I have no doubt this screed released by Laura Loomer is retaliation for my lawsuit against the DHS for its illegal seizure of my phones following my return from a reporting trip to Iran. Our lawsuit succinctly details Loomer’s role in lobbying for the unconstitutional seizure, and her claims of credit for it. Now she’s seeking cover in the Zeppelin-sized shadow of Randy Fine. A federal judge has clearly stated that my Fourth Amendment rights were violated through the seizure of my phones. She framed the DHS action as an attack on my First Amendment rights as well, situating it within the Trump administration’s wider assault on press freedom. Loomer and a trio of Israel First backbenchers have responded by escalating their attack on my First Amendment rights. It’s a desperate bid to silence me and The Grayzone - not for breaking any laws, but for journalism which exposes wanton corruption and war crimes. They are particularly incensed by my reporting on the crimes of a certain foreign apartheid state whose lobbying proxies guide their careers. Indeed, their letter is packed with hysterical complaints about my journalism, demanding that I be “investigated” for producing a documentary on Iran’s Jewish community and for clinically exposing official Israeli deceptions about October 7 designed to generate public support for genocide in Gaza. The letter also contains blatantly false, libelous statements. For instance, its authors claim I was “cultivated by an agent of influence by an FTO and current military adversary.” This is textbook defamation, and I don’t think it’s protected by congressional immunity. Finally, it’s impossible to ignore the irony of Randy Fine falsely accusing an American journalist of unspecified crimes just days after Fine was filmed rummaging through a private citizen’s mailbox while he was campaigning for reelection. Breaking into a mailbox is a federal crime. Journalism is not.