President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Matt Gaetz to be the next Attorney General of the United States. Many Americans are appalled and offended by this choice. I find it one of the best nominations made by Trump. Let me tell you why. And please take note—it is personal.

Let’s get the easy part over with upfront.

On paper, Matt Gaetz isn’t qualified to be the Attorney General of the United States.

His résumé is paper thin.

And he operates under a dark cloud of controversy which, under normal circumstances, would be automatically disqualifying.

And I’ll add this—if Matt Gaetz is found criminally guilty of any of the things he has been alleged to have committed, then he is, in fact, automatically disqualified.

But herein lies the rub: he has not been found guilty of anything.

And in America, you are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

The House Ethics Committee is not a court of law.

It is, however, a highly politicized body fully capable of being weaponized to bring down one of the most polarizing figures in modern American political history.

There are those clamoring for the House Ethics Committee to release a report that had been prepared concerning various allegations of potentially illegal conduct on the part of Matt Gaetz.

There is no doubt that this report was prepared by the political enemies of Matt Gaetz, both Republican (remember, he single-handedly brought down a Republican Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy) and Democrat alike.

Matt Gaetz has resigned from his seat in Congress.

The Ethics Committee no longer has jurisdiction over Matt Gaetz.

This politicized report should be consigned to the trash bin of history.

If Matt Gaetz has committed a crime, then he should be charged in criminal court.

Otherwise, sit down and shut up.

Why, one may ask, would I take such a position?

Back in August 1998 I was informed by Larry Sanchez, the CIA’s liaison to the US Mission to the United Nations, that if I resigned my position as a Chief Weapons Inspector with the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), the FBI would, quote, “fuck me in the ass” for the rest of my life.

I resigned on a matter of principle, fed up with years of US interference in the disarmament work me and my fellow UNSCOM inspectors were tasked with conducting.

Larry Sanchez was not lying.

The same day I submitted my resignation, the FBI leaked to CBS News the fact that it was investigating me on charges of spying on behalf of Israel.

Left unsaid by Dan Rather, the CBS Nightly newscaster, was that the FBI investigation was related to intelligence liaison work I was conducting on behalf of UNSCOM, based upon an agreement reached between the CIA (yes, Larry Sanchez) and the UNSCOM Chairman, Rolf Ekeus, back in July 1995, and sustained by Richard Butler when he took over from Ambassador Ekeus in the summer of 1997. The FBI investigation was opened in 1996 at the behest of disgruntled CIA employees in the Iraq Operations Group (IOG) who were angry over the access to Israeli intelligence I was gaining through this cooperation. The IOG openly sabotaged cooperation between UNSCOM and the King of Jordan involving the interception of Russian guidance and control devices that I had coordinated using an intelligence tip-off from Israel, and did the same to a similar intelligence cooperation between UNSCOM and Romania, together with the British MI-6 and Israeli intelligence, to block an Iraqi attempt to covertly buy a controlling share of a Romanian aerospace company that manufactured missile components.

The FBI had been following me since 1995, shortly after the cooperation with Israel began. At the heart of the matter was film produced by American U-2 spy planes operating on behalf of UNSCOM while overflying Iraq. I was running the U-2 project for UNSCOM at the time, helping direct the flights of the U-2 and coordinating with the US regarding the interpretation of the film. The CIA, however, was unresponsive to my requests for better imagery and dedicated photographic analysts. As such, I had reached out to Israel to see if they would help with the interpretation of the film and, as a byproduct of this relationship, open their intelligence files to answer any questions that emerged from the examination of the film.

This angered the CIA’s IOG, who turned me into the FBI, claiming I was turning classified material over to Israel.

The problem was the IOG was wrong—the film in question, marked “Secret” by the CIA, was automatically declassified when it was turned over to UNSCOM. Thus, even thought the film was marked “Secret—Releasable to UNSCOM,’ this marking had no legal weight—the film was unclassified for the simple fact that UNSCOM personnel working with the imagery had no security clearances.

When the FBI told Larry Sanchez in the summer of 1998 that they were going to arrest me, Larry went to the CIA’s legal counsel and had a letter prepared which explained this to the FBI.

This means that when I resigned, the FBI knew that there was no legal case against me.

And yet they released the existence of the investigation to CBS News for political reasons—to “fuck me in the ass” for daring to resign against the desires of the US government.

This is not a lawful duty of the FBI, and yet it is exactly the kind of work it engages in daily across the United States—politically motivated investigations using manufactured “evidence” designed to destroy the lives of American citizens who were politically inconvenient to the powers that be.

I eventually prevailed upon the FBI to drop the charges, but not before they made gainful employment impossible for nearly three years and cost me a fortune in legal fees to hire a lawyer capable of taking on the Southern District of New York.

The FBI is in the business of destroying lives of law-abiding Americans whose exercise of free speech is found offensive by their political masters.

The FBI investigated me for making a documentary film, “In Shifting Sands,” which made the case that Iraq had been disarmed by UN weapons inspectors. Because this movie embraced a narrative which contradicted the case for war being made by the US government, I was targeted for character assassination.

It was the FBI which, in 2003, leaked to the press information about legal matters that had been dismissed by a judge and sealed by a New York court order.

The purpose of the leak was to make me “radioactive” to news organizations so that I would not be able to publicly question the case for war being made by the US government on the eve of the decision to invade and occupy Iraq.

The FBI investigated me in 2006 when I dared challenge the US government’s assertions regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

The FBI is currently investigating me regarding efforts to counter the US governments efforts to promote Russophobia, accusing me of violating the Foreign Agent Registration Act simply because I traveled to Russia and returned home to report the truth of what I had witnessed to the American people.

The FBI coordinated with the State Department to seize my passport without cause, simply to prevent me from continuing to travel to Russia.

The FBI executed a search warrant on my home on August 7, 2024, based upon false statements submitted to a federal judge to sustain the premise of probable cause.

During the execution of this search warrant, the FBI seized my archive of documents from my time as an UNSCOM weapons inspector, on the grounds that documents clearly marked “Secret-Releasable to UNSCOM” were somehow classified material, despite the CIA’s letter to the FBI stating the opposite.

The FBI, together with the State Department, has coordinated with the Office of the President in Ukraine and Ukrainian intelligence to put my name on three separate “hit” lists, marking me for death.

My crime: exercising my free speech rights to be critical of US policy regarding Ukraine.

I have been labeled an “information terrorist” by the Ukrainian government through programs that are funded in full by US taxpayers and facilitated by both the State Department and the FBI.

The culprits in question within the FBI operate in the National Security Division.

This is the same National Security Division which manufactured the Russian collusion case against President Trump in 2016—Operation Crossfire Hurricane.

The same National Security Division which planted scores of plainclothes undercover agents in the crowds on January 6, 2021, leading to the storming of the capitol.

The same National Security Division which raided Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

The same National Security Division which is charged with investigating the attempt on President Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania, this past July—and yet can’t yet make a finding.

The FBI’s National Security Division is responsive to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) National Security Division.

The National Security Division of the DOJ oversees the persecution of the Uhuru-3 Black Nationalist Movement, using FARA as a sword to punish them for politically inconvenient free speech.

The National Security Division’s of the DOJ and FBI are the greatest domestic threats to the American people and the concept of Constitutional rule of law today.

Matt Gaetz knows this.

Matt Gaetz has eviscerated the Director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, and the sitting Attorney General, Merrick Garland, during Congressional hearings.

Matt Gaetz is the only person who has the motive and ability to take on the National Security Division’s of the DOJ and FBI and get justice for the American people whose lives have been turned upside down because of their distinctly illegal activities.

In 1998, the FBI promised to “fuck me in the ass” for daring to speak out against bad US policy in Iraq.

Today, some 26 years later, the FBI is still working to carry out that promise.

The FBI terrorizes innocent Americans daily for the “crime” of saying things their political masters object to.

Matt Gaetz was investigated by the FBI regarding the allegations that are the subject of the House Ethics Committee report.

The FBI did not press charges.

Matt Gaetz has promised to hold the FBI and Department of Justice to account for the crimes they have committed against him.

For the crimes they have committed against President Trump.

For the crimes that they have committed against the American people.

For the crimes they have committed against me.

You see, it is personal.

Not just for those who have been directly caught up in the abuses committed by the FBI and DOJ.

But for all Americans.

The FBI and DOJ, as they are currently organized and operated, are an insult to us all.

They are an affront to the Constitution.

Matt Gaetz wants to hold them to account.

And we should do everything possible to give him the chance to do just that by supporting his nomination as Attorney General.

We are in the midst of the Trump Revolution, and Matt Gaetz is as revolutionary as they come.

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The 2024 Presidential election is over. The people have spoken. And now our work really begins.

Back on September 28, I announced the commencement of what I called Operation DAWN. The name was derived from four questions designed to challenge American voters regarding how they would vote on November 5:

What would you do to save Democracy?

What would you do to save America?

What would you do to save the World?

Through your vote in November?

My goal was to compel the American voter to withhold committing to a particular candidate until which time they had articulated sound policy positions on some of the existential issues facing Americans in this election—the threat of nuclear war, the war in Ukraine, the assault on free speech, the genocide ongoing in Palestine, and the state of democracy in America today.

We followed up the Kingston event with a massive information campaign which engaged what I have come to call the “family of podcasts” to get out the word. Including Judging Freedom, with Judge Andrew Napolitano, Dialogue Works, with Nima Rostami Alkhoroshid, the eponymously named podcasts done by Garland Nixon and Danny Haiphong, and my own Ask the Inspector (together with co-host Jeff Norman).

Through the “family of podcasts,” I was able to articulate the underlying message of Operation DAWN to over a million discreet viewers a week, far outstripping mainstream media shows such as Fareed Zakharia’s GPS, which airs on CNN every Sunday and, in October 2024, averaged some 440,000 discreet viewers per week.

I tapped into the “family of podcast” concept on October 27 when, in cooperation with the Eisenhower Media Network, Operation DAWN organized three expert panels as part of a brunch gathering at the Tudor City Steakhouse in New York City that covered the policy areas of focus—nuclear war, free speech, and saving democracy.

Operation DAWN also undertook to bring attention to the issue of free speech on Ask the Inspector, hosting Richard Medhurst, the UK journalist and host of a popular podcast who was arrested by British authorities for online posts he made critical of Israel, Mary Kostakidis, the Australian journalist placed under investigation for her posts about Israel, Kim Dotcom, the German-born New Zealander prosecuted by the US government for posting material on the internet the US found objectionable, and the Uhuru 3, a Black nationalist movement whose leader, Omali Yeshitela, along with two followers, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel, were arrested and tried in federal court for engaging in speech deemed by the government to violate the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). (The Uhuru 3 were found innocent of being Russian agents, but guilty of conspiracy. They await sentencing, currently scheduled for December 16, and are actively appealing their conviction.)

Operation DAWN also worked in ways that were not always visible to the online audience. Over the past two years, I have been in frequent contact with Robert Kennedy Jr., discussing the war in Ukraine, its origins, and possible outcomes and solutions. These conversations played a role on Mr. Kennedy’s understanding of the Ukraine conflict and its impact on the US-Russian relationship. Through these conversations, and others had with experts such as retired US Army Colonel Douglas McGregor, Mr. Kennedy’s views on the Ukraine conflict galvanized around a realistic understanding of its roots, what it would take to bring the fighting to an end, and what the consequences of a US-Russian conflict over Ukraine would be. On September 17, Mr. Kennedy, together with Donald Trump, Jr., authored an opinion piece published in the online magazine, The Hill, which argued that the current policies being pursued by the administration of President Joe Biden “put the world at greater risk of nuclear conflagration than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis.”

I made a series of concerted efforts to get the Green Party Candidate, Jill Stein, to appear on my podcast, but to no avail. The Harris campaign did not respond to my efforts at outreach. As such, the conversations I had with Mr. Kennedy—who, unlike Stein and Harris, was a guest on our Ask the Inspector podcast—manifested themselves into the only major articulation on the part of any campaign about the danger of the war in Ukraine escalating into a nuclear war.

And this was the winning campaign.

In retrospect, Operation DAWN has been a tremendous success, helping inform a broad spectrum of the voting public about the existential issues of the day—nuclear war, genocide, and free speech, and helping inject critical policy points into the mainstream presidential campaign.

But we are not going to rest on our laurels.

A critical aspect of American democracy is the concept of holding those whom we, the people elect to govern in our name, accountable for their actions.

Donald Trump has won an election which, by any standard, was decisive enough to invoke the concept of a people’s mandate to govern. In this, he should be given sufficient latitude to proceed with the policies he believes best position him to fulfill the promise of change he made to the American people, along with a pledge to keep our nation out of war, and to protect the free speech rights of all Americans.

Operation DAWN 2.0 will continue in the spirit of Operation DAWN, serving as a vehicle of informational empowerment for its audience, which we hope to expand by maintaining existing collaborative relationships, and forging new ones.

In the coming year, Operation DAWN will expand its collaboration with the “family of podcasts,” as well as other partners such as Gerald Celente, Randy Credico, and the Eisenhower Media Network, as well as begin new collaborations with independent journalists such as Anya Parampil and Rachel Blevins. We will also be reaching out to powerful voices in the struggle for a free Palestine, such as Miko Peled and the Muslim Congress.

I will be continuing to warn about the danger of nuclear war and will be publishing a new book in early 2025 with Clarity Press titled Highway to Hell: The Armageddon Chronicles, 2015-2024 that details the danger of nuclear war and the failure of successive US presidential administrations to implement policies designed to avoid such a catastrophe. I will also continue to promote my most recent book, Covering Ukraine, which I co-authored with Ania K. Operation DAWN hopes to be able to organize a book tour in January 2025 which would take Ania K and me to several cities across the United States where we will discuss the war in Ukraine and how the Trump administration plans on bringing it to an end.

2025 will be a year of opportunity and change. Operation DAWN does not intend to be a passive observer of these events, but rather an active participant in a broad national dialogue about the policies being put into place, and whether these policies match the expectations and needs of the American people. I invite everyone who played a role in Operation DAWN to date to join us in this new endeavor as we continue our fight to prevent a nuclear war, stop a genocide, defend free speech, and save democracy in America.

If you would like to support Operation DAWN financially, you can do by purchasing an Operation DAWN challenge coin, or by donating at ScottRitter.com.

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There is a one in 14 million chance we can save ourselves—if Ironman and Dr. Strange can be believed. It all comes down to who we vote for today.

America is screwed

We have two choices—Donald Trump and Kamala Harris—who aren’t qualified to be dog catcher, let alone President of the United States.

Neither could run for Mayor in a small town and win, because neither is competent enough to articulate in an informed fashion about issues that matter.

It’s come down to praying for a miraculous outcome.

It reminds me of the scene in Avengers: Infinity War, where Dr. Strange evaluates 14 million possibilities to defeat Thanos, and can only come up with one possibility.

Anytime a nation allows itself to be put in a scenario where it has a one-in-14 million shot at survival, there is a problem.

America, we have a problem.

A vote for Jill Stein opens the slim possibility that the Green Party can break through the 5% threshold that would open up federal funding in the next election, creating the much needed possibility of a viable third party candidacy.

But she is not going to be President under any scenario.

That leaves us with Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

When I run the numbers on Kamala Harris, the outcome is always dire—the real possibility that America will be in a nuclear conflict sometime during her first year in office.

She has no strategy for ending the conflict in Ukraine beyond continuing the current policy.

She has called Iran the greatest adversary to America today.

She will get America boxed into a corner where the only exit strategy involves the use of nuclear weapons.

Trump is not better.

And yet…

He has articulated about the danger of nuclear war.

Harris has not.

He has talked about ending the Ukraine war.

Harris has not.

He has opined on the possibility of lifting sanctions against Iran.

Harris has not.

Like Dr. Strange, I have run the numbers on a Trump presidency.

It doesn’t look good.

The odds are 14 million to one that Trump keeps us out of a nuclear war.

But as Avengers: Endgame showed us, sometimes, if you fight hard enough, the odds will end in your favor.

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