During an explosive appearance Thursday on Fox Business Network, recently-resigned Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne repeatedly grew emotional and, at times, even irate as he explained that his resignation earlier that day had been predicated on an alleged “deep state” government plot.
“This is me ejecting, and I have to because I’ve been warned that if I come forward to America, that the apparatus of Washington is going to grind me into a dust. That’s going to happen, and I have to get that away from the company; it’s only right,” he initially said on FBN’s Bulls & Bears.
The drama surrounding Byrne reportedly began last week when he issued incredible statements claiming that during the 2016 presidential election, intelligence officials within the government had sought his help again — he’d allegedly previously helped them with other cases — in investigating various political figures, including then-GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“It was the third time in my life I helped the Men In Black … Unfortunately, this third time turned out to be less about law enforcement and more about political espionage conducted against Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump (and to a lesser degree, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz),” he said in one statement.
On Thursday, he went on to reveal that the official who’d sought his help had been disgraced former FBI special agent Peter Strzok, the same dubious figure who was booted first from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia collusion investigation, and then later fired from the FBI over his virulently anti-Trump activities.
“I figured out the name of who sent me the orders and this has been confirmed to me,” he said. “The name of the man who sent me the orders was a guy named Peter Strzok. Got it? Capiche? So this is going to be quite a whirlwind.”
In explaining why he’s now coming forward, he grew emotional as he spoke of the country going “nuts” and pointed to the recent spate of mass shootings.
Listen to the whole interview. Keep in mind that it is 16 minutes long:
“But the issue is, I realized that these orders I got came from Peter Strzok, and as I put together things, I know much more than I should know and it’s right to keep silent,” he said.
“This country’s gone nuts. And especially for the last year when I realized what I know, every time I see one of these things, somebody drives 600 miles to gun down 20 strangers in a mall, I guess I feel a bit responsible. So I have to come forward.”
Later in the interview, Byrne grew irate after FBN contributor Jonathan Hoenig questioned him about Overstock’s stock. After the now-resigned CEO came out with his stunning accusations last week, the company’s stock quickly plummeted:
The company lost a third of its value in the 2 days since Byrne released a stmt titled “https://t.co/SImMHMGKet CEO Comments on Deep State,” in which he referred to federal investigators as “the Men in Black.” https://t.co/IyiFEO3mD6
— Lola Netty (@TXTrumpette89) August 15, 2019
But immediately after Byrne resigned Thursday, the stock rebounded, gaining more than 50 percent of the value it’d lost after his announcement last week.
“How does it feel to see the stock rally when you step down?” Hoenig asked of Byrne.
Byrne took offense to this. He seemed to feel as if Hoenig was blaming Overstock’s recent market issues on his decision to allegedly help federal intelligence officials.
“What’s your question, it seems silly to me,” he said. “You’re a journalist. You should be smarter and stand for principles more than that question illustrated. Of course you have duties as a citizen, even when you’re a CEO. I never involved the company in anything. The company’s completely unrelated.”
“I have extracurricular activities … and twice in my life, when a friend of mine got murdered and when a bunch of goons on Wall Street, I figured out what they were doing, I helped the federal government take them down. And when they told me that they needed my help with this, I thought I was helping with legitimate law enforcement, I helped them.”
Except that he now realizes that the services he provided were for something illegitimate.
“It turns out I was a tool in a game of political espionage,” he said. “I didn’t know that. I figured it out last summer. I thought I was doing something legitimate, a tiny little thing on the side that took a little time away from the office. And it turns it was political espionage. I only figured it out a year ago.”
As “Bulls & Bears” host David Asman then began speaking, Byrne cut in to slam Hoenig for the question he’d asked.
“Who the hell was that!?” he yelled. “Who was asking that question? What’s the name of that fool? You’re a fool!”
“That was Jonathan Hoenig,” Asman replied.
“You’re a fool!” Byrne added, aiming his ire at Hoenig.
Watch this particular interaction below:
Source: Fox Business Network
While it’s not clear whether there’s any legitimacy to the former Overstock CEO’s allegations — they are quite bizarre — he does believe that Attorney General Bill Barr’s ongoing investigation into the origins of the Russia probe will eventually uncover the truth.
“Here’s the bottom line — there is a ‘deep state’ like a like a submarine lurking just beneath the waves at periscope depth watching our shipping lanes, and a nuclear icebreaker named the USS Bill Barr has snuck up on them and is about to ram them midship,” he said last week to Asman.
“That’s about to happen, and I think we’re about to see the biggest scandal in American history.”
Listen:
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Vivek@bizpacreview.com
V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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