On this episode of The Stone Zone, host Roger Stone and co-host Mark Vazquez are joined by Cliff Maloney, the man who pinpointed Pennsylvania as the pivotal state, predicted exactly how it could be turned around, and then went out and did it.
00:12:14.840And when we start to take it that seriously,
00:12:17.000and we pair it with that organic support of people moving towards our message and really wanting
00:12:23.240those Trump policies, I think that's a recipe for success.
00:12:28.200Cliff, as you know, only New Jersey and Virginia hold their gubernatorial elections in the off year.
00:12:34.680That will be coming up, and New Jersey ended up being extraordinarily close,
00:12:42.600given the fact that it was not a targeted state, that no resources were given to the Trump effort there.
00:12:50.340So there you had very much a grassroots campaign.
00:12:54.600Huge credit goes to Mike Crispy, an all-volunteer organization, America First Republicans.
00:13:00.560Many in the Chris Christie-dominated New Jersey Republican Party sat on their hands or worked quietly for Kabbalah Harris.
00:13:09.080Yet Donald Trump came tantalizingly close to carrying the state, and that's with no targeting and no resources.
00:13:16.820Have you examined New Jersey, and what are the chances that the Citizens Alliance will go in there for the upcoming gubernatorial election?
00:13:24.900Yeah, so I'm in conversations right now with different governor campaigns in New Jersey.
00:13:32.380I've sat down with different members and elected officials in Virginia.
00:13:36.260They're one seat away from flipping and taking back the statehouse, and obviously they've got a governor's race as well.
00:14:16.400When it comes to 2025, I am happy to lend out any of our team from PHAs if folks have the funds.
00:14:24.000So my big push right now is, hey, governor campaigns, hey, in both states, hey, members in the House of Delegates in Virginia or the state senate,
00:14:33.280if you guys have resources, and I'll say this, Roger, I know some people get mad when I say this on your show,
00:14:40.620but if the political consultants have a budget of $30 million to $40 million in both of these states,
00:14:45.500hey, how about pulling off $2 million, $3 million, or $4 million and running a real ground game effort?
00:20:17.680I think there's going to be some people that the swamp is going to try to wrestle with and try to get them to stick to their side.
00:20:24.360And the biggest excuse I'm nervous about is hearing this, you know, well, that's not how it's done here in Washington, D.C.
00:20:31.780Well, listen, we've just had a serious mandate given by the American people.
00:20:36.380And I think what we've seen so far, you know, in the first month has been, like I said before, a pipe dream for me, right?
00:20:43.400So what Doge is uncovering, I mean, this USAID stuff is just wild.
00:20:48.920Some of the things they're finding that, you know, the staff on leave was one thing.
00:20:52.760But some of these other things, I mean, it's almost unbelievable.
00:20:56.820Now, Roger, you know, Rand Paul for years has put out his Festivus report.
00:21:01.020And I used to look at a lot of it and, you know, I used to just be baffled.
00:21:04.460But now that we've had access to see even deeper, you know, Elon is, I feel like they're just getting started.
00:21:10.980And what's wild to me is the left's response, pretty much saying we don't want to give him access because we don't want that type of transparency.
00:21:20.020You don't want transparency on where you're spending the money.
00:21:23.880You don't want transparency on who's committing this type of fraud, waste and abuse.
00:21:50.040Anytime the Democrats try to shut these folks down or block them, keep moving forward.
00:21:55.320If you're exposing the truth, then that is the right thing to do.
00:22:00.680Yeah, the thing I found most exciting as a libertarian, as a longtime critic of the Federal Reserve, was the announcement that Elon intends to audit the Federal Reserve.
00:22:23.240Why do we need that other than to manipulate our currency?
00:22:27.080So this is very exciting to me as a libertarian.
00:22:31.100I watched these Democrat congressmen and congresswomen storming the education department, which Donald Trump has promised to shut down, is going to shut down.
00:22:42.060I saw Maxine Waters leading the charge.
00:22:46.620She's not going to be able to wear that wig in prison because once they look at her and the profiteering she's done in California, I think she's got serious, serious problems.
00:23:01.220And, Roger, I want to highlight just something.
00:23:03.040I served at the Pentagon for three years as a civilian from 07 to 10.
00:23:06.880And a lot of people don't realize is that if you don't spend all of your money by the end of the fiscal year, your budget, you get penalized the following year.
00:23:15.000Why not create a system that rewards fiscal responsibility instead of disciplining government agencies and organizations for saving money and taking away more money, even more money the following fiscal year?
00:23:29.500And so what I saw at the Pentagon in the last quarter was a gigantic spending spree, buying things that you didn't even need in Iraq, buying 100 flat screen televisions instead of needing just four flat screen televisions.
00:23:43.320It's waste, waste, waste, fraud and abuse.
00:23:45.760But, yeah, this idea of the Democrats using this narrative that, you know, our kids aren't going to be able to learn, that there's going to be an impact in their test scores.
00:23:54.640Well, sorry to break the news to you, but as you all are well aware, I mean, our students are falling way behind, even in not just in inner cities, but in wealthy, affluent communities all across the country.
00:24:09.920Math, reading, science, we are dropping like a rock.
00:24:15.760Our numbers, our kids, students aren't learning the impacts of shutdowns and remote learning during the pandemic.
00:24:21.640So it's laughable to use that argument that our kids are going to struggle, because the question is, can it get any worse?
00:24:29.440I recently saw a report that we spent $50 million on condoms.
00:24:36.520Can either one of you explain this to me?
00:24:44.380Not even Wilt Chamberlain, Roger, could explain that one.
00:24:47.440But, no, it's laughable that we're beginning to see just the wasteful spending.
00:24:56.980But the funny part is the Democrats keep digging an even deeper hole by complaining about shining a light, putting some sunlight on these issues and really exposing.
00:25:07.300My last thought on this is Elon better have some security, because, as you know, Roger and Cliff, I mean, that deep state unit party is going to be going after him, because what he's going to be uncovering here in the next few months, buckle up, because you thought it's bad now.
00:25:22.860Wait until you go into some of these other organizations and find out where your taxpayer money is going.
00:25:28.360All right, here's a final question from my friend Cliff Maloney, the CEO of Citizens Alliance, one of the architects of the most sweeping, consequential Republican victories in recent presidential history.
00:25:42.040As you know, Cliff, traditionally, the party in power loses seats in the off-year election.
00:25:50.240Now, the situation in the current U.S. House is really perilous.
00:25:56.540The president has nominated Elise Stefanik to the U.N.
00:26:01.320She has not she's been approved by the committee, have not moved her nomination to the Senate floor because we can't afford to vacate that seat until we fill the two seats in Florida in April special elections.
00:26:16.080And Republicans will win both of those seats.
00:26:18.720Meanwhile, the RINOs in New York 21 are trying to ensure the nomination of a Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger style Republican and trying to shut out MAGA candidate Anthony Constantino.
00:26:33.960I wouldn't be so sure about that, folks.
00:26:43.300The Democrats are trying to change the schedule on us.
00:26:47.500My question for you, Cliff, is since everything that we know about politics, all the old rules kind of out the window because Donald Trump, the first business person to become president, not a governor, not a senator, not a congressman, not a general.
00:27:03.020I don't buy the idea that we will automatically lose seats or lose the House.
00:27:08.480I actually think that we could extend our margin very extensively in the House in 2026 if things go well.
00:27:24.920If I look back at any of the political things I've seen just over the last couple of decades, you know, this is very unique.
00:27:32.020It is a moment in time where I think a lot of things have the potential to change.
00:27:36.520I would make a prediction that we expand our majority in the House, potentially even in the Senate, depending on how things shake out with some of these key races.
00:27:45.820And, look, the reason I make that prediction, Roger, is I think the American people are going to look at what they've pulled up with over the last four years.
00:27:53.360And they're going to compare that to what's going to happen in 2025.
00:27:56.640I think it's going to be a great year.
00:27:58.160I think the market's going to go well.
00:28:31.580But history also has never had a president who's been impeached, who's been convicted, who's been shot in the face, and comes back and wins the White House.
00:28:43.920And I think that we have a huge potential here to make this a great year for the American way of life and then benefit politically in 2026.
00:28:55.940Cliff Maloney, the chief executive officer of Citizens Alliance, founder of the Pennsylvania Chase.
00:29:03.260His greatest political victories lie ahead, but absolutely one of the architects of the most transformational victories in American political history
00:29:12.940and a key foot soldier in the greatest comeback in American political history.
00:29:23.800We have some breaking news that has just come across my desk.
00:29:28.380Evidently, Pam Bondi, newly appointed attorney general, has announced federal charges being filed against Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York,
00:29:40.700Letitia James, the attorney general, and Mark Schroeder.
00:29:47.400Now, we learned just days ago that Letitia James inflated the value of her assets in order to qualify for mortgages to buy commercial properties that greatly increased her net worth.
00:30:05.880This is really extraordinary because, of course, that is exactly what she accused President Donald Trump of doing and brought a fake case against him.
00:30:19.640Additionally, she's got two other problems that I know of.
00:30:22.880During her six years on the New York City Council, she engaged in the same fraud that Mayor of New York, Mayor of New York, Eric Adams engaged in, taking illegal money, sending it, laundering it essentially to straw donors, and then putting it through New York City's eight to one campaign finance matching fund program.
00:30:44.240She covered up at least three sexual assaults by her chief of staff against women.
00:30:53.440The other two women, I think, were threatened and haven't brought suit.
00:30:58.460There's one case in which Letitia James herself is accused by a woman of sexual assault.
00:31:05.380And then there's the financing of her campaign for attorney general, utilizing ActBlue, which, of course, is the payment processing company that funnels millions of dollars into these Democrat campaigns from donors that don't really exist.
00:31:25.680They turn off the feature where you have to match your credit card to a mailing address in order to funnel millions of dollars into these campaigns.
00:31:38.660This is breaking right now, federal action against these New York officials.
00:31:44.680Thanks for the communication with us with the delay.
00:31:47.960We're here today because we have filed charges against the state of New York.
00:31:53.820We have filed charges against Kathy Hochul.
00:31:56.320We have filed charges against Letitia James and Mark Schroeder, who is with DMV.
00:32:03.560This is a new DOJ, and we are taking steps to protect Americans, American citizens, and angel moms, like the mom standing right behind me, who you're going to hear from in a moment.
00:32:15.360New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens.
00:32:49.560I made reference to this earlier, Mark, when I pointed out that J.B. Pritzker has already announced his defiance of this effort to deport illegals.
00:33:00.920Now you see Pam Bondi stepping up and using the federal law enforcement mechanism the way it was supposed to be used.
00:33:09.740Tom Homan, who I know personally, is a tough customer.
00:33:16.200He's on a mission, and he's going to perform that mission.
00:33:19.740Your thoughts on this announcement by Pam Bondi?
00:33:23.420I'm thinking of all the innocent citizens and visitors and residents of these sanctuary cities that have been held hostage by their Democratic leaders who have been prioritizing migrants over their own citizens, who've been prioritizing violence over safety.
00:33:43.620It's remarkable, Roger, there's video that has been captured by everyday people in Illinois of migrants getting off of trains and buses wearing ankle monitors.
00:33:56.480We've seen Chicago, for example, has seen an 11,000, 11,000 percent increase in arrests of Venezuelans.
00:34:05.120It's laughable, again, that J.B. Pritzker and other Democrat leaders in sanctuary cities would talk about, oh, we want the violent and dangerous ones.
00:34:17.240But yet it was just within the last two and a half years that they were welcoming them.
00:34:22.040And what makes it sickening is that you have taxpayer dollars that were being used to feed, to house, to clothe these migrants, these violent and vicious and dangerous individuals who belong in jail, not in a home that was set aside for a single parent or a veteran.
00:34:41.740And so bravo to the attorney general for her leadership, for President Trump, for his leadership in directing this, because this will send shockwaves to these other Democratic leaders in these sanctuary cities.
00:34:54.160It's time to regain control and restore law and order.
00:34:58.120Look, I can just tell you, based on my own knowledge, New York Attorney General Letitia James is in deep trouble.
00:35:04.840Hats off to Sam Antar, who's an investigator and also an accountant, who has dug deep into her campaign finance reports and into her personal disclosure reports to uncover massive fraud.
00:35:38.540Hoping to get him on the radio this weekend to lay some of this out.
00:35:43.320Before we talk about Rob Blagojevich, because this is a topic I want to talk about, there's nothing that makes me happier than the fact that he's gotten the pardon that he so richly deserved,
00:35:52.780because he was actually patient zero, in a sense, victim zero, when it came to this war of weaponization and abuse of our criminal justice system.
00:36:03.420I want to talk about that for a moment.
00:36:05.300But before we do that, Caroline Levitt is just a breath of fresh air in the White House press office.
00:36:11.800That mop top that had the job before was horrific.
00:36:15.500And then that other woman who looked to me like she smelled very bad, Jen Psaki, that girl had that stank, if you ask me.
00:36:24.340When you look at Caroline Levitt, who's only, I think, 26, 27, but really on top of the game, Caitlin Collins,
00:36:34.340I really enjoyed it when President Trump humiliated her in that town hall that CNN had.
00:37:12.980And there are hundreds of outlets on this campus, many of you in this room who don't have the privilege of being part of that pool every single day and getting to ask the President questions.
00:37:22.560We reserve the right to decide who gets to go into the Oval Office and you all have credentials to be here, including the Associated Press, who is in this briefing room today.
00:37:32.100But isn't it retaliatory in nature, is the argument, because the reason that the AP was barred, which they said was because they're not using the phrase Gulf of America, they're using Gulf of Mexico in line with their standards.
00:37:43.240And so the question here is, is this setting a precedent that this White House will retaliate against reporters who don't use the language that you guys believe reporters should use?
00:37:50.960And how does that align with the First Amendment commitment that you were just talking about?
00:37:54.740I was very upfront in my briefing on day one that if we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable.
00:38:04.160And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America.
00:38:10.300And I'm not sure why news outlets don't want to call it that, but that is what it is.
00:38:15.120The Secretary of Interior has made that the official designation in the Geographical Identification Name Server.
00:38:25.440Pretty much every other outlet in this room has recognized that body of water as the Gulf of America.
00:38:29.500And it's very important to this administration that we get that right, not just for people here at home, but also for the rest of the world.
00:38:36.820What an incredible breath of fresh air this is, pushing back against the fake news media.
00:38:42.020And as for Caitlin Collins, I'm not sure what that guy is all so upset about, in all honesty.
00:38:46.940One thing I do know, and that is AP and Reuters, who are included in the press pool, then try to charge conservative media outlets for that video footage, which I think is really outrageous and unfair.
00:39:02.700We're trying to do something about that right here at the Stone Zone, because we think it is so outrageous.
00:39:08.420All right, let's get to this, because it's something I'm excited about.
00:39:11.740Mark, you worked very, very hard on this.
00:39:13.920So did I, Rob Blagojevich, who's become a great friend, really the first victim of the political weaponization that we saw become full blown over the last four years.
00:39:26.760His crime seems to be that he was caught red handed engaging in politics.
00:39:33.360When the Senate seat of Barack Obama became vacant, he essentially refused an order to appoint Valerie Jarrett to that seat.
00:39:42.700And he explored his political options, because that's what politicians do.
00:41:37.340And we're hoping that Attorney General Pam Bondi will put her signature to that and release those tapes.
00:41:44.320We're also hoping that Kash Patel, as FBI director, will be able to release Obama's FBI interview, 302, because we believe that that interview was going to show that Barack Obama is a liar.
00:42:11.160And under that legal standard that they used to convict him and put him in prison for 14 years, every member of Congress would be in prison.
00:42:18.140Every political candidate would be in prison.
00:42:20.300Any person with any money in their campaign accounts would be in prison because they're going to say those are not donations, they're bribes.
00:42:27.680And so he was sentenced to 14 years because they wanted to silence him.
00:42:32.700He served eight years before President Trump reached into the cold, dark Atlantic waters and saved him and rescued him and returned him to his wife and to his daughters who have suffered so terribly.
00:42:42.760Roger, you know this firsthand, how deep the wounds are for your family members and those closest to you that love you, like your wife and your daughter and your son and grandchildren.
00:42:53.260And so President Trump saved him and reunited with his family.
00:42:57.500And just the other day, and Roger, I want to thank you.
00:43:01.040And I know the governor is going to be talking to you about that as well.
00:43:03.100But you played such an instrumental role in ensuring that President Trump issued a full and unconditional pardon to Governor Blagojevich just the other day.
00:43:16.000You can see a burden is lifted from his shoulders.
00:43:18.500It is another step in the path towards total and complete vindication.
00:43:22.440But, Roger, he likes to say, I was Roger Stone before Roger Stone in terms of the FBI raid on his house signed by Robert Mueller, a name that we all know very well, Robert Mueller, a very corrupt individual who should be in jail.
00:43:37.080These are the same people, James Comey, Patrick Fitzgerald, the same people that went after Blagojevich, the same people that are going after President Trump, going after you, Roger, and so many others who's only guilty of becoming as being friends with Donald Trump.
00:43:50.740So a big, big day in Illinois and across the country, and the governor and his family couldn't be happier.
00:43:57.520You know, my mentor, President Hickson, always said, look forward, never look back.
00:44:04.560And therefore, I guess, first of all, let me say, I've come to have great affection and respect as well as admiration for Rod Blagojevich.
00:44:12.900He went through this horrific ordeal, but he's not bitter.
00:44:27.180But he was, in fact, the first person who was subjected to this kind of abuse.
00:44:33.300Kudos to President Trump for recognizing that.
00:44:35.720But now, Mark, I hear there's a groundswell of people in Chicago, as that city literally is falling apart,
00:44:42.080who want Rod to come forward and be a candidate for governor, pardon me, for mayor.
00:44:47.440But there's a problem with that because the political establishment in Illinois is so afraid of the popularity of Rod Blagojevich.
00:44:56.580And by the way, I've been out with him in Chicago.
00:44:58.280And it's amazing how the people love him.
00:45:01.300The people, the working people, black, white, Hispanic, across the board, young and old.
00:45:06.920They love this man because they know he was the last common sense Democrat governor in Illinois history.
00:45:13.060Never raised taxes, but expanded health care for women, expanded programs that helped the people, made transportation available to everyone.
00:45:23.820You have here this conundrum, this contradiction.
00:45:30.580The Democrat politicians in Illinois so fear Rod Blagojevich, they passed a law that said Rod Blagojevich cannot run for state or local office.
00:45:40.640But at the same time, they passed a law that said if you're a convicted felon, largely the constituency of the Democrat Party,
00:45:47.580you can run for any state or local office.
00:45:50.680Now, I have no idea whether Rod is interested in running for mayor.
00:45:54.440He certainly has no obligation to do it.
00:45:56.140Here's a man who's already served his state and his country with great integrity as a member of the House and as governor
00:46:02.900and has been put through the ringer by Barack Obama and his circle of criminals.
00:46:45.240And that's the point is the law specifically for Blagojevich is he's a convicted felon, so he cannot run for office in Illinois.
00:46:52.060But all these years later, they pass another law contradicting that one.
00:46:56.080The governor has shared with this publicly, and he still, Roger, has another campaign in him because he feels like he was taken out of the ring too soon.
00:47:25.360But he said, I'll tell you, the hardest primary that I'm facing right now is a primary in my own home, and that's convincing my wife, Patty, to allow her to let me run for office.
00:47:36.440And he said, if there were polls right now on this primary, polls would suggest that I'm losing.
00:47:44.640Over 65 percent, Illinois Review is going to be publishing a story on this, Roger,
00:47:48.500but over 65 percent of Chicagoans agreed and supported President Trump's full and unconditional pardon of Governor Blagojevich the other day.
00:47:58.100We're also seeing Mayor Brandon Johnson's approval ratings at just 14 percent, the lowest of any mayor in the history of Chicago, 14 percent approval rating.
00:48:09.340There's no doubt in my mind there's been smaller sample polls that have gone on that if Rod Blagojevich were to run for Chicago mayor, he would win that race by a country mile.
00:48:21.240And so it's exciting now that there's partners behind him.
00:48:25.020It's exciting to see what's in the future.
00:48:26.660But don't rule out a run for Chicago mayor.
00:48:29.000Yeah, I've seen these headlines suggesting that Rod might aspire to be ambassador to Serbia.
00:48:37.280Obviously, Serbia is very proud of the fact that he's probably the most famous Serbian-American political leader in America, perhaps the world.
00:48:45.820I don't think that's the right job for him.
00:48:48.040That's a job for somebody who's retired.
00:49:15.740We're going to be watching this story very, very carefully, because I think this could be one of the this could become the second greatest political comeback in American history.
00:49:29.800As you know, Mark, it's kind of where I end the show today.
00:49:33.320President Trump has issued an order to release all of the government's files regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Dr.
00:49:50.780And right now, I can tell you just yesterday, a big story in Axios, broken by their reporter, Mark Caputo, one of the few objective reporters who works for that news outlet, a guy who actually neither left nor right, but kind of goes where the facts lead.
00:50:05.200Suddenly, the FBI has come up with 2,400 documents about the Kennedy assassination that, you know, maybe they were under the couch or something, or it's hard to know, 14,000 pages of information that we've never seen.
00:50:20.100I can tell you, because I know a lot about this, having written a book, The Man Who Killed Kennedy, The Case Against LBJ, it's a New York Times bestseller, that all of the documents that we're interested in finding are not in the JFK assassination archive.
00:50:35.960And therefore, Congressman Tim Burchett from Tennessee, who's a real fighter for the taxpayers, a real MAGA loyalist, one of President Trump's favorite congressmen, true fighter for the American people, has written a letter to the president suggesting that he direct all federal agencies, including the CIA, the FBI, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the Internal Revenue Service to remue all materials in their possession.
00:51:05.300And transmit to the archivist all remaining records related to the assassination of President Kennedy.
00:51:12.820He has suggested that the president direct the archivists of the United States to remove all redactions from what is about to be released.
00:51:23.660My friend James O'Keefe, investigative journalist, started Project Veritas, now with O'Keefe Media, shocked when the FBI stormed his home to search for Ashley Biden's diary, something that had been given to him by a source, something he'd never written about or publicized or talked about on the air.
00:52:20.360This is what they intend to try to do with the Kennedy documents.
00:52:23.800It's telling that in 2017, when these documents were supposed to be released, that CIA director Mike Pompeo interceded with President Trump at the very last minute and got him to hold back 20 percent of the documents.
00:52:42.440Now, if he's the head of the CIA, what does that tell you about what we're about to learn?
00:52:50.000There's a lot of curves in the road here.
00:52:53.000The bureaucrats are going to try to hide this stuff.
00:52:56.140We're going to try to get Congressman Burschett on to lay out the game plan that he's allowed, laid out to make sure that doesn't happen.
00:53:07.720Your thought on these upcoming revelations regarding the JFK assassination documents.
00:53:12.620Well, you hit the nail on the head and you continue to do this, Roger, when you talk about how Mike Pompeo, when he was CIA director, how he did not, he opposed the release, the further release of these documents.
00:53:27.620Why? Because he's protecting something.
00:53:30.980And I think you were right, protecting the CIA and we're going to understand the role that they that they played in this.
00:53:38.100But that was my number one fear, Roger, or concern, not fear, but number one concern is, OK, so they're going to release all these documents.
00:53:44.380But 99 percent of it's going to be redacted.
00:53:48.520And the only thing that we're going to see in the top right hand corner is perhaps the date and maybe the and and while the rest is redacted.
00:53:57.620And we're not going to learn anything from that.
00:54:00.500And that seems to be a deep state trick, an old trick that the deep state will use to make sure that this information remains hidden.
00:54:09.420But I appreciate that they're making these efforts because we need full and complete transparency.
00:54:16.260And you have been leading the leader on this topic for so long.
00:54:22.400And so I can't wait, Roger, to to get your analysis as these documents start to become available and and what we'll continue to learn.
00:54:29.920And will there be additional bombshells in these in this new release?
00:54:33.740It's going to be really fascinating to tune in here to the Stone Zone to watch your analysis of this.
00:54:39.460Yeah, I checked in with, you know, with author Gerald Posner, who wrote the book Case Closed.
00:54:46.320He's the last person on Earth who actually believes the conclusion of the Warren Commission, actually believes that Lee Harvey Oswald killed John F. Kennedy and acted alone.
00:54:55.160I just want to do a wellness check on him.
00:54:58.220I've asked him to come on with Patrick Bed David on his platform when the documents are finally released.
00:55:06.980I understand that he's probably hiding under his desk right now, but hopefully Gerald Posner will come out and and duke it out because he literally is the last person on Earth who believes that Lee Harvey Oswald did this and acted alone.