Who's Patrick Byrne? Donald Trump advisor had affair with Russian spy, claimed Obama asked him to 'bribe' Hillary
President Donald Trump has no shortage of advisors when it comes to challenging the results of the November 3 presidential election. Even though the commander-in-chief has found no relief from the courts despite trying desperately to see Joe Biden end up as the second-best even though he won the contest, POTUS and his loyalists have not given up hope. One of those advisors is former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne who stepped down from the post last year following revelations that he was romantically involved with Maria Butina, convicted as a Russian agent in the US.
The New York Times reported that Byrne, 58, was present at a meeting at the White House last Friday, December 18, where Trump’s strategy to reverse his defeat against Biden was taken up. According to the report, the idea of seizing voting machines in several states was raised by Sidney Powell, a conspiracy-theorist lawyer, and Michael Flynn — both Trump loyalists. It was not reported initially but Byrne too was present on the occasion.
The meeting reportedly got heated at times and even White House aides were heard screaming at Powell and Flynn’s sinister suggestions to overturn the election results. Byrne, it was said, slammed a number of WH staffers for not being loyal enough to the president, who now has less than a month in office. "For the first time in my life, I feel sorry for Donald Trump. He is standing up to his waist in snakes. Trust Rudy and Sidney only,” he tweeted.
For the first time in my life I feel sorry for Donald Trump. He is standing up to his waist in snakes. Trust Rudy and Sidney only.
— Patrick Byrne (@PatrickByrne) December 21, 2020
In another tweet, Byrne, a cancer survivor, said: “President Trump is being terribly served by his advisers. They want him to lose and are lying to him. He is surrounding by mendacious mediocrities.”
My involvement is I was in the room when it happened. The raised voices included my own. I can promise you: President Trump is being terribly served by his advisers. They want him to lose and are lying to him. He is surrounding by mendacious mediocrities. https://t.co/nOkdq2LQGE
— Patrick Byrne (@PatrickByrne) December 20, 2020
Byrne said he funded a team of hackers and cybersleuths
However, Byrne’s own claims in the past are not too assuring. Last month, the millionaire entrepreneur claimed during an interview with far-right pro-Trump One America News that he has funded a team of hackers and cybersleuths in a bid to prove that Trump has won his re-election bid. He also accused the Democrats of stealing the election from Trump but has failed to produce any evidence to back the claim.
Besides, Byrne has also spoken about his plans on several YouTube shows and podcasts hosted by people who back the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory. "I’m a free agent, and I’m self-funded, and I’m funding this army of various odd people," Byrne told a QAnon supporter during a podcast which was later reported by The Daily Beast. "It’s really going to make a great movie someday."
Byrne, who arrived at the breaking-ground ceremony for Overstock’s new headquarters in the suburbs of Salt Lake City in 2014 by a parachute and tore off his flight suit to reveal a tuxedo, also said that he has been concerned since August that the voting machines used in this election were vulnerable and that led to the voting results going against the incumbent president. He also said that his team of “hackers and crackers” have the evidence to back his claim but is yet to produce them.
Obama, FBI asked Byrne to target Hillary?
Attempting to overturn the election results for Trump is not the only reason why the Cambridge-educated Byrne has made headlines. The conspiracy theorist claimed that he got involved with the Russian spy because the FBI wanted him to so that it could monitor Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election. He also made another sensational claim. According to him, two ‘Men in Black’ approached him in 2015 and said that the FBI was setting former secretary of state Hillary Clinton up for a sting and they wanted him to facilitate a bribe for her.
He claimed in a blog on Deep Capture in October that he was enlisted by former president Barack Obama and former FBI chief James Comey to target Clinton as she ran for the presidency four years ago. "We need you to shift to working on something more important," FBI agents allegedly told him, referring to his previous 'work' with Butina.
"There are two groups in the FBI investigating the Clintons. There is a group looking into Hillary's emails, but we think that is a whitewash. Yet there is a group of agents in New York City looking into her finances, and they want to put her ass in stir," he wrote in the blog.
Byrne also said the agents told him Comey had been blocking aggressive inquiries into the former presidential candidate but were ready to act on new intelligence.