Cop says photo of him saluting at KKK rally was "taken out of context"

Indeed – although I quite prefer the Richard Cheese version.

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I knew that… what do you think I am, some kind of millennial?

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I wonder who will play Mott in the movie…

Could be that he legally can’t explain why he was at that rally because of outstanding legal work so he has to mantain the idea that he’s a skinhead sympathizer.

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I’m no more certain than anyone else what happened, but it occurs to me that a quick way for his superiors to smear him would be to release a photo of undercover work against the KKK which he might not be able to explain without jeopardizing an ongoing FBI investigation. It’d be pretty fucking ironic if the media/internet’s knee-jerk outrage, ostensibly because he joined a hate group (but really because who doesn’t love a bandwagon? Certainly KKK members love a bandwagon), actually protected that very same hate group. Especially if the KKK leadership is now realizing why their membership drive in LA shriveled up, and is planning to re-double efforts now that the informant is outed.

But it’s okay, because surely a perpetuation of a gang of ignorant violent racist thugs, and uprooting and endangering this guy’s family’s safety, is a small price to pay for a couple seconds of clicktivist endorphin rush. Yay interwebs!

Also, since when is VICE any more full of bullshit than the rest of the corporate media?

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The jist I’m getting is that he wasn’t on a task force or part of an investigation. He basically took it on himself to go join the KKK, pass info to the FBI and deliberately run their Louisiana operation into the ground. Which is an intensely weird thing to do with your free time. And it also sound an awful lot like the sort of fictional war stories you hear out of a certain type of ultra macho jackhole. But then according to the vice article the FBI backed up his claims, including the one about his employers being aware of the situation for at least 6 months before the photo went public.

Very weird situation.

But the Vice article cites the FBI as confirming that his department was made aware of the situation and had a copy of the photo for 6 months. That means he was in contact with the FBI for at least slightly more than 6 months. But yeah I’m guessing he wasn’t under orders or involved in an ongoing investigation of any sort. Generally if there’s an investigation happening the FBI won’t comment outside of generalities.

It’s not “Heil”. It’s just “Hi”.

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Louisiana has always been a place of wonder.

Wonder why people go there?

Wonder why people stay there?

Wonder if we can go around?

etc.

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well, it’s not the klan, but there’s always this:

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Apparently, some other stories contradict their claims, including some of the ones that link to it?

This is a bizarre story, though, however you slice it.

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Then he wouldn’t say he was a FBI informant!

Not necessarily by his hand, and I wonder if the city notified the FBI first. Even if they are “corrupt”, even the corrupt have their limits and it’s possible that they would tolerate grift but not neo-nazis in their midst. It’s also possible that he tolerated the corruptness just until they turned on him for his Klan membership.

With his lies I don’t necessarily trust that he was “undercover”. If he’d remained quiet with a less questionable timeline i would give it much more plausibility.

Perhaps all hands are unclean.

Hadda’ been Square Dance Rap…

Except, if, as he claimed, they had the picture for months and knew about his activities… what does that say?

I think we can safely say that!

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Well, I mean, being in the Klan is not itself illegal, perhaps he was a character of interest/investigation himself?

Well the Daily News Article cites his claims of being specifically undercover with the FBI as having been a lie. But the Vice article appears to confirm that he was an informant (which is completely different than working officially undercover) and the KKK themselves confirmed that the chapter died out exactly as Mott described. That lines up perfectly well with this being something he undertook himself independently, and it not having been an official duty or investigation. Like I said weird, and very confused.

But why would they tolerate it for 6 months as they apparently did, and only respond when that photo was leaked? This whole situation is terminally confused. He also isn’t necessarily making it clear why he joined up. The story of “yeah we went to this rally and we didn’t like it so we decided to fuck up the kkk” is pretty god damned strange.

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Perhaps in keeping with someone who got into a tiff with local Klavernleadership, or who decided to turn after the picture was found by his superiors at the station . Hell, racists aren’t even tolerant of each other. Unreliable narrator and likely all around asshole. I’d be interested to see how the suit turns out, if he was undercover at any point, this would never have been filed.

He didn’t explain how he showed up at the rally in full Klan regalia, either. If he suddenly decided they were evil, he would have had to integrate fully in to the point where he would be entered into the group to where they would allow him to purchase his costume and rank.

Yes. When your superiors are corrupt they don’t want you doing your job.

Also, it doesn’t sound like he was on orders from his bosses. It sounds like he was freelancing the KKK infiltration.

It was more about the tone of the comments… There seems to be some doubt as to whether or not he joined in order to infiltrate or whether he joined because he agreed with them, and then managed to turn that into a relationship with the FBI in order to make himself look good. There seems to be conflicting reports, from Vice and another article.

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