Fox News commentator accused of lying about CIA work pleads not guilty

[libby]

Wow!   A  Fox News frequent commentator who lied about working for the CIA also served on the watchdog group Citizens' Commission on Benghazi with former military officials: 

The Washington Post

Fox News commentator accused of lying about CIA work pleads not guilty

By Matt Zapotosky October 23, 2015
 
Wayne S. Simmons, a frequent Fox News commentator, pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges that he made up a decades-long career with the CIA to win jobs with government contractors.

The Annapolis resident, 62, said little more than "Yes, sir" and "No, sir" during a brief hearing in federal district court in Alexandria, and his attorney said he was pleading not guilty. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III scheduled his trial to begin Feb. 23.

Simmons was arrested last week and charged with making false statements, major fraud against the United States and wire fraud. According to federal prosecutors, Simmons lied on government documents about having a 27-year career with the CIA to get interim security clearances and jobs with government contractors, including BAE Systems.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Nathanson said in court Friday that Simmons tried to get work at three defense contractors and that one deployed him to Afghanistan to advise U.S. military personnel. Nathanson said he expected Simmons's trial to last two weeks, as prosecutors are in the unusual position of having "to prove a negative."

The case is certainly atypical. Whitney Minter, Simmons's attorney, said she will have to get a top-secret security clearance to review some of the evidence, and Nathanson said he expects to call 20 witnesses during the trial. But prosecutors have asserted that the matter is also relatively simple: Simmons, they have said, persistently used his "supposed CIA affiliation as a trump card," even though he never worked for the agency.

Of particular note, prosecutors have said that Simmons referred to his purported clandestine status in a 2007 incident in Annapolis in which police officers found him assaulting a cabdriver, saying something to the effect of: "I'm CIA. You can't do anything to me."

[He claimed to be ex-CIA and was a frequent commentator on Fox News. Prosecutors say it was a lie.]

Cpl. Amy Miguez, an Annapolis police spokeswoman, said that Simmons was not arrested in that incident, but officers sought an emergency petition to have him undergo a mental health evaluation at a hospital. She said she could not provide details because of privacy laws governing medical records and because the police department is not necessarily informed of the results of a person's mental health evaluation.

Prosecutors have said that Simmons had a lengthy criminal record, including 11 charges of drinking and driving and convictions for assault, gambling and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Simmons was a frequent, unpaid expert commentator on Fox News, and he served on the watchdog group Citizens' Commission on Benghazi with former military officials, at least one of whom said that Simmons seemed to be knowledgeable about clandestine work. The group has since removed his name from its list of members, and Fox News host Neil Cavuto has apologized for what he termed a "very big slip-up," if the allegations against Simmons are true.

Although he pleaded not guilty, Simmons's response to the allegations is not known. Minter declined to comment after the hearing. Simmons is being held in jail and is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 13 for a status hearing.

Matt Zapotosky covers the federal district courthouse in Alexandria, where he tries to break news from a windowless office in which he is not allowed to bring his cell phone.

www.washingtonpost.com

[me]

He took full responsibility for the mistake and did not once say "if" the alligations were true.

[Locutus]

Imagine that.  A liar on Fox News. 

[Palehorse]

Imagine that.  A liar on Fox News. 

There's a surprise! 

[Exterminator]

He took full responsibility for the mistake and did not once say "if" the alligations were true.

LMAO!  Mistake?

[libby]

LMAO!  Mistake?

Mistake?  Lying about being a CIA operative? That is so huge for so many reasons.

[me]

Mistake?  Lying about being a CIA operative? That is so huge for so many reasons.

LMAO!  Mistake?

Talk about poor reading comprehension.  Cavuto took full responsibility for not checking this guy out further, it was a mistake on his part, and did not say "if" he lied he knows now he did. There did that help? Probably not. 

[Locutus]

I think the reading comprehension is just fine.  You never said Cavuto in your original post.  Ergo, everyone assumed you were talking about Simmons. 

[Exterminator]

I think the reading comprehension is just fine.  You never said Cavuto in your original post.  Ergo, everyone assumed you were talking about Simmons.

Exactly; your inability to elucidate a point doesn't speak to our reading comprehension.

[me]

Exactly; your inability to elucidate a point doesn't speak to our reading comprehension.

I was referring to what the article said about Cavuto so if you had read the article it should have been understood by what I said who I was referring to.   

Fox News host Neil Cavuto has apologized for what he termed a "very big slip-up," if the allegations against Simmons are true.

He took full responsibility for the mistake and did not once say "if" the alligations were true.

[Palehorse]

I was referring to what the article said about Cavuto so if you had read the article it should have been understood by what I said who I was referring to.

Classic bait and switch. The impetus is upon the poster to make things as clear as possible surrounding their position and intent; something you, the poster, failed to do.

You're spinning like a top. . . 

[me]

No, I am not spinning like a top. I showed the part I was referring to and if neither of you can figure that out I'm not the one who has the problem. My entire reply is in direct referrence to that particular statement. So come on with the personal attack which is common when ya'll know yer wrong. Now, with that said, if you aren't guilty of doing that then I'm not referring to you.

[libby]

No, I am not spinning like a top. I showed the part I was referring to and if neither of you can figure that out I'm not the one who has the problem. My entire reply is in direct referrence to that particular statement. So come on with the personal attack which is common when ya'll know yer wrong. Now, with that said, if you aren't guilty of doing that then I'm not referring to you.

Uh, Are you talkin' to me? Or about me? If so could you please explain that again? and be a little more specific?    I'm a slow thinker.

[Locutus]

She's talking to Palehorse with the "spinning like a top" comment.  The rest of it is to all of us for our failure  - collectively I might add - to be on the same wavelength as she was when she made her original post.  Every single one of us that read that thought she was talking about Simmons.  I think the problem is on her end. 

[libby]

Thank you. I'm not at my best right now because something is going on that is taking its toll on me. I come here because it helps me forget for a while.