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On the upcoming edition of our Week in Review program – which airs tomorrow (August 10, 2024) – I open the episode by addressing our recent coverage of allegations involving South Carolina state representative RJ May III of West Columbia, S.C.
For those of you who missed it, on Monday I reported that a search warrant had been executed at May’s home by agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) special investigations unit (HSI). The following day, I reported the focus of the investigation involving May was related to allegations of “child exploitation” – specifically allegations tied to child sex abuse materials (or “CSAM”), more commonly known as child pornography.
In both of those stories, I reported solely on what I was able to verify independently from multiple sources with direct knowledge of the investigation. Rumors were (and are) running rampant, but I stuck to what I could confirm based on conversations and information shared by people who were (and are) in a position to know.
Further, I took care to assert in both articles that May had “not been charged in connection with any crime” – and that in the event he was charged, he would be entitled to due process including “the presumption of innocence.”
Which he absolutely would (and should) be…
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Reporting on such allegations is never enjoyable… and that’s been especially true in this case. Aside from the sheer weight of the situation – and concern for the alleged victims and their families – there is an unavoidable political angle to consider.
Ideologically speaking, I have been a fairly consistent ally of May and other members of the S.C. Freedom Caucus over the last two years. In fact, I endorsed the entire Freedom Caucus slate in the run-up to the 2024 partisan primary elections on June 11. RJ May has personally appeared with me in our studios, and my assessment of him has always been that of a trustworthy advocate for many of the fiscal policies I support.
Given my prior political reporting on May, on Tuesday afternoon I made the editorial decision to ask Andy Fancher to take over all future reporting on this story. Andy agreed to my request, and on Wednesday morning began his work on the case.
The following day, Thursday (August 8, 2024), I was forwarded an article written by an individual named Evan Mulch. This individual purports to represent a group called United Patriots Alliance. Mulch’s article – entitled ‘DHS Needs To Stay Away From RJ May‘ – referred to “the unconstitutional DHS’s pursuit” of May.
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“DHS should not be operating in South Carolina,” Mulch wrote, speculating May was being targeted because of his ideology and the fact he was an “emerging threat” to the federal government.
Mulch went on to speculate May could have been the victim of “a plan to plant child porn” on his electronic devices, citing allegations that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) years ago intended to “plant child porn” on a computer belonging to the husband of Sharyl Attkisson, a former CBS News reporter who drew the ire of former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder during the ‘Fast and the Furious’ gun-running scandal.
As for this journalist, Mulch had a few choice words to spare.
“(Will) Folks likes to see himself as the director of the South Carolina soap opera, often playing the role of reporting news in an outlandish way rather than with a principled American tone,” he wrote. “That being said, it’s important that we report this story in the manner that principled Americans should.”
I’m sorry … “a principled American tone?“
I don’t understand: Is this guy asking for more vibrato? Better inflection? Less alliteration? Victorian diction? Oxford commas?
The gist of Mulch’s criticism, though, is that DHS “has no constitutional authority to operate in South Carolina.”
“The states never gave the federal government authority to create DHS in the U.S. Constitution,” he wrote, urging his audience to contact governor Henry McMaster and deliver the following message about “wrap-up smear campaigns” which “planted child porn on the computers of innocent Americans.”
Take a look…
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“Remind (McMaster) that he took an oath that includes stopping unconstitutional federal organizations from entering our state and that he and the state legislature must stop DHS!” Mulch wrote. “The investigation of Rep. May should be done with local authorities!”
To be clear: I have no position on the constitutionality of DHS or the authority of HSI to investigate these matters. Frankly, that sounds like an interesting case study to me. I don’t recall ever weighing in on the subject, but we did publish a guest column from Ron Paul referencing it in 2015 – and Paul clearly came down on the “unconstitutional” side of the argument.
Worth noting, though? Agents of the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) did participate in the execution of the search warrant at May’s home – indicating there could be a state component to the investigation (or at the very least some level of state involvement).
But that’s not my point…
My point is while Mulch was licking stamps as a wet-behind-the-ears field coordinator for the John Burch Society, my media outlet was publicly calling out the feds for usurping South Carolina’s right to prosecute convicted white supremacist killer Dylann Roof.
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IN OTHER NEWS | DEMOCRATIC VEEP PICK ACCUSED OF ‘STOLEN VALOR’
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“Seriously … this isn’t 1950,” I wrote in November of 2016. “Present-day South Carolina is more than capable of dispensing fair and even-handed judgment in racially sensitive cases.”
“Roof clearly committed this crime, and… he clearly deserves to die for it,” I added. “But such a determination should be left to the state.”
Not only did I slam the feds’ decision to “abrogate South Carolina’s sovereignty” in the Roof case, I pointed out it was federal law enforcement which dropped the ball and allowed Roof to purchase the gun he used during the commission of those savage slayings in the first place.
So yeah… stick that in your John Burch pipe and smoke it.
Look, I have no problem with people calling out what we report – or how we report on it. Such criticism is an integral part of the marketplace of ideas – and Mulch is well within his right to raise it. Good criticism makes those willing to accept it better. Hell, I’ll even publish Mulch’s musings here on this outlet if he permits. But… I’ll be triple-dipped in goat dung before I let some fringe right-winger accuse me of being as part of some “shady” conspiracy involving the federal government (on an issue I’ve explicitly called the federal government out on, no less).
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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12 comments
Just to clarify, the concern here is not child pornography, but federal overreach?
That’s how these MAGA/Freedumb Caucus fucks rolls…
MAGA
If you were accused of such an infamous crime under similar circumstances, and you knew you had not done said crime, my guess is that you would be more concerned about overreach (whoever’s) than about pornography, of whatever stripe.
My comment below was directed at you but didn’t post under your comment but you should read it. Because there is certainly a way to prove they have the wrong person in a case like this. And, hold on to your seat here buddy, it doesn’t involve claiming a federal conspiracy and attacking the agency that caught you with these pics.
Why would investigators or any news outlet PUBLICLY ANNOUNCE execution of a bench warrant to search an individual’s home? Wouldn’t activities of this kind generally be kept on the down low unless law enforcement was already poised to take down a ring of criminals?
Why would anyone make an announcement that might alert potential third parties to get rid of evidence?
I don’t know Mr. May. I have no connection to the Freedom Caucus or any other political party for that matter.
As an objective observer, I’m trying to understand how announcing an investigation helps law enforcement and doesn’t provide a heads up to potential villains.
Unrelated, by heading straight to “triple-dipped in goat dung,” it seems Mr. Folks experienced a Schwartz/Flick moment. By bypassing singular and double dipping, Mr. Folks breached playground rules entirely.
Law enforcement agency didn’t announce or confirm the execution of the warrant. They rarely, if ever, do.
News outlet is free to publish whatever they want. News’ concern is not the arrest of the bad guys but in being first to report. As long as they have sufficient information to satisfy their internal standards with regard to reporting (assuming they have any), then it’s bombs away.
Ditto
John Birch Society. Not John Burch Society.
No. I have defended many of these cases. Can’t try them because all you sheep believe whatever the government spoon feeds you. Unless, of course, it’s one of your idols then all of the sudden you really care about due process.
But my clients aren’t the kind of people you would “know didn’t do it” and that is why this outrage is so perplexing. Who cares who is investigating if you didn’t do it? You will just show them you didn’t do it and clear it all up, right?
You can spout whatever you want but you don’t support accused possessors of child pornography. You just support this guy. Think about that.
“Who cares who is investigating if you didn’t do it?” OK first of all I don’t know anything about RJ May…didn’t even know his name until FITS ran their first article on this. But if you know even a little about the Cold War, you should know that the secret-squirrel types in both Godless Commie (TM) -aligned and Christian Western Capitalist (TM) -aligned governments had color revolution propagandist dirty trick/smear/frame jobs to take down their adversaries….and if the situation was desperate enough , they would just kill a guy and make it look like an accident. So, while I’m NOT saying that is what happened here – I have no clue- I am saying that the “you have nothing to fear if you didn’t do it” approach is pretty naïve and ignorant of how some types in power can play dirty. And the ability of these secret squirrel types in this day & age to plant something on someone’s computer is shockingly simple. So, it’s not “crazy sauce” for someone to speculate that this is a possibility. But on the other hand, there are people in this world who can lead their lives one way in public and then have some really,, really crazy stuff that they successfully keep from the word for decades until it suddenly spills out.
Only Communists and Heathens reject the Oxford Comma! :D
As a question for FITS, while obviously y’all chose to do so, does reporting a search warrant seem ethical?
The “fig leaf” of “the individual being investigated wasn’t charged, we were just looking for evidence of a heinous crime,” does seem a little thin.
I have no knowledge nor involvement in the case, but it seems like something y’all may want a formal ethical position on – and it might be interesting if you posted your ethical standards.