My interview with FBI informant Bill Fulton.

Over the past year I have had a number of conversations with Bill Fulton, and we talked about a number of different issues. At that time ALL of them were officially off the record, with only a few considered okay for publication on the blog under the label "anonymous sources." Bill was not my only anonymous source of information but he was one of the more interesting.

In the beginning we approached each other with wariness and a healthy amount of mistrust, however over time we began to get along fairly well and had a number of fascinating, and often combative, conversations about politics, Alaska, and current events.

Before we began this Q and A Bill warned me that some questions were still off limits, due to the fact that there were still ongoing investigations, and that in fact I had to avoid even asking him anything relating to them. Because an answer of "no comment" is still an answer. (Trust me, I find this just as frustrating as you do.)

One of the big questions I wanted to ask is about the possibility that certain people, not to be named here of course, might soon see some jail time. But even that received a "Gryph we talked about this" response.  So even something as vague as that was off limits.

So here are the questions that we agreed I COULD ask, and his answers to them. (Since a number of them had already been answered during the Salon interview and the Huffington Post interview I tried to avoid covering the same ground)

Q: First things first, why are you coming forward now with your real name and offering to answer questions after staying in the shadows for so long? What has changed?

Fulton: Well the short answer is that Schaeffer Cox got convicted.  And the people who asked me not to speak, no longer care that I speak. So now I would like to take this opportunity to clear my name.

Q: Are you happy with the sentence that Schaeffer Cox and his militia buddies received? And please elaborate as why or why not.

Fulton: I'm happy with the Coleman Barney sentence. He was essentially a good guy that got in with a bad crowd.

As for Lonnie Vernon and his wife I am somewhat indifferent. He was a dangerous guy, and really did pose a threat to the community, and he got the sentence that I think he deserved, He will most likely never get out of jail alive due this age.

However Cox is a different story, I would really like to have seen him get more time, I think he deserves it.

You have to remember that he started this whole thing Gryph. He started the 2nd Amendment task force out in Fairbanks and that is still active, as is the one it spawned in Anchorage.

He also started the Alaska Peacekeepers Militia and through that presented a clear danger to the public. 

I consider him "Hilteresque" in his ability to find gullible people and manipulate them toward evil. So yes I think Cox could have used a few more years locked away, and I really do worry that he may emerge even more dangerous than before.

Q: Now in an earlier conversation that you and I had you informed me that you were in a hotel room during the 2008 Republican Convention when Frank Bailey and Joe Miller introduced you to Schaeffer Cox for the first time. Could you explain the significance of that meeting?

Fulton: Well the significance was that here I was meeting this young kid, who was being touted as this up and coming conservative star (He was so naive he even brought his wife into the room with him) , and he was being introduced to me by Sarah Palin's Chief of Staff and the a man who would someday be the Republican candidate for the Senate. There was no way to know at the time where all this was heading, but it was a pivotal moment for everybody who attended that meeting.

Q: Well that's an understatement, however could you please elaborate on why this meeting, which was ostensibly about forcing Randy Reuderich out of the Alaska GOP Chairman's seat and taking over, suddenly changed direction?

Fulton: Well yes the original intent was to shitcan Reuderich and replace him with somebody else. But then they decided not to do that it so that it wouldn't distract from the last minute decision to run Sean Parnell against Don Young.

Q: What changed?

Fulton: I'm not entirely sure, but it had something to do with the fact that Sarah Palin was going to be tapped as the VP candidate.

Q: Really? This was happening in March of 2008, according to Palin, AND the McCain campaign, they did not choose her until the very last minute, late in August of 2008, which is why they did not have time to vet her carefully.

Fulton: Bullshit. Frank Bailey and Joe Miller discussed the nomination as if it was a done deal, and claimed that she was already being vetted.

Q: In March of 2008?

Fulton: Yes, in March of 2008.

Q: And this was only about a month BEFORE she gave birth to Trig

Fulton: Well I don't know anything about all that, but yes this was in March of 2008.

Q: You are probably best known for handcuffing Tony Hopfinger after that Joe Miller speech. How do you feel the media treated you after that incident, and how frustrating was it for you to deal with that kind of negativity knowing that you were in fact on the side of the angels?

Fulton: Well I don't feel I was treated fairly that's for sure. The media dug up minor facts, like that I was late renewing my business license on Drop Zone, and blew it way out of proportion. And when they could not find facts they simply made them up. 

I still feel that the bust was legitimate, and my people and I had done the same thing at various events and concerts all over town. However because of who Joe Miller was, and the way the media was portraying him, the arrest served as the perfect catalyst to give the media permission to define him as somebody who would hire jack booted thugs to rough up reporters who tried to question him. 

In fact I performed my duties to the best of my abilities, and would do so again in similar circumstances.

The funny thing is that both the Left and Right in the media got it wrong. To the left I was a neo-Nazi trampling on a reporter's First Amendment rights, but to the Right I was a hero finally treating the Left Wing media the way they always secretly wanted them to be treated. Go figure.

Q: And on that note how do you think Joe Miller feels now knowing that you were working with the FBI while you were also working on his security detail?

Fulton: I KNOW how he feels. He has been writing about it on his blog. He thinks I was a plant that was dedicated to sabotaging his campaign from within. 

Q: Were you?

Fulton: No. I just did what Miller hired me to do. He also has complained that my version of fitting him for body armor in the bathroom due to his paranoia is an exaggeration and that I had "followed him around the convention center warning him of threats."

Q: And did you?

Fulton: Hell no! Nobody needed to help Joe Miller feel paranoid.

Q: In earlier conversations you claimed that after the Hopfinger debacle you received some rather vicious death threats, can you elaborate?

Fulton: Oh hell Gryph, they came by email calling me every name in the book, phone messages with bomb threats, people stopping by Drop Zone to threaten my employees, it was really bad for awhile.

Q: And exactly who were the people that were sending these threats?

Fulton: Well I guess you would categorize them as the Left Wing. People who were upset about the handcuffing of a reporter. You know Gryph the crazies are on both sides of the aisle. I know you don't believe that but it's true.

Personally I think it is time to stop all of this name calling and partisan bickering, and to start communicating in an honest fashion. It does no good to have extremists from both sides defining the debate, and that seems to be what is happening right now.

Q: Well speaking of extremists let's return to Sarah Palin for a bit. When was the first time you met her?

Fulton: I met her a couple of times at social events.  Nothing very memorable.

Q: Do you think she would EVER risk running for office again?

Fulton: No I don't. She is just too polarizing to successfully run for office. I doubt that anybody except the very fringe would support her.

Q: Well as you know the plan that was hatched way back in 2008 to take over the Alaska Republican party, has now been realized. What are your thoughts on that?

Fulton: Not good. When you pander to extremists to get their support, you reinforce their beliefs, and that just makes them more dangerous. So this group led by Joe Miller getting control of the Republican party is not a good thing, for anybody.

Q: Okay well finally I suppose I should ask you what's next for Bill Fulton?

Fulton: Well I am looking to teach a law enforcement course dealing with extremists and infiltrating their ranks. I am also planning to write a book about my experiences in Alaska, and with the militia up there.

Q: Sounds good Bill, thanks for your time, and good luck with that book.

Now as  I mentioned before Bill will answer some of YOUR questions next.

What we have worked out is that you can submit them in the comment section, he will choose the ones he feels he can answer, and then I will type them out in a later post, either tomorrow or the next day depending on time constraints.

Please remember that there are still certain questions that Bill will not be able, or willing, to answer.

With that in mind I am confident that you all can come up with some good questions that perhaps did not occur to me, or the reporters at Salon or HuffPo.

Coleman Barney, Alaska Militia member and convicted domestic terrorist, receives five year prison sentence.

Courtesy of Seattle pi:

An Alaska militia group member found guilty of weapons charges was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison in a case involving others convicted of conspiring to kill government officials. 

Coleman Barney of North Pole held his head in his hands and sniffled loudly while he waited for U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan to impose the sentence Monday in Anchorage. 

"I think you got into some real bad stuff here, and this sentence reflects it," Bryan said. 

Barney, 38, and two other defendants have been in custody since their March 2011 arrests. The judge said Barney's time already served will count toward his term. 

Before he was sentenced, Barney apologized for making poor choices and decisions. A member of the Mormon church, he said he loved his country and that the militia started out as a group of "wonderful Christian men" who wanted to protect their families in case of a collapse. He said he got caught up in the hype and said things he didn't mean. 

Barney asked the judge to let him go back to his family. 

"There won't ever be any problems with me," he said. "I'm not a violent man." 

Yeah I actually don't think that Barney is a particularly violent man either, but that does NOT mean he would not have injured, or possibly killed someone if Schaeffer Cox had convinced him that they were in danger. These men were living off paranoia and fear, and there is no telling what they might have been capable of if the Feds, or Alaska law enforcement, had shown up at the wrong time.

By they way is anybody else struck by how easily it seems that "wonderful Christian men" can embrace violence under the right circumstances?

Convictions handed down in Alaska domestic terrorism case. Guilty, guilty, guilty!

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

A federal jury on Monday ruled that defendants Schaeffer Cox and Lonnie Vernon of the Fairbanks-based Alaska Peacemakers Militia were both guilty on the most serious charge facing them -- conspiracy to murder. 

Cox was found guilty of a total of nine of the 11 counts he was charged with. Vernon was guilty of two of the three counts against him, including the conspiracy to murder charge. 

Both militia members had conspired to kill a federal judge and law enforcement officials, the jury decided. 

The jury found fellow defendant Coleman Barney guilty of two counts and not guilty of two others. The jury was hung on the conspiracy to murder charge against Barney.

Very good news! This means life for at least Cox and Vernon, though it looks like Barney may have dodged a bullet. Pardon the pun.

Now hopefully we will be free to tell the rest of the story.

Stay tuned folks.

Update: ADN has more. Schaeffer Cox erupted after the verdicts were read.

"The prosecutors withheld evidence from you guys!" he said to the jurors. 

The judge said "Mr. Cox, please." 

Some of the jurors teared up after the verdicts were read. 

The judge told them they were the hardest-working jury he had ever seen on such a complicated case. 

Somehow I think this verdict knocked that cocky grin right off Schaeffer Cox's face.

Now he is headed to PMITA prison. And in my opinion it couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

Here is your crazy thought processes of the day. Alaska militia style.

Coleman Barney

Yesterday during the Schaeffer Cox trial, prosecutors were questioning his co-defendant, Coleman Barney, about the reasoning behind why he and fellow militia members walked around heavily armed, seemingly intent on engaging law enforcement officials in a firefight.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

One issue jurors will likely be asked to think about as closing arguments near is whether Cox and his group sought out or created the conditions that would have yielded the potential for violent conflict. Cox had established rules of engagement for the group, centered on whether government came after him or left him alone. Yet by skipping a court date in a minor weapons case, Cox assured his non-compliance with the law and solidified his status as a fugitive, raising the potential for his arrest. 

Coupled with Cox's public displays of disrespect to and defiance of the court system, a climate was brewing that could have become a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Prior to skipping a court date, Cox had encouraged supporters to come to other, earlier court hearings in ploys to get attention and intimidate state court judges. Barney has said during these courtroom appearances, Cox had twice taken his antics too far. Telling judges that people wanted to kill them in the middle of the night, and telling Alaska State Troopers that the militia had them "outmanned and outgunned" was too extreme, Barney said. As a result of his growing discomfort, Barney had asked Cox to tone it down. Even so, the impact of Cox's courthouse grandstanding has been difficult for Cox and his men to shake. 

During their federal trial this week, when Skrocki asked if Cox was "using the militia to threaten the court system," Barney said "yeah." 

Staying with the theme, Skrocki attempted to show jurors that the security details in service to Cox were more than a group of guys exercising their Second Amendment rights to bear arms. These were men who intended to go to great lengths to keep their man safe. 

"This would have caused a lot of heartache with law enforcement at any level," Skrocki asked, using his right hand to hold up an AR 15 semi-automatic assault rifle in the courtroom. The weapon, a Valentine's Day gift from his wife, was among those Barney carried during a protective detail for Cox in November 2010. Skrocki's point was, if police or troopers or the FBI came across men carrying such weapons in public, they'd be inclined to check the situation out. And yet, it was a confrontation with law enforcement that Cox feared, and the very scenario that had given way to the prospect of launching the retaliatory 2-4-1 plan. 

Barney said he was aware that certain situations required more decorum. A protective detail for Cox outside a Fairbanks courthouse was kept more simple, with maybe nine men armed with handguns, including himself, working to make sure Cox made it safely from the courthouse exit to a waiting car. But when Cox was due for a television appearance, the situation was different. 

The television station was on private property, Barney believed. Because of this, he said he didn't think being more heavily armed would cause public distress. To this location he brought side arms, the AR 15 and 180 rounds. For extra "non lethal" defense tactics, he mounted a grenade launcher to the rifle and loaded it with a canister of rubber pellets -- an illegal combination, according to the indictment. Another man rode the wooded perimeter of KJNP, and Lonnie Vernon, similarly armed, worked the entry point of the lot. 

Skrocki tried to get Barney to admit he'd been given orders by Cox that night to shoot to kill. But Barney was clear, opening fire on law enforcement was only intended as a last resort. And, a last resort only to be invoked if unidentified people, including undercover agents who failed to identify themselves, showed up and started shooting. 

Alaska militia member, Coleman Barney, denied bail. Whew!

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

One of the things that fumbled Barney's chances for bail was something for which he isn't even charged, dating back to events that took place late one night last November outside a Fairbanks television studio. Cox had a scheduled appearance at the building and felt he needed security, with Barney in charge. The detail involved about a half dozen, armed militia members patrolling the block, blocking access and turning citizens away. Some of the guards, including Barney, who also had with him an anti-personnel riot control device – a burst of rubber bullets that could be deployed via a grenade launcher, stood watch along the perimeter in the shadows. The judge found the operation, which Barney spoke about on the stand, troubling.

"The defandant's activities in regard to a 'security detail' for co-defendant Francis Schaeffer Cox indicated a very substantial danger to the safety of other persons and the community and, in particular, a willingness to use assaultive behavior illegally to prevent the lawful arrest of another," Judge Bryan wrote.

Well THAT is certainly good news. I know that there were some people who were pretty worried about Barney getting out.


By the way it certainly did not help to have Coleman Barney take the stand in his own defense.

Barney admitted that -- like many Americans involved in the tea party movement -- he's worried about the direction of the country. But Barney said he advocated change through nonviolence. He said he believed that change could be achieved through education, through holding law enforcement accountable to the Alaska and U.S. constitutions, and through the legislative process.

"Everything I have been pushing for has been of peaceful means," he said.

He helped set up the Second Amendment Task Force, aimed at protecting gun rights, and the Liberty Bell Network, designed to provide citizens a witness network to unlawful search and seizure. And the efforts, he said, have already paid off, citing a new state law (A.S. 44.99.500) that legalizes silencers and other weapons.

If such items are made in Alaska, they are none of the federal government's business, Barney said.
When it came to alleged murder plots and anti-government loyalties, the Feds, Barney would have the court believe, simply got it wrong.

But on cross examination, prosecutor Steven Skrocki was able to get Barney to admit that he was, in fact, a command major in Cox's Alaska Peacemakers Militia. And Barney also said that, if necessary, he was also prepared to kill, though he said only as last resort. 

Just to bring you up to speed the individuals that Coleman was admitting he was prepared to kill were Federal agents which the incredibly paranoid Schaeffer Cox had convinced himself, and his friends, were out to kill him.


I think this should serve as a wake up call for those who are still laboring under the assumption that the Teabaggers are not potentially dangerous, or not associated with any violent extremists.

By the way I have been hearing some rather interesting tidbits of information from my sources that there are far more connections between Sarah Palin, Joe Miller, and Schaeffer Cox than have previously been brought to light.  I am attempting to make headway on that story right now, and will keep you all updated once I get something really good.

Prosecutors release damaging new information about militia member who plotted against Alaska law enforcement.

As I wrote just last month, Coleman Barney, one of Schaeffer Cox's buddies who helped to plot the murder of State Troopers and local judges, was able to get his bail reduced from 2 million dollars to a mere $100,000. Once that was accomplished his supporters have taken up collections to raise the money, and his legal team has been working hard to get Coleman out of jail and reintroduced back into his community. (Courtesy of the Alaska Dispatch)

Barney's defense attorney has told the court that there are good reasons to let the man go home to his work and family. The state court, in which Barney faces the most serious charges, has already agreed to it. The 36-year-old lifelong Alaskan, businessman and father of five is also a respected and active member of his church. He is stable, hard working, looks out for his family and others and "has a history of contributing to the community, not destroying it," Tim Dooley, Barney's attorney, wrote in a motion filed recently with the court. To reinforce this point Dooley included several letters of support from Barney's friends and relatives.

As you can imagine this has not gone over well with many Alaskans, nor with the federal prosecutors who put the case together against Cox and his fellow conspirators, and who have now released heretofore unknown information to paint quite a different picture of Cox than the one his defense team wants to define their client.

Prosecutors are urging the judge to not be fooled, and to help the judge make up his mind they’ve offered new details about the day of Barney's arrest and evidence found at his home and other locations.

"Coleman Barney, father of five, business owner and member of the community referenced in the defense pleadings and in letters of support, is not the same Coleman Barney who elected to arrive to an illegal arms sale wearing body armor and carrying two loaded pistols. It is not the Coleman Barney who, during this arms sale held and examined with his own hands what he thought were live hand grenades, and a pistol silencer combination. It was not the same Coleman Barney who sought to purchase tactical weapons which only exist to kill either violently, secretly, or furtively," prosecutor Stephen Skrocki wrote in a motion filed Wednesday opposing Barney"s release.

Skrocki goes on: "To this sale, Coleman Barney arrived with a similarly armed and equipped fugitive/co-conspirator whom he (and without doubt his spouse) supported and harbored for several weeks amongst his own family of small children while hatching a plan to murder state of Alaska law enforcement officers and a state court judge. To assist this fugitive/co-conspirator, Schaffer Cox, Barney secreted and left in a very public place -- a well known and popular winter festival -- a trailer he owned, loaded with tactically directed weapons of warfare -- two live grenades, grenade making components, 18 grenade shells, grenade launchers, a belt-fed Browning semi-automatic machine gun, and other militarily offensive firearms and ammunition."

"The decision to deposit this trailer in such a public place defies explanation and speaks volumes concerning character. In leaving the trailer in plain view, Barney placed the needs of his cause and his allegiance to his co-conspirator above those of who lived in his community. The risk of harm to the attendees, which included children of all ages, were very real and very significant."

You know I can't speak for all Alaskans here, but my opinion is that this guy needs to be kept locked away until after his trial, which I dearly hope earns him a life sentence in a Federal penitentiary someplace far, far away from Alaska.

By the way, through my sources I have also heard that the Feds informant in this case, William Fulton, is also understandably displeased to learn that this nutjob might be allowed out into the community, and considers that to be an extremely dangerous decision if in fact it is allowed to happen.

Cox and his buddies know full well that the case against them partially hinges on the testimony of "Drop Zone Bill" Fulton, and having Barney out on the streets trying to tie up loose ends, places him and his family in grave danger.

Attorney for Alaskan man indicted on charges of plotting to kill State Troopers and local judges gets bail reduced from two million dollars to $100,000. WTF?

Courtesy of the Fairbanks News Miner:

Attorney Tim Dooley said he planned to file documents on Wednesday asking for a federal bail review for North Pole resident Coleman Barney, who is being held without bond. If the move is successful, the 36-year-old electrician hopes he can gather enough money to get out of jail, Dooley said.

Barney convinced state Superior Court Judge David C. Stewart on Friday to drop his bail on state murder and kidnapping conspiracy charges from $2 million to $100,000.

Dooley said relatives and supporters have scraped together enough money to pay the bond.

Dozens of relatives, friends and church members sent letters to the court requesting a lower bail for Barney. His wife, Rachel, is scheduled Friday to give birth to the couple’s fifth child.

Barney remains imprisoned, however, because he also is charged with federal weapons violations.

“If it was just the state charges — which are more serious than the federal charges, I should add — he’d be out,” Dooley said.

Barney is one of five local defendants with ties to the Alaska Peacemakers Militia who are accused of concocting an elaborate plot they dubbed “241.” That effort, which was reportedly discussed during hundreds of hours of secret FBI recordings, involved a conspiracy to kill two Alaska State Troopers or state judges anytime a militia member was arrested or killed by authorities.

Prosecutors say the plot was concocted to protect Schaeffer Cox, the militia leader who was a fugitive last February for failing to appear at trial in February on misdemeanor weapons charges.

Coleman and Rachel Barney also are charged with harboring Cox as he hid from authorities.

I'm sorry but reducing this guy's bail to one-twentieth of what it was originally set is completely insane.

The guy was plotting to kill state judges and law enforcement officials, and these people want him out on the streets? The whole reason that it was set so high was to ensure he would NOT be getting out, so asking for it be reduced defeats the entire premise of setting such a high amount in the first place.

What, do they think this guy became LESS dangerous while sitting in his jail cell fuming over his incarceration and plotting his revenge?

And WHO would donate to the fund to get him out?  Did they not see what this guy was charged with?

According to the complaint, "The plan would then have the tactical teams going to the target's houses, cutting the power, shooting the inhabitants as they come out to check on their power; then the team would kick the target's residence's doors in, kill everybody inside and set the house on fire. Then the team would lay in hiding and take out the initial responding officer before moving on to the next target."

What else does he have to do to demonstrate that he is mentally unstable and a danger to his community, dress in colonial garb while carrying an automatic weapon?

Oh yeah, that's right.

What in the hell is wrong with these people?