Wakulik was angered by Trump’s failure to declassify government files on the Israeli military’s 1967 attack on a U.S. Navy ship, the USS Liberty, which was determined to have been a mistake.
In May, on The Berm Pit Podcast, which he co-hosts with Scott Siverts, a former U.S. Marine, Wakulik responded to a Fox Business interview in which Patel and Bongino discussed the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex trafficker who died by suicide in August 2019, in a New York jail.
Angered because Patel and Bongino failed to say Epstein was an agent of the Israeli intelligence services, Wakulik advocated “torture to get information, to extract information … whether it’s waterboarding or sleep deprivation.”
Wakulik has also advocated shooting Susie Wiles, Trump’s White House chief of staff.
The FBI and the Department of Justice declined to comment.
‘Show of force’
Since Trump entered politics in 2015, conspiracy theories wielded against political enemies have been a defining trait of his movement.
Wakulik, a Pittsburgh-area resident who regularly disgorges violent antisemitic rhetoric, recalled in the most recent episode of his podcast that in 2020, during Trump’s first term, he attended a rally in Richmond, Va. while armed with an AR-15 rifle that was meant as a “show of force,” to dissuade the then-Democratic controlled state legislature from passing gun control measures.
Days before the protest, Trump tweeted: “Your 2nd Amendment is under very serious attack in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia. That’s what happens when you vote for Democrats, they take your guns away.”
Wakulik recalled in a video posted to X on May 29 that he and his “militia” showed up at the rally “armed, full body armor, AR-15s and everything” at the rally. He attributed the legislators’ ultimate decision to vote down the gun-control measures to an “armed show of force.”
“There is nothing that works — and the government knows this — other than the threat of violence or violence itself,” Wakulik said.
While steeped in conspiracy theories familiar to the MAGA base, Wakulik appears to have become increasingly disdainful towards Trump.
Much of his ire appears to center on the Epstein case, which Trump aides have used to feed supporters’ appetite for conspiracy theories. For mainstream Trump followers, the case taps into suspicions about an ill-defined global elite, usually linked to Democrats. For hardliners inclined towards white nationalism and antisemitism, links to Israel or a mythical Jewish cabal are also common.
Before he became the FBI director, Patel promoted the idea that the U.S. government was engaged in a cover-up to protect powerful allies.
In December 2023, Patel told conservative media figure Glenn Beck that Epstein’s “black book” of contacts was “under the control of the director of the FBI.”
“And that’s the thing I think President Trump should run on,” Patel said. “On day one, roll out the black book.”
The same day, Patel told conservative influencer Benny Johnson the FBI was protecting Epstein “because of who’s on that list,” adding: “You don’t think [Microsoft founder] Bill Gates is lobbying Congress night and day to prevent the disclosure of that list?”
Patel added: “Put on your big-boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are. We have an election coming up, and we need to adjudicate this matter at the polls.”
After Trump’s victory, Patel was nominated as FBI director but did not stop pushing Epstein conspiracy theories. Speaking to Johnson in November 2024, Patel predicted Trump would “come in here and maybe give [the American people] the Epstein list.”
The political establishment was “terrified” at the prospect, Patel claimed.
In February, with Trump in power, Attorney General Pam Bondi attempted to placate supporters’ hunger for revelations by inviting conservative influencers to the Department of Justice to receive binders of Epstein case files. However, the stunt was widely ridiculed by Trump supporters who noted that it brought little new information to light.
This month, in a joint interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Patel and Bongino appeared to close the book on the Epstein case. As a lawyer with prosecutorial and defense experience who had visited detention facilities, Patel said, “you know a suicide when you see one, and that’s what that was.”
Bongino said: “He killed himself. I’ve seen the whole file. He killed himself.”
The next day, Wakulik and Siverts took stock.
Siverts said: “As a government, why can’t we just say, ‘Hey look, this guy, he was Mossad, and what he was doing here was this.’ Will we ever hear that from a government official here?”
Wakulik responded that the solution was for people to “demand by whatever means necessary that the truth comes out.”
“People are mad, but they don’t do anything about it,” he complained. “How would one pressure anyone into getting the truth out of them?”
“Through physical force,” Siverts said.
“Yes,” Wakulik said. “This is why they call [it] torture, right? Torture to get information, to extract information. This is why you apply physical violence or any type of, like, uncomfortability when it comes to torture techniques, whether it’s waterboarding or sleep deprivation.”
Raw Story reached out to the FBI National Press Operations unit in Washington, D.C. to request a comment from Patel. The FBI declined to comment on Patel’s behalf.
In fact, Wakulik soured on the Trump administration long before Patel and Bongino talked to Bartiromo.
Following the 2024 election, Wakulik suggested grading Trump’s appointees “on a scale of how many bullets I put in their heads,” according to video archived by a pseudonymous researcher tracking his statements and provided to Raw Story. Asked by his co-host to rate Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, Wakulik responded: “Five bullets.”
In posts to X, Wakulik has equated supposed Israeli influence over the U.S. government with British colonial rule in North America, while calling for “1776 style action” against “ZOG,” a white supremacist acronym that stands for “Zionist Occupied Government.”
Matt Wakulik (left) attended an armed pro-Second Amendment rally at the Virginia legislature in Richmond in January 2020.Anthony Crider
The Trump administration, meanwhile, has made antisemitism its central rationale for deporting international students who support Palestine and defunding universities deemed improperly liberal. Such efforts include a Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, which the administration pledges will “eradicate antisemitic harassment in schools and on college campuses.”
The Department of Justice did not respond to an inquiry from Raw Story about whether Wakulik’s statements deserved attention from the task force.
‘Go kinetic’
Wakulik has suggested he might be willing to act on his violent beliefs.
In a May 2 X post, Walkulik suggested “the militia” should go to Rochester, Minn. to hold a rally in support of a white woman widely condemned for calling a child the N-word in a public park. When another X user suggested the time wasn’t ripe for such a display, Wakulik replied: “I admit I am in a different position than most: I have no children and I really don’t have much to lose. In that aspect I’m more eager to go kinetic.”
In late April, the researcher tracking Wakulik’s statements submitted a report to police where Wakulik lives, in Washington County, southwest of Pittsburgh.
“We were previously unaware that Mr. Wakulik resided within our jurisdiction, and the information you have shared will be valuable in allowing us to maintain a vigilant watch,” Sgt. Gary Scherer of the North Strabane Township Police Department wrote in an email reviewed by Raw Story.
“As part of this, we will conduct a threat assessment, consult with our local FBI office, and likely speak to Mr. Wakulik.”
The following day, Wakulik posted a video reporting that his landlord told his wife a police officer visited their house to confirm that he lived there and that the officer “said it was for another agency.”
Wakulik said, “We are being surveilled currently, probably followed by either the FBI or [the Department of Homeland Security] or both.”
A spokesperson for the FBI’s Pittsburgh office told Raw Story the agency was unable to provide additional information.
Sgt. Scherer’s email said it appeared that Wakulik’s statements fell under First Amendment protections, but he would consult with the district attorney’s office to obtain a legal opinion. The Office of the Washington County District Attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Wakulik could not be reached for comment.
In recent weeks, Wakulik and Siverts have discussed their plans to attend a reunion of USS Liberty veterans, scheduled to take place in Norfolk, Va. this weekend. Siverts said Wakulik was scheduled to speak at the event, and that both men had been issued press passes.
Moe Shafer, executive director of the Liberty Veterans Association, told a local news outlet that “any agenda for antisemitism or Jew hating… will not be allowed.”
Emails to the Liberty Veterans Association from Raw Story seeking clarification on Wakulik’s participation went unreturned.
Stew Peters, a podcaster with a history of antisemitic statements, has also said he plans to speak at the event. But last week an event organizer told WTKR News 3 that Marriott Bonvoy, the owner of the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel, where the event will take place, banned Peters from the premises.
Siverts expressed concern on the podcast last week that he and Wakulik's statements might put them in legal jeopardy, especially in light of the fatal attack on two Israeli embassy aides in Washington, D.C. on May 21. Siverts said he worried that “the FBI can come back from an incident that’s a violent incident where somebody was harmed or somebody was killed, and they go, ‘Well, he watched this podcast, and we need to hold this podcast accountable, too.”
Wakulik was unrepentant.
“They come and try to get me, I’m going to defend myself from violent criminals trying to commit an act of violence — a violent crime against me,” Wakulik said.
“But they’re police, Matt,” Siverts replied.
“If they break the law and use violent force to break the law against me, I’m going to defend myself from violent criminals,” Wakulik insisted.
