Over the weekend a big backlash was reported locally in Utah after tracking down a paramedic who donated to the defense fund of Kyle Rittenhouse and attempting to confront him at home.
A self-proclaimed “Emmy nominated investigative reporter” reporter Jason Nguyen, went all Mike Wallace with his report on a Utah paramedic who donated $10 to the Kyle Rittenhouse defense fund. He reported on a data breach that resulted in the release of the paramedic’s name as one of those who donated to Rittenhouse’s fund.
Nguyen wrote on Twitter, “I tried to get the paramedic’s side of things.” Jason was so hellbent on getting to the bottom of this $10 donation that he showed up on the paramedic’s doorstep to talk with the man.
A data breach from GiveSendGo, spread containing one of the crowdfunding campaigns on GiveSendGo included Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot two people dead and wounded another during riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The said data breach revealed the details of some donors who had previously attempted to conceal their identities using GiveSendGo’s anonymity feature, but whose identifying details the website preserved.
This is shared with journalists by the transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets.
The beneficiaries of donations from public officials include Kyle Rittenhouse, who stands accused of murdering two leftwing protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last August. Rittenhouse traveled from neighboring Illinois to, by his own account, offer armed protection to businesses during protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Rittenhouse, who became a cause célèbre across conservative media throughout late 2020, and was even supported by then-president Donald Trump, held a fundraiser on GiveSendGo billed as a contribution to his legal defense. According to data from the site, he raised $586,940 between 27 August last year and 7 January.
Among the donors were several associated with email addresses traceable to police and other public officials.
One donation for $25, made on 3 September last year, was made anonymously but associated with the official email address for Sgt William Kelly, who currently serves as the executive officer of internal affairs in the Norfolk police department in Virginia.
That donation also carried a comment, reading: “God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
The comment continued: “Every rank and file police officer supports you. Don’t be discouraged by actions of the political class of law enforcement leadership.”
Another Rittenhouse donor using an official email address was Craig Shepherd, who public records show is a paramedic in Utah. This donor gave $10 to Rittenhouse on 30 August.
Donations also came to Rittenhouse associated with official email addresses for Keith Silvers, and employee of the city of Huntsville, Alabama, and another $100 was associated with the official address of Michael Crosley, an engineer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a body which is charged with maintaining the US’s nuclear weapons stockpile.
Meanwhile, several Wisconsin police officers donated to a fundraiser, “Support Rusten Sheskey”, held for the Kenosha police department officer whose shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake, led to the protests that drew Rittenhouse to the city.
Two $20 donations to Sheskey’s fund were associated with the email addresses of a pair of lieutenants in Green Bay, Wisconsin’s police department. One, given under the name, “GBPD Officer”, was tied to an address associated with Chad Ramos, a training lieutenant in the department; another anonymous donation was associated with Keith A Gehring, who is listed as a school resources officer lieutenant.
Another donation to Sheskey was associated with the official email address of Officer Pat Gainer of the Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin police department. Given under the screen name “PPPD Motor 179”, the donation also carried the comment: “Stay strong brother.”
“A Utah paramedic donated to the defense fund of Kyle Rittenhouse. It was first reported in the @guardian this morning. Rittenhouse is accused of killing two protesters in Kenosha, WI. I tried to get the paramedics [sic] side of things. See the story tonight at 10p on @abc4utah,” Nguyen wrote to accompany a photo taken as he knocked on the paramedic’s front door.
“Far too many journalists are willing to destroy the life of a private citizen doing nothing and bothering no one at a moment’s notice. It’s frightening and un-American,” NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck responded.
Political pundit Stephen L. Miller added, “If you don’t like the enemy of the people label, perhaps stop acting like such.”
“Some journalists go to war zones. Some confront security state agencies and repressive regimes. Some uncover the fraudulent schemes of Wall Street tycoons. And then some bullies abuse the profession to harass and expose private, powerless people,” journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote.
Greenwald then asked, “I wonder what this journalist would say if someone showed up uninvited at his door to ‘get his side of the story,’ and put pictures of the front of his house and posted it on Twitter for all to see?”
“A Utah paramedic donated to the defense fund of Kyle Rittenhouse. It was first reported in the @guardian this morning. Rittenhouse is accused of killing two protesters in Kenosha, WI. I tried to get the paramedics [sic] side of things. See the story tonight at 10p on @abc4utah,” Nguyen wrote to accompany a photo taken as he knocked on the paramedic’s front door.
“Far too many journalists are willing to destroy the life of a private citizen doing nothing and bothering no one at a moment’s notice. It’s frightening and un-American,” NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck responded.
Political pundit Stephen L. Miller added, “If you don’t like the enemy of the people label, perhaps stop acting like such.”
“Some journalists go to war zones. Some confront security state agencies and repressive regimes. Some uncover the fraudulent schemes of Wall Street tycoons. And then some bullies abuse the profession to harass and expose private, powerless people,” journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote.
Greenwald then asked, “I wonder what this journalist would say if someone showed up uninvited at his door to ‘get his side of the story,’ and put pictures of the front of his house and posted it on Twitter for all to see?”
ABC 4 in Utah did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nguyen responded to some of the criticism: “Me going to his house is to get his side of the story. I do the same thing to those who have crimes alleged against them, that goes for both sides of the law. It’s so we make every attempt to get the [other side] so that we are balanced and that there is video proof of it
Below are the Tweets to slam Nguyen:
And the press wonders why they’re hated. https://t.co/ukbyMMpvWL
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 19, 2021
Kamala raised bail money for BLM and Antifa terrorists, yet you’re doxxing a low paid first responder for doing the same?
This is why people hate the media and the hacks within. https://t.co/19lK52ZIgC
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) April 19, 2021
Why hasn’t Twitter banned this reporter for exposing a private individual to harassment at his home, a paramedic whose only “offense” is to make a perfectly legal $10 donation to an accused man’s defense fund? https://t.co/YKFN2BUyMd
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) April 19, 2021
This is totalitarian thuggery masquerading as reporting, Jason. I’m ashmed that you and I are considered practitioners of a shared profession. https://t.co/IaZqWlVuJR
— Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) April 18, 2021
Another anonymous donation of $400 was attributed in site data to an email linked to Chris Andersen and carried the comment: “I think that Chief Acevedo is part of the ‘unrecognized form of police corruption’ that Chris Anderson [sic] wrote about in his book’. Hang in there guys!!!”
Andersen’s book, The Sniper: Hunting A Serial Killer – A True Story, purports to tell the story of the hunt for a serial killer by Houston police at a time when “the United States was experiencing a wave of civil discontent regarding the unwarranted shootings (either true or perceived) of black men by law enforcement (the Black Lives Matter era)”.
In his Amazon bio, Andersen describes himself as a “39-year veteran of the Houston police department”, and as having worked in roles including homicide detective, supervising a Swat team and internal affairs.
In an email, the Green Bay police chief, Andrew Smith, wrote of the donations that “we are looking into the matter”, but added on Sheskey’s actions that his department “does not take a position on other agencies use of force”.
“An honest mistake” and had “never intended to use his Lab email on this matter,” said Lynda Seaver, director of public affairs at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, wrote on her email that Michael Crosley had made.
Lynda Seaver, director of public affairs at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, wrote in an email that Michael Crosley had made “an honest mistake”, and had “never intended to use his Lab email on this matter”.
Other agencies and individuals who were included in the Guardian’s reporting did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Watch it here: ABC4
Sources: BLAZE MEDIA, THE GUARDIAN, OUTKICK, DISRN, FOX NEWS
