Re: Some of the stupid people you can have in govt.

Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade is facing calls from local politicians
to explain his communications with a supporter who was indicted for faking a
hate crime to boost the now-mayor�s candidacy.

Mobolade last week claimed that he was the �victim of a hate crime� even
after Derrick Bernard, a black man who has since been convicted of an
unrelated murder, was indicted for scrawling the n-word on a Mobolade
campaign sign and lighting a cross on fire in April 2023. The election-eve
hoax was intended to gin up sympathy for Mobolade, who is black, in his race
against a white Republican. Mobolade was soon after elected in the city, a
traditional Republican stronghold.

The indictment says that Bernard was in communication with Mobolade,
including him letting him know that there was a �plot amidst� beforehand,
messaging him the day of the hoax to say that he guaranteed that he would
win, and holding a five-minute phone call days after the incident. The Daily
Wire reported on November 21 that an FBI official said that the bureau
referred the mayor for criminal prosecution for lying after he denied
communicating with Bernard in two separate interviews. The Department of
Justice refused to prosecute him, citing racial and political considerations,
and instead called him in for a third interview, where his story changed to
�I don�t recall,� the official said.

In a statement to the Colorado Springs Gazette, Mobolade disparaged The Daily
Wire without specifically denying the report�s accuracy.

�My family and I are victims of a hate crime, allegedly committed by three
suspects against our city. I had no knowledge, warning, or involvement in
this reprehensible act. It is unfortunately not a new trend that politically
motivated websites will weigh in with no regard for accuracy or truth, and
interest only in sensationalism and scandal. I fully cooperated in the
investigation, and it is important that the judicial process is followed to
allow for a successful prosecution that brings justice for our community,� he
said.

Longinos Gonzalez Jr., who ran in the race for mayor and serves as a
commissioner on the governing board of El Paso County, told the Gazette that
it was an �unacceptable response,� because it is �still confusing as it
relates to whether he did or did not lie to the FBI.�

City Councilman Dave Donelson pressed for answers last week at a city council
meeting. �I would ask the mayor to come forward and answer questions about
whether or not he lied to the FBI, which is what�s alleged in that report:
that he met with them twice, said he had no contact with those individuals,
however in the indictment, it�s clear that he did have contact.�

Did the Mayor of Colorado Springs Yemi Mobolade collude with three
activists to fake a hate crime to win an election? Why don�t we have
his text messages if the 3 activists have been indicted by the
Department of Justice? Did the Mayor lie to the FBI?

Video from Springs� pic.twitter.com/xJ87NCK4Vq

� Jeff Hunt (@jeffhunt) November 26, 2024

The mayor wasn�t present, but Ryan Trujillo, his deputy chief of staff, said
�We�re certainly aware and disappointed by the unfounded and unsourced
allegations by the Daily Wire article. We�re mindful and respectful that this
is an ongoing investigation, and so we do not anticipate any further comments
to be respectful of that investigation for the defendants, none of which
Mayor Yemi are included.�

Donelson replied: �What I�m asking for is not to comment on the charges made
against those three individuals, but to simply state whether he was
interviewed by the FBI twice and denied contact with those individuals.
That�s a separate thing.�

Donelson told the Gazette, �How could it compromise the investigation to say,
�I did not lie to the FBI in those two interviews?��

On social media, he noted that the Gazette did not print the most remarkable
part of Mobolade�s statement, writing: �I still don�t know if [Mobolade] LIED
to the FBI � but I do know that he LIED in the statement he made to the
[Gazette] yesterday. First sentence of the statement: �My family and I are
victims of a hate crime, allegedly committed by three suspects against our
city.��

George Brauchler, who was elected as prosecutor for another district in
Colorado in November, lambasted Mobolade in an op-ed in the Gazette, saying
�lying to the FBI (or any federal agency) is a serious crime. A go-to-prison
crime.�

He said Mobolade�s attempt to sow doubt on the reporting, without actually
going on the record to contradict it, only fuel suspicion �We prosecutors
look to see if the conduct of the witnesses and the guilty match up to our
expectations of what an innocent person would do. Here, they do not,� he
said.

He faulted the Biden DOJ and the local media, and said the crime of lying to
federal agents has a five-year statute of limitations, meaning the DOJ under
the Donald Trump administration could still charge him. �Mobolade does not
have to wait. He can and should tell us the truth. All of it,� he said.

On the day he won election, Bernard messaged Mobolade to take credit for the
win, and messaged a co-conspirator that he anticipated �favors� in return,
encouraging her to pick out a city job.

The FBI source also told The Daily Wire that Mobolade personally asked the
DOJ to issue a press release proclaiming his innocence�which the FBI opposed
as inappropriate, including because the newly-charged suspects could be
pressed for information on the mayor. The DOJ�s press release announcing the
indictment falsely stated that Bernard sent a suspicious message to his co-
defendants, when it was actually sent to Mobolade.

Mobolade�s taxpayer-funded spokeswoman, Vanessa Zink, did not reply when The
Daily Wire asked about the FBI official�s allegations before publication of
the story that the mayor�s office later disparaged. On Monday, The Daily Wire
asked her for yes-or-no answers to the following questions:

-Does he deny being interviewed by the FBI three times about the Derrick
Bernard/hate crime investigation?

-Does he dispute that he denied the existence of certain communications
between himself and Derrick Bernard in the first two interviews?

-Does he deny contacting the USAO about a press release on the topic?

She did not reply.

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