal expenses, apparently so that he can continue the investimagination. The check is given to him by the same guy that was a source for information for the investimagination, who also is a birther and took the Hawaii Department of Health to court regarding the Obama birth certificate. And now we’re supposed to believe, with a straight face, his $10,000 payment to Mike Z was just a benign, personal gift, with no strings attached? This is the most ridiculous nonsense yet to come out of this crazy investimagination. If he is a real cop, the $10,000 could be considered a bribe. If he’s not a cop, well then it would appear accepting $10,000 in this situation would be unethical at the very least. Is Arpaio really hanging his future on this guy?I see some great campaign material for the opposition in 2016.
I remember several years ago conversations on this site with a commenter who claimed to have intimate inside information about the CCP. I remember his handle as “Reilly” but I’m not sure, it could just be confabulation.
Anyway, that “Reilly” was quite articulate and quite adamant that we didn’t know what was going on on the inside, but was openly soliciting thoughts on what Arpaio’s motivation for the ‘investigation’ might have been.
I remember the conversation because I gave my opinion that it had to do with keeping the Tea Party and the blue-rinse constituency on side during a tough election when he was bleeding support from his previously solid base. He came back to me for clarification on my comments – did I mean that it was a cynical election ploy and nothing more – and I replied “Of course it was”: the dark money pots from Rove and Koch are looking all over the country trying to buy local elections and spreading FUD anywhere they can, of course Arpaio wants in on the action and this was a great way of putting his hand up.
We didn’t hear much from this “Reilly” after that, but maybe, just maybe, those comments from me and other posters here had something to do with his enlightenment (always assuming that the guy I remember is indeed Mr. Reilly, of course).
Nope. There won’t be a campaign in 2016.
Arpaio has gone from 80+% early in his career as Sheriff, to winning with less than 51% in 2012, to an approval rating of 37% last year. There’s been still more fallout from his war with the county board since then, so my guess is that his approval rating in the next poll will be down around 30%.
And we still have the Great Birfer Disappointment coming. At this point, that may not knock his rating down much further, but will be a damper on any possible rebound.
He’ll retire at the end of this term. Probably with a “doctor’s orders” spin. As a millionaire (state law says he gets to keep his campaign funds).
Nice work if you can get it.
Not from what I hear: “painful” and “soul-sucking” seem more apt, based on what politicians with some remaining idealism say about fundraising. I don’t think I’d like to be represented by anyone who enjoyed it.
btw: I tried to post a comment on the CBS5 story, and found out, after I’d taken the time to compose a detailed response to someone’s BS, that they only accept comments if you’re logged in through $#%ing Facebook. 😡
The most hilarious part of that is that he’s basing his claim on the kind of financial reports that Zullo refuses to file.
We have never had a commenter with that specific name.
Again and again, the study of birtherism reveals an essential truth: you can always make money by manipulating the fears and prejudices of Americans.
Don’t feel bad. I can’t find a working video update on the CBS/Arpaio investigation anywhere. I think my PC/Internet is being blocked by the criminal elite since I submitted an affidavit on George Bush, Jr’s possession, his own words, of having the antidote to the AIDS virus since the early 80’s which he shared with the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar and not with the rest of America.
(http://beforeitsnews.com/obama-birthplace-controversy/2014/10/dear-pres-bush-i-want-to-fornicate-with-that-woman-please-sir-may-i-2482830.html)
I see the videos. But, they are always at 0.000 to 0.000 markers. All other videos on YouTube, etc. work just fine.
They probably mistook you for Sharyl Attkisson (late of CBS News) when they were messing with her computer.
I have just spent the past three hours searching the internet and still nothing on this video. Now I’m really curious because what is usually out there in vast amounts of misdirection by numerous individuals. Does anybody have a transcript or a brief synopsis of what’s being said?
zullo responds:
http://www.birtherreport.com/2014/11/latest-sheriff-arpaios-lead-obama-id.html
So now the new enemy is Susan Daniels. If Zullo keeps this up, he ain’t gonna’ have any friends left.
seems to be.
ppsimmons has the email exchange between CBS-5 and zullo:
http://ppsimmons.blogspot.com/2014/11/cbs-5-phoenix-runs-seven-minute-hit.html
The birther spin cycle is working overtime.
I haven’t seen damage control by the birthers, on this scale, since the day after Obama was reelected.
Thanks for the link. That was a very entertaining series of emails!
So, again, what’s going on? It must have something to do with this Reilly interview which is COMPLETELY being blocked on my computer by the powers-that-be and someone has just informed me that my name is being mentioned in connection to the birth certificate. Or, it could be in connection with Bush, Jr. having had the AIDS vaccine since the 80’s. I don’t know. Have they finally cracked through the oligarchy’s dictatorship? http://www.iforgedobamasbirthcertificates.com
And it’s worth noting how it’s working: lots of attempts at misdirection, in the forms of strawmen, misquotes, ad hominems, and focusing on trivia instead of the important points.
One of the more interesting is that Reilly’s short and vague description of the phone call with Wolf could be reasonably interpreted as meaning he was there, although he doesn’t say it explicitly. Zullo says “This is the most outlandish falsehood (of many) I have yet heard to come out of his mouth.”.
If that’s the lowest Reilly’s gotten on the Truth-o-Meter, Zullo is in deep kimchee.
And I loved this one:
Well, yeah: Reilly said he was disappointed because he wanted a professional investigation, and Arpaio handed it over to a bunch of amateurs who made a mockery of it. Zullo’s inability to see that the two statements are not mutually exclusive is just another example of why he shouldn’t have even been allowed to watch the “investigation”, much less conduct it.
Need we say more? This “investigation” should never have been handed over to Zullo to begin because he’s just a block in this global game.
If “Arpaio” is who I think he is, it’s a typical, “You take care of this Mr. Incompetent. I’m not going to miss any of my TV shows,” which is the reason why “Arpaio’s” idiot son ended up dead.
Don’t expect “Arpaio” to ever own that one. If “Mama” knew the real truth, she’d bury a hatchet in that old man’s head.
Turn off Flashblock.
I turned off every app that might be blocking the video and, by golly, it worked! Thank you! Reilly confirms what I already knew about Zullo/Arpaio. No investigation. That’s why the Russian Communists had an infiltrator’s field day in south Florida during the 80’s plus and why I say the ‘Cold War’ never ended. Castro’s covert war is now overt.