Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Q and On is now the most prolific online conspiracy
theory of the twenty one century. None of their predictions
came true. Q has vanished and the storm never came,
but Q and on is still alive. I'm Jake Hanrahan
and this is series two of Q Clearance, a podcast
shedding light on the ongoing Q and on conspiracy theory.
(00:24):
This is a production of Kudatar Media and I Heart Radio.
If you've been at all interested in the evolution of
post US election Q and on, you have probably heard
of the name Lynn Wood. He has been a known
(00:46):
face amongst the Q and on community now for a
few years. He has helped spread the conspiracy theory all
over the place via the one million followers he had
on social media before he was banned from Twitter for
advocating the execution of former Vice President Mike Pence. Yeah,
(01:09):
that's Lynn would Linwood has become one of the most
prolific Q and on main characters now that Q has
vanished and the movement has been pushed underground as it were.
Linnwood now has a Telegram channel with over eight hundred
thousand subscribers at the time of recording. There he pushes
(01:32):
the most outlandish q and On theories that you've ever seen.
He's another loud, outspoken proponent of this idea that Trump
is somehow still in control. Actually he won the election,
and everything that we see going on now with Biden
and what have you is all just a sham, and
the q and Ons are going to reign supreme and
(01:54):
come in and take over blah blah blah. You've heard
it all before. He's a big proponent of this kind
of ideology. Looking at his telegram channel now it's a
kind of erratic mess. I'm looking at it now. He's
posted saying, I have been reflecting this evening on the
reality that evil has invaded almost every aspect of our society,
(02:14):
and the enemy has immense wealth, power and influence. When
you view our present situation from the worldview, it sure
does seem dire, doesn't it. How in the world can
we overcome the widespread evil and drain it from our
country and our lives. To clean up the mess in
one that we began to see clearly in twenty twenty
(02:35):
is going to take extraordinary efforts by each patriot who
loves freedom and our nation which was founded under God
it's a lot of that kind of stuff, all wrapped
up in Q and on rhetoric, Q and on ideas.
On the surface, it might just seem like kind of oh,
hardcore US patriotism, But the kind of answer to all
(02:56):
of these questions that Lynnwood puts forward is usually something
to do with Q and on. So who the hell
is lynn would well believe it or not. Lynnwood was
at one point in time a very famous attorney in America.
He was part of the scandalous Richard Jewel case, in
(03:19):
which the FBI wrongly accused an innocent man, Richard Jewell,
of being involved with the deadly Atlanta Olympics bombing. It
wasn't Richard Jewel, it was some other guy that reckoned
that everybody in America was turning into a communist because
of X y Z. Quite ironic when you think about it,
(03:40):
considering it's to do with Q and on now and
a lot of them believe that at this moment. Anyway,
Lynnwood helped clear Richard Jewell's name and became very successful
at defamation cases. He was respected, people knew his work,
But now he has disgraced himself, his real and his
(04:01):
legacy by becoming a hard core Q and ON true believer,
or at least that's the way he presents himself. To
get the full detailed background on this, I spoke to
Ali Mezzi, an attorney and Q and ON researcher who
has had her I very firmly on lynn Wood for
(04:22):
a long time. Have a listen. Lynn Wood is an
attorney from Georgia, and I can start way back from
when Lynnwood was a kid, because um, he actually had
a really tragic youth. Um when he was sixteen, he
returned home from a date to find his mother's body
after his father had beaten her to death, and he
(04:44):
had to call the police and his father was arrested
and charged with first degree murder. But um he was
able to plead to a reduced count and spend only
two years in prison. In a quote published by the
Albany Herald, lynn Wood said that his experience what inspired
him to become a lawyer. Um. He said that even
though his father had committed this hideous crime, he was
(05:07):
still his father, and he remembered how the lawyers had
done everything they could to help his father, and he
thought that they had done it out of a desire
to help him, but uh, it made him just want
to be a lawyer. So he was able to go
to college in law school on a scholarship, and he
kind of became um, he became a personal injury um
(05:31):
and defending what he became a lawyer of that. UM
litigated personal injury and malfact disclaims for about the first
twenty years of his career, and after that he became
a defamation lawyer. And so after that he ended up
representing Richard Jewel, which is what we've already mentioned. He
also covered a load of other defamation cases where he
(05:52):
went against the media people that were accusing X, Y
and Z about this, that and the other. He was
one of them guys that ended up being known as
the attorney of the dumbed. He was the guy that
would represent the little guy, the person that was defamed
by the media, etcetera, etcetera. But now let's skip forward
to when Lynnwood started kind of slipping into what would
(06:17):
later become the Q and On main character role and
so like going on and he was like kind of
like turned into Maga and then like later to Q
and On. Um. You know, his thing was he was
just a high profile defamation lawyer, and you know, he
had some other work to like business law and medical
malpractice and boss claims acts, but his work against tabloids
(06:37):
and newspapers was how he really became famous and widely
respected and for his reputation, um, for his representation of
clients that had been condemned by the media and in
courts of public opinion. He became known as the attorney
for the dam And a lot of the profiles that
you know, you read about him from before his most
recent chapter are just like absolutely glowing um. But you
(07:00):
know the thing is, i'd say that, like, um, how
good it Like Lynnwood was just like a trial attorney.
It was like second to what he was great at,
which was going to the press for statements that he
would make on behalf of his clients where these clear, dramatic,
powerful statement. So he was a bit of a showman
as well, right right, And that was like his A
(07:20):
lot of his power came from it that you know,
he was just this huge showman, which is you know,
and I think that's you know, what's made him like
really great as kind of a Q and on guy too,
because he's the show voter and I can't really say,
um where his for a into the world of Q
and On and make America Great Again began? But I personally,
I have a theory that it started kind of coming
(07:43):
together because Lynnwood was representing this, like, um, do you
know who Steve Wynn is? I didn't know either, But
Steve Wynn is a billionaire real estate and casino mogul,
as well as being a US Republican Party Megadonna. Win
(08:04):
was accused of sexual misconduct in eighteen and went on
to hire lynn Wood to handle any cases of defamation
made against him in regards to the allegations, which he
says false. Now, working with Steve Wynn obviously put lynn
(08:26):
Would closer to the political elite. You've got to remember,
Steve Wynn is a billionaire. He's been donating a lot
of money to the Republican Party. Lynnwood is working now
for him on the defamation case. It puts him into
that sphere. And so he's kind of like getting in
good at the beginning with this, like you know this,
(08:46):
Mega Donna. And so after Richard Jewel passed away in
two thousand seven, Would apparently really wanted him to be
passionously awarded the presidential Medal of Freda. And so, according
to reporting by the Wall Street Chair, Wood said that
he asked Steve Wynnum, who had Trump's here, because you know,
he'd given so much money that the GOP to make
(09:08):
the case to Trump the Jewels should be awarded the medal.
And um, I'm just going to repeat some of the
on the Wall Street Journal reporting here. So in January,
Mr Wood said that he received word from the White
House that Mr Trump would meet with him. Weeks later,
at Mr Winn's request, Mr Wood gave three hundred and
seventy five thousand dollars to Trump Victory, a pro Trump
(09:29):
political action committee. According to Mr Wood in the Federal
Election Commission records, Mr Wood said he made the donation
as a favor to Mr Wynn and because of Mr
wood support for Mr Trump, unconnected to his efforts on
behalf of Mr Jewell and like, yeah, to get like
you know, his like his like we really wanted this
(09:50):
guy to get like this medal of honor. And so
Wood went to meet with Trump in March twenty and
as far as I'm aware, Richard Jewell was never awarded
the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Like Trump just didn't do
it and so like it's it's kind of like my
speculation that he started kind of courting more goop stuff
UM for misake of honoring jewels um, you know, jewels memory,
(10:11):
but it is also is possible, but he had a
genuine shipped opinion that made him like really into Trump UM.
And you know, more recently, you know, his clients have
included a lot of highly polarizing figures with like a
strong like right wing band or like strong right wing
culture war people UM, including like um market for Frician
mcclauskey UM, those UM St Louis, the lawyers who were
(10:33):
photographed pointing weapons that protesters marching outside their house, and
also Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager charged with fatally shooting to
protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. And he was also representing Nick
Sandman UM, a student who's Washington d C encounter with
the Native American protester made national news in a libel
suit against The New York Times. So we can see
(10:56):
a patent forming here. Lynnwood has basically gone from being
the lawyer of the dumbed to the lawyer of the
Maga cultural people. However, is he using these people for
his own means or is he actually trying to help them? Well,
you decide. Listen to this. In January of this year,
Sanman publicly fired him on Twitter, claiming what had made
(11:19):
untrew unfair and unfounded comments about him. Steve Wynn and
Kyle Rittenhouse have also fired Wood because it seems like
a lot of people right now are like not happy
with this work. The website One Crime did um an
interview an exclusive interview with Kyle Rittenhouse's mother, and here's
what Kyle Rittenhouse's mother has to say about Lynn would
because this was apparently very acrimonious. Um, so they used
(11:42):
Kyle to gain money and gain Twitter followers. Um when
she was discussing the conduct of Lynnwood and then another
attorney named John Pierce in managing Kyle's criminal defense and
the funds that raised for him and their fight back.
They have an organization called fight Back, and it's like
all the money that they raised for Kyle Rittenhouse putting
this fight Ford. I feel now that they don't care
about Kyle of Wood. She said, he used my son's
(12:05):
image to make a profit off that I asked for
an accounting of it and he never got it. I
was ignored they used a seventeen year old kids image
from for their own political ship and um Wendy Rittenhouse
also uses what of leaving Kyle and jail for eighty
seven days even though fight back the money to bail
him out. Um Wendy told Lawton Crime, he told me
that my son would be safe in jail because he
(12:26):
thought that on the night of election on November three
and fourth, but there was gonna be arm again and
Kyle was going to be safer in jail. Yes, you
heard that right. Lynn Wood is so obsessed with q
and On seemingly believed in it so much that he
told Kyle Rittenhouse his mother, do not bail him out
(12:47):
of jail, even though you have the money too, because
there's going to be an armygeddon across the days of
the election and he will be safer in the prison. CS.
That is absolute madness, sure, but it's what Q said
was going to happen. Not only is Lynn would pushing
(13:08):
his pro qut and On agenda online on social media,
he's actually allowing it to eat into his legal work
as an attorney. Okay, and so but what about Q
and On because you know it's him kind of getting
intoinst like you see Lynnwood getting into conservative cultural war
(13:31):
stuff more and more, you know, kind of becoming a
conservative mouthpiece where it's like, you know, apparently before you know,
before his past year, um, these past few years, um,
you know, Lynnwood would donate either Democrats or Republicans. Um.
You know, he was not like a very strong like
party guy. Because the thing is, it's like I think
you like kind of like waited in the que by,
(13:52):
like you know what would be going into like you know,
these conservative culture war things and like kind of becoming
a big respected name that way. So there might have
been public earlier public science and his attraction to Q
and On. But around um July, the outlet Tector noticed
in its coverage of a Twitter spat between Wood and
CNN personality Brian Stetler that woods Twitter bio contained hashtag
(14:16):
w w G one w G a um, And they're like, oh,
does this guy believe in you and on? But you know,
at this point, like what wasn't really a Q and
on influencer. He was like, Oh, Nick Sandman's weird lawyer
who happens to have Q and on stuff in his bio,
And you know he was just in like the headlines,
it's like this conservative fire brand and like, you know,
(14:37):
some people were like does he believe in Q and On?
Because he wasn't really talking about it yet. I think
the the election lawsuits for what really UM propelled um
Lynn Wood and also Sidney Powell, who was Michael Flynn's attorney,
UM into Q and On stardom. Though that you know,
been known entities of UM right. It has right wing
(14:59):
need personalities before. So right after the presidential election where
Joe Biden, one UM would brought a lawsuit as a
plaintiff in Georgia trying to overturn Biden's victory in the
state based on these constitutional claims about the process by
which certain rules about counting absentee ballots were passed. UM.
But this lawsuit um Lynn Woard versus Ramsburger wasn't good
(15:22):
and it failed to get very far. It got dis misperstanding,
but it really wasn't that bonkers. It was like nitpicking
about rulemaking, saying that you know, he didn't think the
Secretary of State of Georgia had the authority to enter
into a dissent agreement to modify certain election rules. And
then Sydney Powell filed just a bunch of completely out
(15:43):
their lawsuits that she called the crack in in a
bunch of states, and Lynnwood signed onto those as of
counsel and went out promoting them and went out to rallies.
And you know in these cracking lawsuits are the ones
where um you know powelland would um but Powell co
signed by world um illege the dominion voting machines were
(16:04):
used to comittle action fraud. So this is where lynn
Would really starts getting his teeth into the Q and
on conspiracy theories. He co signs a lawsuit that says,
we want to look into these dominion voting machines because
we think they're being rigged. We think the election is
being stolen by Now, if you've been listening to Q Clearance,
(16:27):
you will know all about this, stop the steel. Trump
didn't really lose the election, all of that. This is
the sort of stuff lynn Would first started getting his
foot into the door with when it comes to real
hardline Q and on conspiracy theories. Don't tell my word
for it, though, have a listen to what these lawsuits
(16:48):
were consisting of, and you can decide if you think
these sound legitimate and there anywhere from like fifty hundred
pages long, and they're supported by affidavits of like anonymous
people called spider Um, you know, Venezuelan super spies. And
then um Ron Watkins was an expert witness in it
(17:09):
and because you know, they had to ask for his
expert credentials and it literally was well I read the
Deminion user manual. Yeah, And so of course they were
just like squarely rejected by the courts. They were like
tossed out, um, And that's real, Like Powell and Would
Um just started just obtaining this level of superstar status
and Q worlds and you know, I think this and
(17:31):
the Georgia runoff was the point where lynn Wood kind
of started alienating a lot of the mainstream Republican party.
At this point, Would started to just advocate that Trump
voters should just not vote in that center run off.
And you know, he was doing all these stop the
Steel rallies, and he was up on stage saying, um,
you know, they haven't earned your vote, don't give it
to them, Like why would you go back and vote
(17:52):
in another mid election? Like why are you voting? You
know when they've stolen it? And that started getting like
normy Republicans mad at him. Um, because like you know,
he was just telling people not to vote. He starts
getting like more into que here and Um, the stuff
just kind of like made him a more powerful voice
(18:14):
in the Q community because you know, sensibly Q was
against corruption the whole establishment, not just the Democrats, and
like you know that's what they say, but like they
were very very willing to like you know, some people
definitely did probably withhold their votes. Um, do you do
you think Lynn would? I just trying to get my
head on this. It's so weird that he went down
(18:36):
this path, Like do you do you think Lynn would
genuinely is a true believer or do you think he's
up to something some kind of shenanigans. I don't know.
It's just so like he's basically just thrown his career
down the bin. Yeah, no, I don't know, because it's like,
you know, it's like after this, he just starts getting
like just ramping up and ramping up. But so running
(18:57):
up to the Georgia runoff in January five, and in
hind the riot at the capital on January six, what
just kept going, especially as there were always attempts to
get the Supreme Court to hear lawsuits about the election,
and so the Supreme Court became a focus of Q
and general right wing media buzz, and Lynnwood started to
take them A Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John
(19:17):
Roberts on Twitter, I've got some I've got some tweets
from late December. Um So a couple more questions for
Chief Justice John Roberts. One, you are recorded discussing Justice
the Scalleia's successor before date of his sudden death. How
did you know Scalleia was going to die too? Are
you a member of any club or catball requiring minor children?
(19:38):
It's an initiation being okay. A bit more on c
J John Roberts. I publicly accused him of justice him
and Justice Bryer of being profaned, being profane, anti trumpers.
I have linked Roberts to legal adoption, Jeffrey Epstein, pedophelia,
and prior knowledgically as death. Does Robert skip class of defamation?
(19:59):
Maybe not. I'm where I'm fully aware of the on
splot of attacks being made based on my revelations about
Chief Justice John Roberts. Before attacking me, maybe fair minded
people would first ask Roberts to tell the truth. So
like Wood was like just going on these tirades about Roberts, um,
you know and saying, oh, Roberts hasn't sued me for
defamation and that's because it's true, and you know not
(20:21):
like sorry, but he had like a million followers almost
on Twitter, right he Yeah, he had, Yeah, he had
like a million something or followers on Twitter. And like
so at the time while he's doing this, the Q
community is circulating all these pictures of like there was
a modeling agents, um, John Leie Brunell that kind of
looks like Roberts. So you know, there was pictures of
(20:42):
him and Epstein are like, um John Leie Burnell and
like Umji Lane Maxwell um, and they see like see
there's Roberts. And there was photoshops of Roberts the black
Eye implying he'd done like some initiation and the black
Eye Club for like a Satanic ritual or you know,
the to be discussions of how there's a person named
(21:02):
John Roberts that appears in Epstein's flight blogs and I
believe there is a John Roberts there, but there's like
no evidence that it's that John Roberts. And would also
on New Year's Day tweeted that Mike Pence should be
executed by a firing squad um. And that's when the
Trump campaign was like, hey, buddy, we're not We're not
(21:22):
on board with Windwood anymore. And so at this point
he's on Twitter, he's on parlor, and he's going really
really hard. He tells people that they need to start
following Ron Watkins. And you know, on January four if
he's saying stuff like it's time for our country to
unite against the common foe and protect our freedom in future,
the enemy is you know, communist China. Support Donald Trump.
(21:43):
He's a genius. He has a military ready. We the
people must be ready. So, as you can see, at
this point, Lynnwood had gone full pelt Q and on mad.
He's on Twitter talking to millions of followers saying that
people should be executed, saying that Trump has the military
waiting to take over. Even though he lost the election,
(22:04):
Lynnwood went from a famous defamation attorney to what can
only be described as a raving Q and on lunatic um.
And then on the sixth what he was doing during
the Capitol riot. So Mr Wood did in fact called
for his supporters to storm and occupy the United States Capital,
Georgia Authority said. On the morning of January six, Mr
(22:27):
Wood posted to his one point one billion Twitter followers
that the time had come to take back our country
and to fight for our freedom. And he wrote those
words alongside an image stating that it was seventeen seventy
six again during the insurrection. UM. As the mob was
storming the Capitol Building, Mr Wood tweeted for his followers
that they should follow the advice of Bill White to
(22:47):
enter the US Capitol Building, enter both houses, and fight
for US and fight for Trump. And he finally gets
booted for Twitter on January seven, and he kept going
on parlor like as soon as he was on Twitter,
he was on parlor and he was cleaning it. Um
the shooting of Actually Babbitt by a Capital security guard
was a false flag and that Ashley Babbitt was a
crisis actor install alive Just in case you're unaware, Ashley
(23:11):
Babbitt was a Q and On follower who entered the
Capitol Building when the riot happened, and sadly she was
shot dead by a security guard there. Some of the
Q and on's consider her a martyr. Some of them
say that she was a paid crisis actor and that
she was just there to give the Q and On's
(23:33):
a bad name, and that actually she wasn't murdered. It
was all a set up. It's all actually quite sad.
Bear in mind that someone's child, someone's door is dead.
This is not funny, but this is the way the
Q and On's going with it. So anyway, after lynn
Wood went berserk on Twitter, he was banned from there.
He went onto the up Parlor. Parlor is now gone,
it fell apart. Then he moved on to Telegram. As
(23:56):
we spoke about in the last episode, that's where Q
and on is really now evolving. It's safe to say,
as I'm sure you expected, Lynnwood is definitely helping that
process along. One of the most bizarre stories to come
from Lynnwood's telegram channel is when he went on a
(24:17):
tour of the White House. He effectively live tweeted it,
but you know, live posted it to Telegram and he
was saying things like, wow, I can't see Joe Biden here.
He's clearly not here. As if Joe Biden will just
be sat there in the White House doing nothing, waiting
for people like Linn Wood to come and see him.
But not only that, he also said, get this, he
(24:41):
lied and said that he went into the Oval office
and actually saw Trump's out there. He said on telegram, Wow,
I've just seen Trump in there. He's still there. He's
in power. Now. Whether Lynnwood was putting this out as
just an over I am straight up bullshitting to my followers,
or whether it is meant to be some kind of
(25:01):
satire or story, I don't even know anymore. I don't
even know if it actually matters at this point, because
the Q and On followers have become so invested in
the outlandish evolution of Q and On that I don't
really think they care either way. Now, although lynn Wood
has basically lost his career, he's disgraced, he has no
credibility anymore in the real world, he is still very
(25:24):
much lauded in the Q and On conspiracy world and
with all the people that are following him. He's trying
to amplify other qu and On voices. He's trying to
keep this whole thing going, and you know, he's like,
he's just one of the biggest voices right now, and
he's giving like, you know, a microphone to these other
people as well. Um, and I think that the specialty
(25:45):
is a lawyer, where he's like you know, public advocacy,
where you know, he's the one that wants to like
take control of the narrative. He's gonna like you know,
position himself as like you know, using high visibility to
strike back against the media. Has just really prepared in
the take advantage of this moment, and you know, he
has the credentials so just like being that guy who
fights the media, and you know, the media is who
(26:07):
Q and On hates and so he's just like at
the skill set and his reputation that's kind of made
for this. He's kind of just alienated everyone almost except
for his um, you know, just the q and On
community there his new family basically his friends on telegram
right right, and like I he apparently doesn't like to
talk about it that he posts about it on telegram somewhere.
(26:27):
He's apparently a strange from his family, Like you know,
it'll be in the middle of all of these like
conspiracy posts about like you know the U N or
like oh why is like you know, it's bustful of
like potential human rafting by people here, and then it
will just be like him pictures of his kids and
being like, this is my daughter. She hasn't spoken to
be for like a year. It's really sad because he'll
be like still post like I love my puppies and
(26:49):
my horses, but not as much as I love my kids.
But you know what I love more than my kids. God.
So that is the story of Lynnwood. What do you think?
Is he a grifter or is he a true believer?
Or is he even a victim of the collective psychosis
of the Q and On ideology itself. I don't know,
(27:11):
but basically Lynnwood has lost his family, He's disgraced his career.
He is a joke to serious Republican voters, and yet
still he seems to think that what he's doing is
the right thing. He thinks Q and On is going
to come back. Everything is going to change and he
will be hailed as some kind of hero. Either that
(27:32):
or it's a complete grift. I don't know, but he's
lost a hell of a lot and gained that very little.
That's Lynwood. It's very important to know who he is
going forward. Q Clearance is brought to you by I
Heart Radio and cou Data Media. I'm Jake Hanrahan. You
(27:52):
can find me online at Jake Underscore Hanrahan. That's h
a n A h a N. This episode was produced
by myself, with fact checking and additional research by Sarah Hiower.
The music is by Sam Black and the sound was
(28:14):
mixed by Thomas Griffin. That splicing block