A Correction on Wayne Allyn Root and Obama Treason Trial
On July 13, TWI contributor Alex Zaitchik wrote a brief follow-up to his profile of Libertarian Party media star Wayne Allyn Root, noting that Root had been elected Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee. In his follow-up post, he wrote:
“„In addition to a Republican-style foreign policy, Root has also recently dabbled in birtherism — in May, he visited New York to participate in a birther-organized “CIA/Columbia/Obama Treason and Sedition Trial.” Root, a Columbia graduate, testified as part of a case that the president “was a C.I.A. operative who used Columbia University as a cover to go to Pakistan in 1981 when the C.I.A. and the Mujahideen worked together against the Soviet invasion. Obama supplied arms, logistics and money using his Muslim background.”
While Root had planned to attend the Columbia event — he said so on his Facebook page the day before the event — he pulled out at the last minute. Alex was not aware of this, and we regret the error. Given that he ultimately decided not to participate in the event, it is also a stretch to claim that he “dabbled in birtherism.”
The language in that paragraph was also unclear. Alex wrote that Root was testifying at the Columbia event, and that the resolution to be debated was that Obama was a CIA operative using his Muslim background for questionable purposes. However, the wording of that sentence could be interpreted to imply that Root himself had accused Obama of being a CIA operative, which is not the case.
We apologize for the ambiguity, and we have amended the post to reflect Root’s decision not to attend the event and to clarify the facts.
Root’s attorney also asks us to note that Root disagrees with the characterization of his foreign policy as “Republican-style.” We stand by that characterization, based on Alex’s interpretation of his positions, but respect his objection.
