George Kent and the Destruction of Andrii Telizhenko
Counterlawfare Institute·
Contributor
Counterlawfare Institute
Counterlawfare Institute
Publications
The Nonprofit Shield: How 501(c)(3)s Became Part of the Lawfare-Industrial Complex
Counterlawfare Institute·
The Need for Counterlawfare
Counterlawfare Institute·
Interviews
The Lectern Guy
The photograph of Adam Johnson carrying a lectern through the U.S. Capitol became one of the most recognizable images of January 6, 2021. A father of five who had traveled to Washington to attend President Trump's rally, Johnson had no political connections or involvement with any organized group. He walked into the Capitol, posed for a photograph, and left, unaware that his life was about to be turned upside down. Within hours, he was being vilified by the media. Within two days, he was in jail. Charged with felony theft for a lectern he never stole, Johnson faced enormous legal expenses, a coerced plea deal, and ultimately federal imprisonment. His family endured death threats, public harassment, and years of upheaval. In this Counterlawfare Institute interview, Johnson recounts his ordeal and provides a firsthand account of how the machinery of lawfare, from prosecutors and judges to the media, can devastate ordinary Americans and their families.
Douglass Mackey: A Case Study in Lawfare
The Counterlawfare Institute recently sat down with Douglass Mackey to document, in depth, the extraordinary prosecution that turned a political meme into a federal criminal case. Mackey’s case offers a particularly revealing study of how lawfare works in practice. Prosecutors pursued him over a meme posted on Twitter, secured a conviction and a sentence of federal imprisonment, and relied on a novel application of federal law that was ultimately rejected on appeal. The ordeal came at enormous personal cost. The case also brings together many of the recurring features the Counterlawfare Institute has identified across lawfare operations: the selection of a politically disfavored target, the use of government authority against that target, the search for an expansive or novel legal theory, strategic choices of forum, and a surrounding media environment that helps validate the operation. Our purpose in documenting cases such as Mackey’s is larger than any single prosecution. We are building a record of how lawfare operates, identifying the methods and actors that recur across different cases, and developing the intellectual and institutional capacity necessary to recognize and counter these tactics.
A Conversation with Lee Smith on Lawfare
Counterlawfare sits down with author and journalist Lee Smith for a wide-ranging conversation about lawfare, Russiagate, the media, institutional corruption, and the failure of accountability. Smith, author of The Plot Against the President, was one of the earliest writers to document how the Trump-Russia operation actually unfolded. Seven years later, he discusses what Russiagate revealed about the machinery of modern lawfare, the recurring role of political actors, government institutions, and the media, and why so many of its lessons remain unlearned. They also discuss the need to preserve the documentary record and build the institutional memory necessary to identify and understand future lawfare operations.
DOJ Weaponization Goes Private | Michael Caputo
Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign adviser and former Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, joins the Counterlawfare Institute to explain how he is being targeted by a former DOJ official now operating as a private lawyer. This seems to be a disturbing new form of lawfare: the privatization of tactics previously associated with government weaponization. Caputo walks us through exactly what happened and what his case may reveal about the next phase of lawfare.