All language subtitles for Q Into the Storm - 01x03 - Disinformation Is Real.WEB.720p-WHOSNEXT.English.C.orig.Addic7ed.com

Drop 461 (Jan 4 2018)

What makes a movie GOOD?

GREAT actors?

Starting in the '90s, Italy was
in the grips of a satanic panic.

Gruesome stories
of satanic orgies involving children

resulted in mass hysteria.

It was fueled by the media,
and opportunistic officials.

The only problem?
It was fake.

That's when an anonymous collective,
known as Luther Blissett,

managed to unwind
some of the craze.

By doing something
even crazier.

They invented
a fake satanic cult,

sent out videotapes
of their human sacrifices to the media.

And after the media published
the tapes,

they released the real tape,
showing it was a ruse.

TRIESTE, ITALY

One of the primary architects
of that movement

was the co-author
of a book entitled Q.

In it, the titular character, Q,
is an anonymous person

spying on the rebels
and feeding intel to the pope.

In other words, Q is the bad guy.

Had the persona behind QAnon
read this book?

Was QAnon just Luther Blissett's
latest stunt?

Or was it all
simply a coincidence?

One of the authors of the book
agreed to be interviewed,

under the condition that he imposes
on all recorded interactions.

I wouldn't be allowed
to reveal his face.

So, you wrote this book, Q.

When you look in this book,
what are the parallels

between the Q
that you wrote about and QAnon?

Secret messages signed Q.

And this Q presents
himself or herself

as being
at the top level of power

who has important information about
the inner workings of the system.

And he starts to share them
drop by drop.

Dispatch by dispatch.
Crumb by crumb.

Of course, we don't know
who's behind it.

We don't think he's an original member
of the Luther Blissett Project,

because if it was a prank,

the consequences
of this prank weren't worth it.

What have you been able
to figure out

about the personality
of who's behind Q?

You've read a lot of the drops.

Obviously, you had an interest
at some point

in trying to figure out
who it was.

There's something nerd-ish.

- Nerd-ish?
- Yeah, nerd-ish, in it.

Not exactly a nerd,
but there's something nerd-ish.

Probably a former nerd.

- How old do you think Q is?
- Over 30.

What kind of person would read this
book and think, I want to be Q?

I want to be the villain
from this book.

A villain.

Have you ever heard
of Luther Blissett?

I don't know
who Luther Blissett is.

You ever heard
of the novel called Q?

I don't know anything about it.

We have an army
of digital soldiers.

Has General Flynn ever been in contact
with you? Or General Flynn Junior?

Never.

Do you think
that Fred could be behind Q?

I don't know
if Frederick is behind Q or not.

If Frederick was Q, he would have
latched on to the fame much earlier.

- I have a question.
- Yeah?

These names you're going through are
your possible list of who Q might be?

- Okay.
- That's right.

Interesting. Am I on the list?

You're on the list. Sure.

Well, let's continue then.

Q: INTO THE STORM

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND

The Q phenomenon was moving from,
as QAnons would put it, dark to light.

Our opponents have spent millions
of dollars against us in the campaign.

We've spent about 150 dollars.

And in the run up
to the 2018 mid-term election,

the movement even had its very first
QAnon candidates running for office.

Because as you dig deeply
into all the documents

that are being released
in the Q drops,

little by little, you find out

that every single organization
in this country and worldwide,

was infiltrated
by a global cabal.

I'm Anne Armstrong, and I'm going to be
the next Governor of Rhode Island.

Her main platform is
the legalization of marijuana.

She also told me, if elected,

she believes she can improve
the efficiency of the DMV.

What are you both running for?

Governor and Attorney General.

We've done polls privately

and I think I'm polling
around 48 percent.

One percent of voters said they
supported Armstrong for Governor.

I think we're
the only two candidates

to openly express our interest
in the QAnon phenomenon.

And I, in particular,
profess to be a high level escapee

from a CIA mind control hypnosis
program, called MK Ultra.

- Can I show?
- No. You may not.

Like, in the Matrix when they have
that... He has a thing from when...

We even wrote a song.
Want to hear our Q song?

- Of course I want to hear your Q song.
- Okay, ready?

One, two, three.

Hey, Q, what do you do?

Drain the swamp
and lock up the bad guys.

Democrats are vying
for a potential blue wave

in this year's mid-term elections.

We are not seeing any semblance
of a blue wave, whatsoever.

In fact what we're probably seeing
is a red wave.

Q had been building up anticipation
for the 2018 mid-term elections.

Energizing its army
of digital soldiers.

Repeating ideas like panic in DC,
patriots in control,

and predicting a red wave.
Or even, a red tsunami.

Silent majority no more. Be loud.
You have a voice, are you registered?

Vote them all out.
Prepare. Red October.

What does that mean?

That's what we're trying
to figure out,

what the Red October either there's
gonna be something going on

where a lot of people are gonna
instead of voting democrat,

are gonna change.

The importance that Q was placing
on the 2018 election

was making Jamie more active
in politics than ever before.

People want to know, who is Q?
Well, nobody knows.

So, there's nothing to attack. There's
no Q building. There's no Q rally.

We go to Trump rally wearing Q stuff,

and we're all part
of the Q movement.

Q's impact was permeating politics
in other ways.

Rising MAGA star DeAnna Lorraine
was using her platform

to attract Q followers.

Thank you so much for being here.
You guys are so courageous.

I know we've all lost
friends and family

because we've walked away
and stood for the truth.

Meanwhile, Marjorie Taylor Greene
was just getting her feet wet.

Both would run for congress
in the next election cycle.

Q is a patriot.
We know that for sure.

But we do not know
who Q is. Okay?

But I'm just going
to tell you about it,

because I think
it's something worth listening to.

And paying attention to.

On October 2nd, 2018,
Q simply writes, 53-47.

It was days before the Senate
was scheduled to vote

on the next Supreme Court Justice.

Let me take a step back,
and explain high school.

And Q followers seemed to believe
that this was a prediction

for how the vote would split.

Mister Carper, no.

But it went a little differently.
Had Q made a mistake?

Or was 53 to 47 intended
to mean something else?

I just believe Q is worldwide,

and I feel like it's my duty
to help share,

if people are genuinely want to know
about it. And want to follow it.

When I see the news now,
if I ever watch the news,

it does nothing to me at all.

The political,
you know, I just go for Q.

This is the real news.
I see that stuff, that's a show.

Q says vote, vote, vote,
vote, vote, like a million times.

Says, will you answer the call?
Your country needs you.

ELECTION DAY
NOVEMBER 6, 2018

- Hello.
- Hello. I like your shirt.

- Thank you. Have you heard...
- Have you heard of the Q?

- The what?
- QAnon?

There's no new Q drops at all.
Since earlier.

It's just the last one
just protect the votes.

If there is a massive wave, and we
take seats and gain everything,

and just unbelievable, I think
Q will be more and more telling.

CNN can now project

that Democrats will win the majority
in the US House of Representatives.

Basically, we're saying...

They're saying
that chances are

that the House is gonna
swing Democrat.

The House? Right here?

New Congress will be divided,
with Democrats leading the House,

and Republicans in charge of the
Senate. Expanding their majority.

After the election,
the Senate split 53 to 47.

Q reminded its followers
of a drop from a month earlier,

declaring Senate
was the target.

The implication being
that Q somehow managed to predict

how the election would turn out.

Of course, this doesn't quite jive with
Q's other prediction of a red tsunami.

Nonetheless,
QAnons were satisfied.

I think
this is to bring down the House.

I think this is gonna show
that they were so corrupt.

Let them think they won.

- Enjoy the show.
- Yeah, enjoy the show.

Neither Anne Armstrong or Alan Gordon
managed to win their race.

But the movement
was clearly gaining traction.

In early January of 2019,
I got an anonymous tip

that forced me to revisit my
investigation into Jim and Ron Watkins.

You see, one of their former employees
was leaking out information online.

The ex-employee who goes
by the handle IWillRedpillU,

had worked for Jim and Ron's
website, The Goldwater.

Welcome to The Goldwater.

Where we provide
an informative view

on today's alternative
news headlines.

On the website,
they kept a running tally

of how many people
the Clintons had murdered,

some alien stuff, and had
a few mentions of Q here and there.

The Goldwater curated theories
that were generated on 8chan,

and then repackaged them as news
for the working man.

But The Goldwater
wasn't getting much traction online.

And come Christmas of 2018,

Jim decided to lay off
most of its employees.

Now, one of those ex-employees
had gone rogue,

logging into The Goldwater's US Twitter
account and airing their grievances.

There was one message
that really stuck out.

The author claimed
to have insider access.

Saying that the truth about the QAnon
movement would crush people.

And that they didn't want
to be the one to do that.

A bit of digging around this anon,
produced the name Courtney Tubbs.

Courtney posted an email address
in The Goldwater's Twitter bio.

So, I reached out.

She responded to me saying,
whatever Jim and Ron told you,

they would have undoubtedly agreed
to a narrative prior to your arrival.

And their entire goal
while you were in house,

was to make that perception
seem legitimate.

In another email exchange,
Courtney Tubbs appeared to claim

that Roger Stone had been funding
The Goldwater.

Now, Roger Stone was
another likely suspect for Q.

He had the skills, the motive,
and the connections.

He also has a tattoo of Nixon
on his back.

Some pondered if an oft repeated
phrase in the Q narrative, keystone.

And the keystone
to doing that of course...

Was a reference to the involvement
of both WikiLeaks, and Roger Stone.

Tell Roger that my people
are sitting at the table.

Okay, so like a table
for like, seven or eight?

You might remember Jack Posobiec. The
guy who did the pizza gate live stream.

We're going to go in, and we're going
to infiltrate Comet Pizza.

Jack had built a relationship
with Roger Stone.

Presumably from their days working
together on the Trump campaign.

What's your plan tonight?

I'm having
a private dinner with Roger.

And in the months leading up
to the 2016 election,

8chan was sending a lot of traffic
to the Trump campaign website.

In fact, the ninth most traffic
of any site in the world.

Thousands of referrals a day.

So, it seems plausible that someone
from the Trump campaign,

which had a masterful
digital strategy,

would have made contact.

But I think you're going to see
a more aggressive digital campaign.

Did you ever have any interaction
with The Goldwater?

- The website?
- Yeah.

Not in a very long time.
They used to send me their articles,

asking for retweets.
That kind of stuff.

You never saw any connection
between The Goldwater and Q?

Not that I'm aware of.

I haven't looked at that website
in a very long time.

- It's just the same owner.
- Oh, really?

Yeah. Owner of 8chan
owns The Goldwater.

Fascinating.
Excuse me one second.

I've got to...
I think this is Roger's guy.

My guess is that they are here.

I don't know if Roger wants
to be on the record, though.

- Stone. We meet again.
- Sorry about yesterday.

How are you, sir?
Good to meet you.

Roger Stone was not inclined
to go on the record about Q.

Now, just six days earlier,

he'd been arrested for making
false statements to the FBI.

As part of Robert Mueller's
investigation.

Mueller's probe was investigating
whether Trump, WikiLeaks, and Russia

had colluded
to release hacked emails.

Ultimately damaging
Hillary Clinton's presidential bid.

Mueller found that Roger Stone
had been back channeling

with WikiLeaks with the help
of none other than Jerome Corsi.

Who outed himself as being person
number one in the indictment.

They wanted me to be the key link
between it was gonna be me,

Roger Stone, to me,
to Julian Assange.

And then they'd have
all their collusion together.

It'd be Roger Stone,
to Steve Bannon, to Donald Trump.

Remember Jerome Corsi?

He's that early QAnon
promoter and political operative

who worked for Alex Jones?

Now that pretty much authenticates

that again, QAnon is very close
to Donald Trump.

When I reached out to Corsi,

he was eager to give an interview,
just not about Q.

A couple weeks later,

another guy who had been arrested
from Trump's inner circle,

George Papadopoulos, was throwing a
small party for his wife in Las Vegas.

Though, it seemed
that the terms of his arrest

actually prevented him
from showing up.

But the party went on.

With openly MAGA
and openly gay pop star, Ricky Rebel,

leading the karaoke sesh.

Which seemed to be unconfortable for
evangelist and Qtuber, Craig James.

...sleep in heavenly peace...

There were a few congressional
candidates in the house.

Omar Navarro, and his then girlfriend,
DeAnna Lorraine,

who was planning to run for Nancy
Pelosi's seat in the 2020 election.

However you feel about
the Q movement, what it did do,

is it brought millions of patriots
together around the world.

As it turned out, they were also
being groomed by Roger Stone.

Omar is a kind of hard charging
young performer

that I think we need
in the congress.

Let's say I'm in contact with Roger
Stone, who I know him and his wife,

I know a lot of things about them

that could implicate myself
in something

that I shouldn't be implicated in
for no reason.

Like, let's say I'm in contact
with General Flynn,

and he's a personal
friend of mine.

Now, it was funny that Omar
mentioned General Michael Flynn.

He was another likely suspect
for Q.

Who could be working
with Roger Stone.

Flynn had also pled guilty to making
false statements to the FBI

related to Russian interference.

Q was a huge advocate
of General Flynn,

as well as the Army
for which he served.

An untold number of QAnons
now consider themselves

to be part of his digital army.

And would include three stars
in their bio

in order to show support
for the three-star general.

We were all talking to General Flynn
and some other people.

And we were making hints
about QAnon.

And Mike Flynn was like,
"Where we go one, we go all."

What are you alluding to?

I think there's about 10 people
that are part of it. Seven to 10.

And he's part of it.

I couldn't say that.
Because then I couldn't tell you that.

- I know you can't say it.
- So, you have to stay out of that.

About make America great again.
It's not just a mob, it's a mindset.

Let's put it this way,
it's gonna be big.

And you've probably have heard the
same things from people in your camp.

You think there's 10 people, right?

I know there's probably seven.
I know two of 'em.

And they're people that have so much
information about the government.

Let's put it this way, when I was
at the American Priorities Conference,

there were a few people
who were with Roger

who gave me
a wink and a nod and...

- Roger is, yeah.
- I know.

- He's one of 'em.
- And so's Mike Flynn.

I did ask Doctor Corsi
for a round up memo.

I do think there's a possibility

that Roger Stone
is deeply connected with Q.

And it has crossed my mind
that he's one of the Q.

Reporter's interest in that memo,
proving yet again...

- You asked him about Q.
- I did.

Mister Stone, do you have
any comment on QAnon?

I do not.

- Do you buy it?
- Absolutely not for a second.

There were just a
few too many coincidences here.

And with them, more questions.

So, I reached out
to Jim, Ron, and Fred.

It had been several months
since I'd seen them.

But now, I had a good reason
to follow up with them.

I wanted to see
if I could find out

more about
Courtney Tubbs' allegations

that Roger Stone had connections
to The Goldwater.

If Stone was involved, maybe Q
really was someone close to Trump.

Let's have the 1930s German pen,
and the Italian pen.

So, Jim, what has changed
since the last time I saw you?

I've found out I had
90 percent hearing loss.

Which is why I was angry
at everybody.

I thought they were mumbling.
You know? Saying, "Speak up!"

Last time I saw you,

we did the interview, I just thought
you were being highly evasive.

I was not being evasive.

I either wasn't hearing it.
Or not understanding.

We talked a little bit
about Q last time.

You didn't seem to know very much.
Do you...

I don't actually read the Q board.
I'm not a real political guy.

But I know more about Q now.

Since we've talked.

You say you're not
a very political guy,

but you were involved
in The Goldwater.

Which was
a political website, right?

It was a news website.
Objective news.

Redpill took over your Twitter thing
for a while there.

That person made
a lot of claims.

One of those claims was

that Roger Stone was
actually funding The Goldwater.

Who's that? I don't know
who Roger Stone is. I'm sorry.

The first time I asked Jim if he knew
Roger Stone, here's what he said.

I don't know
who Roger Stone is.

You don't know
who Roger Stone is?

I'm sorry.

Roger Stone, he has
like a tattoo of Nixon on his back.

- Really?
- Yeah.

He was the youngest
in the Nixon Administration...

Is he like, gay for Nixon, type thing?
It's like, "Hi!"

Every time you do me,
you see Nixon.

I've heard of Oliver Stone.
Is that a relative?

While Jim's hearing aids seemed to be
working, perhaps his memory wasn't.

My next stop was to see Ron.
This time on his home turf in Japan.

SAPPORO, JAPAN

Real quick,
just do a mic check for me.

Count in Chinese to 10.

So why did you start The Goldwater?

At the time,
we were thinking heavily

that all these
mainstream media websites

were not publishing
the full truth.

Or they were leaving out tidbits.

And why did you hire Redpill?

Redpill was hired by,
I believe, my father.

From what I understand,
the person that was being paid,

their name was not Courtney Tubbs.

I'd recommend you try
to reach out to Redpill

and figure out that mystery.
I'm curious myself.

When that was happening,
I reached out

'cause I had no idea
what was going on.

Suddenly, you had somebody
making a lot of very strong claims,

who had taken over the account.

One of the comments I guess,
that had been made.

And the reason
that I'm asking about it,

is the truth about the QAnon
movement would crush people.

And I don't want to be
the one to do that.

He or she certainly did not get
information from me about that.

I don't know.

It was not my job
to vet that person.

But you are registered
as the president of it.

I don't remember if I'm registered
as the president or not.

You don't remember
if you're the president?

I don't remember
what title I have.

So, the person who is behind
the Redpill account said

that Roger Stone was
the one subsidizing The Goldwater.

And that when Roger Stone
stopped paying for The Goldwater,

that's when everyone got fired.

That's false.

So, you've never had any contact
with Roger Stone?

I've never had any contact
with Roger Stone.

And Roger Stone was not funding
The Goldwater.

Roger Stone was not funding
The Goldwater.

To the best of my knowledge that is.

So who is paying
for The Goldwater?

I believe it was my father.

A guy named Tom Reidel was listed
as the treasurer of The Goldwater.

So, if anyone knew about payments
from Roger Stone, it should be him.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES

Okay.

To your knowledge, has Roger Stone
ever been involved

in anything you guys have done?

I've never met Roger Stone.
And to my knowledge,

Roger Stone has had no contact
with anyone in our group.

But I thought he was funny on
the Alex Jones Show sometimes.

He's quite a character.

'Cause Redpill said
that specifically emailed saying

that Roger Stone had been funding
The Goldwater.

That is
where that question comes from.

Well, Redpill...

I couldn't guess what the motivation
would be for Redpill to claim

that The Goldwater was associated with
Roger Stone or any outside force.

Courtney Tubbs,
or whoever IWillRedpillU was,

stopped responding to my emails.

It begged the question,

were they just
a disgruntled ex employee,

or did someone convince them
to keep quiet?

The threats terrified me,
and my kids.

While I was in Manila, I'd also
arranged to meet up with Fred.

In the months that had passed,
it seemed lots had changed.

You see,
he was no longer working for Jim.

- I don't know if I met her before.
- This is my wife, Grace.

- Hi.
- And that's May.

- It's nice to meet you.
- Grace, it's good to meet you.

What do you know
about Red Pill?

Are we talking
about Courtney Tubbs?

Courtney Tubbs actually had
a big falling out with them.

That's what I'm most curious about.

This person who'd taken over
the Goldwater account,

and seemingly had information
about Q.

And was involved
in the inception of Q in some way.

For sure, Redpill had information about
the Goldwater and Jim's companies.

Does he know
who Roger Stone is?

I would be shocked if he didn't know
who Roger Stone was.

'Cause he's very political.

I'm not a political person, myself.
I'm like a non-political guy.

I haven't been keeping up
on politics for a while.

Politics? Boring.
I'm not into the politics stuff.

The other thing
that Redpill had said,

was that Roger Stone
was funding the Goldwater.

I mean, look, if you can prove it. It's
interesting information. But I don't...

I have no ability to prove that.

And neither do I. So�

Did you hear the story
about why I quit? I mean?

No.

So, October 2018, I was having
some trouble just at work.

But I just wanted to take a week and
maybe go somewhere, clear my head.

Come back.
So, the way Jim's system works is,

he pays you not only in money,
but also in-kind benefits.

From the looks of it, you guys
had some good times in the beginning.

You seemed like good friends.

Well, I was nice to him.

And he lived in the apartment building
just right above me.

And in an apartment
that I rented for him.

The lease was in my name.

Everything is in his name.

But he's paying for it,
so that kind of makes sense.

Okay, but it's an in-kind benefit
for employees.

And he has you live there.
And it's implied that it's your space.

And that he's not gonna
just enter it whenever he wants to.

You realize at that time he was my
office manager, and he wasn't at work.

I wasn't dressed at all. I was totally
nude. All I had was like, a blanket.

And I knocked on the door,
and they let me in,

and I told him I was coming over.

Totally naked, and then Jim Watkins
comes, boom, boom, boom, boom.

You can't just say
you're takin' time off.

And I talked to him,
and I talked to him

like an owner
to an office manager would talk.

He looked like he was gonna punch
the wall. You can't do that.

If he can't handle what he'd been
dishing out, then that's his problem.

That's when he came out with this,
this is my unit shit.

Right then and there, I decided
I can't live here anymore. That's it.

A lot of these powerful men, you have
like a cult that forms around them.

And Jim Watkins is no different.

He has people that would put
their lives on the line for him.

I believe that. They are
an extremely insular organization.

It is kind of a code of secrecy.

You are constantly swearing
to the made men,

that would be Ron, Jim and Tom,

that you will keep
their secrets.

You swear it all the time to them.

Honestly, it's kind of a lot
like the mafia in that way,

and it takes years to work
your way up to where I was,

and I did not
even know everything, right?

Like, Tom Riedel has worked
with them for 20 years,

and he might not even
know everything.

I know Jim from way back.

We started working together
when I was a college student,

and we started
designing websites together.

He was looking for a designer.
I was an art student.

Yeah, over the years it grew
into a large web hosting company.

This thing is great.

So, I want to get rid of that screen
or oops! There you... I got porn.

Whenever I need it.

Just, that's why
that toggle is great.

Just always
a vagina one button away.

I spent basically
all of my adult life with Jim.

He gave me
every opportunity to excel

and really just kind of guided me
through life.

- Excuse me.
- Like that.

Wait, how did you guys meet?

We were in Pittsburgh.

I had two roommates.

They came home one day,
and I was nerding on my computer.

They they would come running in

and they're like,
we met the King of Porn.

I think I read somewhere that you were
the King of Porn once upon a time.

I've been called that but I'm,
but that's really overstating me.

And when you say the King of Porn,
was he doing porn websites back then?

Yes.

More, more, more, more, more,
more, more, more, more!

The Asian Bikini Bar.

That was, like, his website
that first made money

where he got around Japanese law
by hosting a porn site in America,

which was totally uncensored.
That's what I know.

And PokeAMaN.
You don't know PokeAMan?

Oh, yes, I do know.

What is PokeAMan.com?

That is a website
that is owned by Nintendo.

They purchased that website
from me.

It was a homosexual website,

and Nintendo purchased
the domain name from me

because they didn't like it.

Now, if you're thinking these guys
seem to be into porn,

like more than the normal amount,
you would be right.

But Ron takes it to another level.

Just got a new toy.

Secondhand, but it's pretty nice.

Ron had suggested that while
we were in Japan, we visit Soapland.

Later when you go back to your hotel,
you should search Soapland

and see if that's something
you're interested in experiencing.

Looking it up online, it was
a one-of-a-kind Japanese experience

where girls lather you up, then
rub you down with their full body.

I got the impression
this was a gatekeeping exercise.

Maybe he wanted some collateral.

Also, I was curious,
both about Soapland

and where things might go

once we'd established
some semblance of trust.

It's like Disneyland but with soap.

Soap. Better than Disneyland.

One thing I've tried
to figure out is,

there must be
something more in it for Ron

than just documenting him around,
running around Japan,

philandering about
or whatever...

I can imagine what you got there.
Did they bring you to a Soapland?

Yeah, you have to go.

Fred's expression said it all.

And listen, we have to get
into the story of the blue Q.

I'm not looking forward to it,
but we have to.

You caught me at a time I did not want
to take unnecessary risk with Jim.

I felt like, you know what, this guy
that's making this documentary,

he's making it about
something stupid, QAnon.

I'll talk to him. I don't care.
I was careful about what I said,

and I protected Jim
by talking about the Q.

Fred explained
that the blue Q

he had claimed was mysteriously
left at his apartment

it was actually a ruse
that he had planned with Ron.

I don't want to necessarily say
that I went along with it.

Because in the post
we always wrote,

could be something, could be nothing,
if you look at the post.

And, when Q didn't repudiate it
and even agreed with it,

why would Q have done that?

Fred's post had become a QProof,

so by maintaining this lie
about the origins of the blue Q,

it did seem to protect
the perceived authenticity

of 8chan's most valuable asset.

Q had brought immense growth
to 8chan,

and according to Ron,

had helped propel 8chan near
the top 1000 websites in the world.

So, when Q switched
from 4chan to 8chan,

was Q simply out of options,
or was that always part of the plan?

Ron communicated with me and told me,
we want to attract QAnon to 8chan.

And he strongly implied that he was
in communication with QAnon.

That's another reason I think

that the people that are 8chan
are heavily involved with Q.

A lot of people think

that because you have so much control
of what happens on 8chan

that it would be inconceivable
that Q would not have contacted you

and given you
more information

and be working with you
in some way shape or form.

The only way Q has contacted me

is via the publicly accessible
Q Research board.

So, Q has communicated a lot
with Codemonkey.

I think there's eight or nine posts
directed to CM.

So, he was
another potential suspect.

Some people thought
maybe he was working with Jim

or maybe
everybody was working together.

Do you think it's possible

that Ron could in some way shape or
form be involved with Q or behind it?

I couldn't say whether or not
Ron could have spawned Q.

And, for us as a group,
I could totally debunk that,

because if we were to create Q,

we would have made
another website.

Why put it on a website
that is such a stinker?

It started on 4chan.

And then it pulled users
over to 8chan.

Okay. If, okay, Q, I...

I couldn't tell if Tom
was skirting around my question.

I hadn't asked if Ron had created Q.
He almost certainly hadn't.

But, as Admin, he could
easily have taken control of Q.

Now, Q's operational security
was lacking from the beginning,

which Codemonkey would have
recognized right off the bat.

Tripcodes can be hacked fairly
easily if you know what you're doing.

And in December of 2017, Q's first
password was either hacked or leaked.

We're not sure.

And it's revealed to be
none other than Matlock.

Fucking Matlock.

No numbers, no symbols.

Just the titular name
of a character

not bound by the rules of evidence
or courtroom procedure.

One of the funny things
about the whole tripcode things

is that if you actually believe
QAnon is this Deep State person,

this operator, Q's technical expertise
is basically zero.

Like, his operational security
is non existent.

In early January, QAnon is starting
to pick up steam

and there's a dispute over
who controls the Q screenname.

And, Paul Furber,
who's running the board,

comes out and says,
this is a fake Q.

This is not the Q we know.

Q has been taken over by some other
unknown actor that's not the real Q.

Ultimately, I blame Codemonkey,
because without his help,

fake Q would have gone
absolutely nowhere.

'Cause every time he posted,
I would have said, you're a LARP.

And I would have banned him,
and I would have deleted the post.

But then Codemonkey said,
no, this is the real Q,

which was absolute bullshit.
I knew it wasn't true.

The person who had the final say
on determining

whether or not Q had been hijacked
was none other than Codemonkey.

However, there was one other thing
that did seem to change.

Q's writing style.

Q went from writing complex,
evolving Socratic questions

to posting shoutouts,
sharing obviously doctored photos,

and using an increasingly absurd
amount of exclamation marks.

In fact, an AI analysis by Swiss
company Orc Analytics even showed

that there was
an obvious style shift

between December of 2017
and January 2018.

The style changed completely.

I thought, nah, something wrong here.
Just my radar went off.

How was Codemonkey so sure
it was the same Q?

It's a waste of time
trying to fight him.

It's like, it's trying to fight someone
who owns their own platform.

You're not going to defeat them.
So, I just didn't even bother.

I could tell
in my conversations with Ron.

Ronald was trying-trying-trying
to keep Q.

Q to him was like a-like a prize pig
with a big blue award thingy.

He wanted that pig so bad.

In August of 2018,

seven months after Q
had been allegedly compromised

and moved off
of Paul Furber's board,

Q's current tripcode gets hacked.

But this time,
it seems the hacker has a motive

and possibly insider knowledge.

Using Q's account, they post a link
to a lengthy diatribe

that provided a psychological profile
for the person

they believe to be behind Q.

It is my belief that Q is
a young, untrained American man

who is playing games with your faith,
your hope, and your love of country,

mostly because he finds it amusing.

In order to regain control,
QAnon logs into its own board on 8chan,

where it's the board owner, this
time posting with a secure tripcode,

a type of trip code verification that
Codemonkey had re-engineered.

This secure tripcode
that Q had just implemented,

it only works on 8chan, which meant
Q was now tied to the site.

This Q poster linked himself so hard
to 8chan, and no outside comms.

This platform only. And that became,
like, a canonical statement.

Ronald Watkins knows that most of
the traffic comes from the Q people,

and that most of the growth,
if there is gonna be any growth,

is gonna come from Q.

So what are you getting at?

I'm getting at that most likely
they know who Q is.

They engineered Q
to specifically need them.

This is a mochi hammer,

so officially we're gonna be making
mochi at the peak.

It's also a good hammer
for smashing things.

It says be really careful of bears.

Scientifically, huge and aggressive.

So, I'll have to hit on the way down
and the whip and then down again.

I'll try to hit it three times
before it kills me.

What do you want me to do?

Just film it while I'm smashing
this bear in the face.

And while it's eating me,
you can run away.

I guess what I'm saying is
that it feels

like the mission of Q
and some of the ideology of Q,

and the mission of 8chan
and some of the ideology of 8chan,

even if the definitions
are a little bit different,

the goals are kind of the same.

I can't speak for the ideology of Q.
I've never met the guy.

No idea what Q is or who it is.

And don't really care to know.

I'm sure someday
it'll come out, but...

I have a lot of theories
of what or who Q might be,

but sometimes the mystery
is more important.

Why do you think that the tone of Q
has seemed to shift?

Their team might be going
on the offensive now.

When you're on the offense,
you keep as quiet as possible.

When you're strong,
you look weak.

When you're weak,
you look strong.

And that's the very basics
of military strategy.

Q says all the time
what makes a good movie.

Yes. Good actors. We're all
just actors at the end of the day.

The day after I left Japan,
Q made a post claiming

that they would now be going
on the offensive.

It was a major shift
in Q narrative,

and it was also a notion
that I'd heard just days before

out of Ron's mouth as we were
coming down the mountain.

Their team might be going
on the offensive now.

How in the world did Ron seem to know
exactly what Q would post next?

They are moving on the offensive.
But I can't speak for Q.

When you're on the offense,
you keep as quiet as possible.

When you're strong,
you look weak.

When you're weak,
you look strong.

By spring of 2019,
Q had expanded in its global reach

and increased traffic was coming
from around the world

from Germany to Australia.

Although the Q board had become
the most popular board on 8chan,

it still sat alongside boards
like /pol,

which remained steeped
in white supremacist content.

In fact, the users on Pol
enjoyed poking fun at QAnons,

annoyed that they were
in the same playground.

But the games were
about to come to an end.

How does, sort of, your ideology
fit in with the types of ideologies

that are hosted on your site?

Think of 8chan
like a platform or a utility.

A power company
has no ideological say

in what the people do
with the power that they generate.

Every thread or post
is allowed to be created equally.

When someone makes a thread,

we do not go through and approve
or disapprove each thread.

There's the American model that hate
speech is allowed, obscenity is fine.

Just total free speech. The good
ideas will win out in the end.

It's very American to only focus on
the United States impact of all of us.

But there is a global impact.

MARCH 15, 2019

CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND

Let's get this party started.

After 200 meters, take
the second left, then turn left.

Godspeed anon.

Best of luck.

Who did he kill?

You never did anything.

He did.

A gunman with an automatic weapon
has opened fire

on a mosque
in Central Christchurch.

We are on standby
for a statement

from the prime minister
at four o'clock.

NEW ZEALAND MOSQUE ATTACKS

AT LEAST 40 PEOPLE
HAVE BEEN KILLED

In the aftermath
of the shooting,

the world was
in a collective state of shock.

The shooter had posted on Twitter,
livestreamed on Facebook,

and uploaded their manifesto
to numerous sites.

But it was on 8chan where they found
a familiar and welcoming audience.

The comments were horrific,

a fact which media outlets
around the world gravitated towards.

As soon as this went live,

other members of this community in this
thread started kind of egging him on

and celebrating what was happening
in this really vile way.

You know, they left up
the Christchurch shooting thread

until they got
the maximum number of posts.

It received 750 posts,
that's the maximum.

Families and friends
of the victims mourned

as community leaders sought ways
to prevent such a shooting

from ever happening again.

We call upon governments
around the world

to bring an end to hate speech

and the politics of fear.

There is no question

that ideas and language of division
and hate have existed for decades.

But the form of distribution,

the tools
of organization, they are new.

We cannot simply sit back and accept
that these platforms just exist

and that we're to sit on them.

It's not the responsibility of a place
where they're published.

They are the publisher,
not just the postman.

This terror was born in the darkest
corners of the internet

In response,

New Zealand and Australia
both banned all access to 8chan,

and pressure mounted
to hold websites accountable

for the actions of their users.

MACAU, CHINA

A month after the tragic event
in Christchurch,

I met up with Ron in Macau.

He seemed unphased by what
had happened, and in some ways,

the international outrage appeared
to only strengthen his resolve.

Right after
the Christchurch massacre,

every major news outlet
in the world reached out to us

to get our opinion on it,
and we ignored them all.

This is the first time
I've said anything about it actually.

And all these news outlets,

they're waiting for me to say something
wrong so that they can use that

to push for the closure of 8chan.

8chan is one of many
online breeding grounds

for extremist views and violent ideas.
So what, if anything, can be done?

Jim Watkins should not
keep running boards

that are inciting
that kind of violence.

The lunatics are running the asylum.

I think it's going to impact
the entire internet negatively

if more manifestos
get posted there.

What's your take
on the publishing of the manifesto?

Why do you think that people want
to take it down?

I think people are worried
it's gonna be a...

It's gonna be used to radicalize
more people

to do the same thing that he did.

Do you think that that is warranted?

And-and/or do you think
that it matters?

It doesn't matter to me.

His document is not illegal,
so we're gonna host it.

By banning his text,
it would immortalize it actually.

That kind of thing
makes it more, like,

it makes it bigger.

This is what I do
to strengthen up. Hit.

Two days later

I started learning martial arts
from a very young age,

I would say two years old.
And I've been working on it since.

There's been a shooting
at a synagogue in Poway,

which is about 20 miles
northeast of San Diego.

We're learning more about the alleged
shooter in some postings

that he made on social media.

That's right,
the site is called 8chan.

This happened a few hours ago.

The copycat shooter shot
a bunch of people at a synagogue.

I believe there's one reported death
and a few injuries,

and this 18, 19-year-old kid
made a manifesto,

and then he posted it on
at least 8chan,

but maybe in multiple places also.

We deleted the thread within minutes
of it being reported to us,

but someone took
a screen capture of that,

and they sent it
to all the mainstream media groups.

And they're all attacking 8chan now.

A 19-year-old posted anti-Jewish
and anti-Trump messages

in an open letter

that law enforcement investigators
are calling his manifesto.

We're preparing a statement on Twitter
about the Poway... Poway? Poway?

Poway. Let's say it's Poway.
About the Poway shooter's post.

Okay, so the Poway shooter's post
was taken down

within nine minutes

of his thread creation.

Nine minutes.

Within 10 minutes.

Nine looks better.
It's more precise.

The only, it's only...
Only should only be used once.

There are only,
and then the only groups.

The only groups publicizing this crime,
giving attention to this criminal,

are the fake news media.

Yeah, in that manifesto,
which we did find online...

That's better. It's...

The only groups publicizing this crime,
giving attention to this criminal,

are the fake news media.

We are collecting digital evidence,
and we're aware of his manifesto.

There are only screencaps available,
and no third-party archives exist

since the post was deleted
so quickly.

Does it fit within the tweet?
It does?

So really punching until it bleeds.

Yeah, and then it'll scar over.
It'll be stronger when it scars over.

Okay, I think it looks good.
Let's post that.

The shooters posted
extremist messages

to an online forum called 8chan.

I don't think that society
is gonna tolerate

a site like 8chan for much longer.

Hate crimes are up in major U.S.
cities, including right here in L.A.

8chan should not continue.