‘I plan to seek justice’: Max Blumenthal vows legal action after US govt drops ‘bogus’ assault charges against him

The US government has dropped all charges against Max Blumenthal, after arresting the journalist over a dubious 5-month-old warrant. But the Grayzone editor says the case is far from closed.

Blumenthal was detained for nearly two days after police raided his Washington, DC home in October. The month-old warrant for his arrest listed the journalist as “armed and dangerous,” and police carrying out the warrant reportedly threatened to kick down his door.The government’s case was based solely on an unsubstantiated claim made by a right-wing Venezuelan opposition activist, Naylet Pacheco, who alleged that Blumenthal and a friend had assaulted her during a protest at the Venezuelan embassy in Washington.

According to the Grayzone, the Secret Service call logs recorded during the alleged altercation have vanished. Other materials critical to the case have also gone missing, including printed documents and radio recordings that may have shown coordination between Secret Service officers and right-wing protesters who were trying to evict peace activists occupying Venezuela’s embassy. Blumenthal announced that he is planning to seek “justice” over the “bogus” legal case.

I should never have been hauled out of my house and thrown in jail for an obviously politically motivated, false allegation that the police failed to investigate.

In previous interviews, Blumenthal has suggested that his critical coverage of US-backed coup attempt in Venezuela, as well as the expulsion of Venezuelan diplomats from Washington, led to him being singled out by US authorities. The Grayzone was also one of the few outlets to cover the conflict between peace activists stationed in the Venezuelan emabassy, at the invitation of Caracas, and right-wing demonstrators trying to evict them.

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