Daily Archives: June 19, 2017

Going Clear, Part 21 transcript:

Mark Rathbun: A key part of the anti-Scientology narrative as partially authored by Lawrence Wright, continuously published by Tony Ortega, endlessly repeated by Mike Rinder and other outlets on the troll farms, is: ‘Dang, we had Scientology – the FBI was right on them yet they got saved by this thorny Constitution interpreted by limp-wristed liberal justices of the Ninth Circuit.’  That literally is an invented narrative on several levels. The first level is this, if you read the opinion you don’t need the Constitution, you don’t even need a constitutional analysis.  First of all, the Ninth Circuit’s statement of the constitutional protections afford to religion is absolutely accurate. That it was applied to Scientology is absolutely nothing new. It has been consistently applied by courts for decades.  So, there is no news there. But, if you read the opinion, the court did not even need the Constitution. It found on a factual basis, if you literally broke down the facts, it didn’t even need the Constitution, because they found facts didn’t support the civil wrongs that were alleged.  Now, we know that the FBI investigation was prompted by the Headleys and really that was the core of their case.  The court said ‘factually’ they don’t have a case.  Factually.  Now, the problem is compounded. As early as April 2010 the only significant ‘defector’ from high up in Scientology who said anything after 2090 was John Brouseau.  And I arranged for John Brouseau to speak with the FBI.  And John Brouseau told the FBI, “I have seen no violence on behalf of David Miscavige or anybody else at the upper levels of Scientology. I have seen no evidence of anything they call the ‘hole’ for the several years that I have been there – since most of these people (who had already spoke to the FBI) left the church.”  None of the stuff that was the advertised crux of the FBI investigation existed. The only percipient witness, the only person who was in a position to know and a position to see – who was speaking to the FBI on behalf of the complainants (the Headleys), said ‘there’s no there there.’  And that in effect was the end of the FBI investigation.  The only conversations that I had with the FBI after that point (when Brouseau had testified) were about how to sting Scientology executives on a potential obstruction of justice rap.  In other words, do that the FBI usually does to somebody in a white collar case. 88% or 90% of the time, when they are going after somebody in a white collar case, they get them covering up.  I told them, ‘you can troll them.’  In FBI lingo, that is ‘sting them.’  Get them to do something stupid.  And in fact the FBI engaged in it.  And Scientology didn’t take the bait.  And now even the sting was over by 2010.  So, this whole narrative about how the Constitution saved Scientology from scrutiny by the FBI was entirely invented. Lawrence Wright said he was going to cover it in his (New Yorker) article because the FBI has a dismal record when it comes to dealing with “cults.”  Wright said, “sometimes they need incentive.” So, clearly Wright was trying to give them a black eye to incentivize them to go after Scientology. It is quite the motivation of an unbiased journalist, right?