All posts tagged "Ivan Raiklin"

Ivan Raiklin, the far-right operative who built his profile as a self-styled "Secretary of Retribution" tasked with going after Donald Trump's enemies, has spent the past several days using his X account to attack the president himself.

Raiklin, a former Green Beret and Army Reserve lieutenant colonel turned constitutional lawyer, emerged as a fixture of the post-2020 election denial movement and was a central figure in efforts to overturn Joe Biden's victory. In the years since, Raiklin has rebranded himself as the self-appointed "Secretary of Retribution," compiling a "Deep State Target List" of more than 350 federal officials, journalists and lawmakers he has vowed to pursue once Trump returned to power.

In a post on Monday, May 19, Raiklin declared bluntly: "Trump has betrayed Massie and KY-04," referring to the president's intervention against Rep. Thomas Massie in the Kentucky Republican primary. Massie, a longtime conservative firebrand, has been targeted by Trump and his allies after voting against the president's signature spending bill and pushing for the release of files related to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein....

The Republican candidate for governor of New York was scheduled to speak at an event headlined by far-right extremists and rioters convicted over the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a Raw Story investigation.

Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive running against incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, was featured on promotional materials for a January event associated with retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser.

The Stay Awake America event took place at the Trump-themed America First Warehouse in Ronkonkoma on Long Island from Jan. 10-11, though ultimately Blakeman did not attend, said Teresa Helfrich, director of operations for the America First Warehouse. ...

In a video posted to his X account in late December, Ivan Raiklin is seen walking behind a senior federal prosecutor outside the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. Peppering her with questions, the former Army Green Beret turned lawyer and self-styled Trump “secretary of retribution” accuses the official of “covering up for the fed-surrection.”

Since Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020, Raiklin has become known for extreme rhetoric in support of Trump’s lie that the election was stolen, including promoting a “Deep State Target List” and calling for “live-streamed swatting raids” against Trump’s enemies.

Raiklin’s social media posts and podcasts typically carry an undercurrent of menace and often indirectly call for violence by accusing opponents of treason, implying they deserve death. ...

A federal official assigned to the Trump administration’s Interagency Weaponization Working Group, tasked with delivering “accountability” for alleged “misconduct” under Joe Biden, operates a pseudonymous X account that has advanced conspiracy theories including characterizing the Jan. 6 attempted pipe bombing as “an orchestrated inside job” and sharing a video in which a pro-Trump activist who has advocated violence harasses a lead prosecutor, accusing her of “covering up for the fed-surrection.”

Carolyn Rocco, a former Air Force official at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), was identified by Reuters as a member of the Interagency Weaponization Working Group, or IWWG.

Raw Story can reveal that Rocco last month used the X account @Krow121812 to tag Attorney General Pam Bondi in a post sharing an interview with former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio. ...

The self-styled “secretary of retribution” for Donald Trump, who created a “Deep State target list” a prominent congressman describes as a “vigilante death warrant for hundreds of Americans,” received an audience earlier this month with the very people he’s sought to attract: law enforcement officers.

Ivan Raiklin, a retired Army lieutenant colonel with designs on conducting “live-streamed swatting raids” against the more than 350 politicians, federal employees, journalists and others on the list, detailed his plans to about two dozen police officials gathered earlier this month for a sheriffs’ association conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

RELATED ARTICLE: Trump’s ‘secretary of retribution’ has a ‘target list’ of 350 people he wants arrested

Raiklin’s 20-minute presentation to the Texas law enforcement officials took place in a private meeting room on July 22 in a restaurant in Fort Worth, according to a video reviewed by Raw Story....

MILWAUKEE — The self-styled “secretary of retribution” for Donald Trump who’s circulating a 350-person “target list” of politicians, bureaucrats and journalists had nothing to say about his plans when approached by Raw Story reporters Wednesday at the Republican National Convention.

Raw Story attempted to ask Ivan Raiklin about his stated desire to conduct “live-streamed swatting raids” against individuals on his “target list.” Also of interest: his efforts to work with largely rural, conservative county sheriffs to deputize some 75,000 military veterans to arrest people on his list.

RELATED ARTICLE: Trump’s ‘secretary of retribution’ has a ‘target list’ of 350 people he wants arrested...