1. Ben Sasse, a former Republican senator, was recently interviewed in the New York Times regarding his terminal cancer diagnosis. But, on reading the interview, you found some concerning details that, in your view, require broader attention. Could you expound on those specifics, please?
Answer: First of all, I would like to express my concern for Ben Sasse and his family at this time. This is a person who has dedicated his life to the service of others and someone who has engaged with public life with a rare compass of ethics and integrity.
2. But you find some of the details of his illness to be unusual.
Answer: I do, and I think Congress will find them unusual as well.
3. What are those details, please?
Answer: Ben Sasse was diagnosed simultaneously with pancreatic cancer, lymphoma, liver cancer, lung cancer, cancer of the blood vessels and more. This is an unlikely presentation when it comes to terminal cancer diagnosis, and it generally represents a deadly exposure to radiation or a powerful chemical carcinogen. We just don't normally see people being diagnosed with unrelated cancers simultaneously. When we do see it, there is a reason. This is not merely "the luck of the draw" or compromised genetics. There is likely to have been significant harm to the environment of the patient, and an inquiry into this matter should be undertaken by the Congress as a whole, in a bipartisan way, because this particular instance is so grievous.
4. What should Congress do as a start to assess what has happened in this situation?
Answer: Congress should pull Ben Sasse's FBI file immediately.
5. How do you know that former Senator Ben Sasse has an FBI file?
Answer: Everyone has an FBI file. All Americans. Even minors. This is what I have been trying to convey through my discussions on knowingly falsified law enforcement reporting by the FBI and its affiliates. If you think you're the exception, you're wrong. If you think your spouse is the exception, you're wrong again. If you think your children are the exception, you're wrong three times over.
6. Do you have any idea what former Senator Ben Sasse's FBI file might contain?
Answer: The FBI labels every American of faith as a religious extremist, so I can guarantee that much is there. So the honorable former Senator would certainly have been mischaracterized as a "dangerous person" on this basis alone.
Having said that, there is likely to be a great deal of unrelated falsified law enforcement reporting as well.
7. Why do you say that?
Answer: The FBI likes to throw the whole kitchen sink of false accusations into the files. Espionage, Terrorism, Child abuse. Capital crimes. On the chance that any single accusation is later disproved, the agency can still claim that the "target of interest" was engaged in criminal conduct.
8. Why is former Senator Ben Sasse's case particularly important to the nation as a whole?
Answer: Because we want our elected officials to be able to speak freely about their opinions, their beliefs, their advocacy for their constituents, and their concerns for our nation as a whole. If we have reached the point at which honesty and integrity in the public sphere are answered with a concealed death sentence, extended through a hidden adjudication, then we have lost our Constitutional governance and all the critical guarantees that go along with it.
Public service cannot become the arena of personal grievance, political vengeance, and targeted harm. We need to rely on the ability of Congress, in a bipartisan way, to ensure that our elected officials, our former elected officials, and others who are advocating for the nation, are not incapacitated in retaliation for a perceived slight or a killed out of a desire to profiteer. This is unacceptable conduct for any civilized nation, and we need together to reject it outright.
Beyond this, I would point out that Americans of faith are not radicals, extremists, or terrorists, and the FBI needs to stop mischaracterizing them in these ways. The separation of Church and State means that no government body or agency should be targeting Americans for the manifestation of their religious or spiritual beliefs.
And that includes the FBI.
9. What should Congress do if indeed it is found that Ben Sasse's FBI file is filled with disinformation?
Answer: After that, Congress should inquire about any and all concealed judgments against him on the basis of this knowingly falsified law enforcement reporting.
Following this, members of the House and Senate should obtain all information about the means by which the FBI may have directed specific harms toward Ben Sasse and toward his family members.
10. Is there a responsibility on the part of Congress to ensure that Ben Sasse receives the best possible care at this time?
Answer: Congress needs to evaluate this matter behind closed doors. I would certainly hope that Ben Sasse's care would be prioritized under these circumstances.
Republicans and Democrats alike need to know that they are empowered to speak their minds, to help their constituents, to uphold long term human rights for Americans, and to lead with honesty, integrity, courage, and fortitude.
That means we're going to need certain changes within the FBI, because no Congressperson or former Congressperson should be suffering due to their public service. Our nation is immeasurably weakened whenever this happens.
11. Do you think both Democrats and Republicans can join together to address this particular issue?
Answer: Oh, yes. Everyone needs to express that, as our elected leaders, they are collectively insisting that their ability to exercise their Constitutional freedoms in defense of the national interest must be protected.
And the same holds true for our military leaders and retired military leaders. We don't want to see those who demonstrate the power of extraordinary character and integrity being targeted in any manner whatsoever by the FBI or any of its affiliates. We need our military to be able to hold the line in certain critical aspects of the nation's future. That means our leaders within the Congress and the military both need to reject the targeting of those who are serving or have served Americans' sovereignty and security.
12. When should this concern be taken up by a busy and overburdened Congress?
Answer: How soon is now? This is an urgent matter for all of our leaders, and it needs to be addressed immediately. Any time we have a problem with the architecture of our government, the issue needs to rise to the top of our priorities.
13. Will we be reading about this issue in the newspapers?
Answer: No, I expect that Congress will address it confidentially. But Congress, the Supreme Court and the DOJ have a critical role in ensuring that there are laws in place that protect civilian and military leaders who are advocating -- or, as in the case of former Senator Ben Sasse -- who have advocated in the past -- for the welfare of the American public and their long term human rights.
14. You have documented recently that the FBI seems to be expressing profound antipathy to American churches and houses of worship.
Answer: Yes, and that antipathy plays a role in this particular instance, I have no doubt. But Americans of faith are not insane, dangerous, delusional, or radicalized. And as Americans, we have the right to worship as we choose, with all the Constitutional freedoms that are afforded to us. Now is not the time to be relinquishing that right. Our nation is much weaker if we are disallowed from exercising religious freedom. Spiritual inquiry should not translate to an indictment. And this needs to be made much clearer to the FBI.
15. Is there anything you would like to add?
Answer: Totalitarianism can often arrive with technological advances that outpace our moral and spiritual development. Knowledge without commensurate wisdom and benevolence represents a tremendous risk for human society, and, indeed, for the world as a whole.
Right now, the FBI is wielding highly advanced tools without the insight, wisdom, and restraint that we require. And, in the realm of knowingly falsified law enforcement reporting, AI is increasingly being harnessed to the aggregation of disinformation about Americans and to the unseen consequences of that aggregation.
We don't currently have meaningful plans in place to deconstruct the architecture of that false reporting. These files of disinformation represent Americans' permanent records. And they may not be public, but they are determinative.
So, this represents a governmental crisis, and not only for the United States, but for other nations as well.
16. Can we change our current course?
Answer: We need to engage at every inflection point available to us. But yes, if I didn't think we could rescue human sovereignty for Americans, and by extension all those we influence, I wouldn't be striving for our future in this manner.
17. What do we need to be focusing on most?
Answer: Right now, let's focus on the good Senator Ben Sasse, and, regardless of our political views, let's see what a Congressional investigation into this matter will illuminate.
18. Thank you for speaking with us this morning.
Answer: You are most welcome.
Lane MacWilliams
