Wayne Simmons was a frequent guest on Fox News. The self-described expert on terrorism claimed to have been a CIA special officer for almost 30 years, but it was all bullshit. And now he’s pled guilty to charges of major fraud:
A Fox News guest terrorism analyst pleaded guilty on Friday to U.S. charges that he fraudulently claimed to have been a CIA agent for decades, federal prosecutors said.
Wayne Simmons, 62, of Annapolis, Maryland, entered the plea in U.S. district court in Alexandria, Virginia, a Washington suburb, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.
He faces 40 years in prison. More from Rolling Stone:
Simmons claimed to have spent 27 years with the CIA, but Paul Nathanson, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, said in a court filing that Simmons "never had any association whatsoever with the CIA." (The CIA declined to comment – as a rule, it never confirms or denies agents – but said it is "working closely with the Justice Department on this matter.")
Instead, prosecutors say Simmons spent those 27 years doing just about everything else: He ran a limousine service, a gambling operation and an AIDS-testing clinic; worked for a hot-tub business, a carpeting company and a nightclub; and briefly played defensive back for the New Orleans Saints. Along the way, he accrued criminal convictions, including multiple DUIs, plus charges for weapons possession and assault, and an arrest for attacking a cabdriver in Annapolis, Maryland, in 2007. "Fuck you, you can't do shit to me – do you know who I am?" Simmons told a cop, according to a police report, before insisting that he was CIA, and that the cabbie, who was Pakistani, had a bomb. A police dog found no explosives, and a CIA representative told the cops to take whatever actions they deemed necessary.
All the while, Simmons continued to get himself guest slots on Fox. The Pentagon's military-analysts program had helped boost his profile, along with that of others who made extreme proclamations on air: Last year, retired Adm. James Lyons said the Muslim Brotherhood had "carte-blanche entry into the White House," and retired Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney supported Donald Trump's freeze on Muslim immigrants. All three men helped push right-wing theories about Benghazi into the mainstream. "If you have two generals and a former CIA officer saying these things, they give legitimacy and heft to what would have been a partisan attack," says Angelo Carusone of Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog. "It has an effect on the way voters behave."
Friday, Apr 29, 2016 · 4:45:50 PM +00:00 · Jen Hayden
He was the Fox News Benghazi expert and suggested Speaker Boehner form a committee to investigate.
Conservative Activists Joined With Simmons To Demand A Benghazi Select Committee. A March 5, 2014, letter signed by Simmons and other conservative activists urged House Speaker John Boehner to "create a House Select Investigative Committee on Benghazi -- fully resourced with staff and subpoena powers -- to conduct a thorough, coordinated investigation." Boehner announced plans to form a select committee on May 2, 2014, and the House approved it on May 8, 2014. Activists who signed on to the letter with Simmons included Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton, Fox News contributor Thomas McInerney, Fox News contributor Allen West, Center for Security Policy president Frank Gaffney, Veterans for a Strong America president Joel Arends, Secure America New president Allen Roth, Ginni Thomas, and Freedom Center president David Horowitz. [JudicialWatch.org, 3/5/14; Speaker.gov, 5/2/14; Washington Post, 5/8/14]
Media Matters has a rundown of all his Fox News appearances relating to Benghazi.