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John Greenewald: Hello to you
all, John Greenewald here with

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the black vault.com. I'm posting
this video as a response to the

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avalanche of dialogue that
started after my last video.

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That dialogue was in part good,
but also in part bad. But I

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wanted to speak to all of you to
give you an update and

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hopefully, maybe even answer a
question or two that you have

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had since I posted my breakdown
of Luis Elizondo, his IG

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complaint. As that video was
playing for the first time, I

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was spending the day with my son
at the arcade. I never liked

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missing my YouTube premieres
that way I can spend a lot of

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time with you guys. But time
with my son means more than

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anything, so I left my office
and checked in a few times when

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I could just to say hi. But
while at the arcade, I got a

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text message on my cell phone
from a friend. I was told Mr

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Elizondo was retweeting a
lawyer. And that lawyer was

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seemingly warning me directly
about my video and defaming Mr.

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Elizondo. Let me read his exact
words. Surely hope you Don't

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defame Lou Elizondo. It is well
documented that he was the

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director of a tip and any
participation in a plan to cast

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doubt on that hashtag truth is a
knowing effort to defame and sow

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disinformation. It's legally
actionable. Mr. Elizondo

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retweeted that not once, but
twice. Mr. Elizondo, stated

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first, it's nice working with
professionals. Thank you, Todd.

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And then a second tweet 14
minutes later, I was the

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director of a tip. It has been
well documented, and I've been

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the subject of a campaign of
defamatory disinformation by

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multiple parties. Again, my
thanks to Todd McMurtry. Now,

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one thing to note, my video was
still premiering and what that

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means is it was playing for the
first time checking the

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timestamp, it appears my video
was only about 37 minutes into

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playing the admittedly long
three hour total runtime. In

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other words, it seemed
coordinated. This all seems

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strategic, and it seemed
planned, all of which is fine

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and not an indicator of
wrongdoing on the part of the

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attorney or Mr. Elizondo, but
they had no idea what I was even

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saying the video wasn't even
done yet. Their rebuttals about

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Mr. Elizondo running a tip
pretty much had nothing to do

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with my video, dissecting the
claims that he made in his IG

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complaint. But they floated the
D word anyway, numerous times

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worked in the word
disinformation as well. And then

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Mr. Elizondo retweeted it to his
93,000 plus followers twice,

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which resulted in quite the
Firestorm. Now, let me say I can

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take the heat and insults from
that crowd thrown at me in tweet

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form. I've done it for a long
time. So there's no problem

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there. But that wasn't the part
that bothered me about this

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entire situation. In my view, I
did not defame anyone. And to

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float those words is not only
telling, but incredibly damaging

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to the entire investigative
process for someone like me, and

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for people like all of us, we
are all on an individual

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journey, our own each of us to
discover the truth, whatever

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that may be. My path took me to
vet the claims of a former

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taxpayer paid government
employee who made claims about a

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taxpayer funded program or
effort, whatever he wants to now

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call it. In his complaint, he
utilized my work, and in my

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view, altered it to make
accusations against other

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taxpayer paid employees with
within the Pentagon, and the

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Department of Defense. I'll be
at my work was a very small part

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of his IG complaint, it was
still a very big claim to make.

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And in my personal opinion, the
story was altered. If it was

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not, I think that we should ask
for more evidence. Am I not

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allowed to question any of that?
What country do I live in? If I

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can't question all those claims
not only made in the complaint,

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but others made in tweets and
podcasts by Mr. Elizondo? What

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country do I live in where it is
wrong to use verifiable

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evidence, vetting the claims of
someone I once paid for through

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my taxpayer dollars to even have
a job? What country do I live

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in? Were my efforts to bring as
much verifiable evidence to the

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table along with properly
labeling and expressing my

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opinion is legal threat worthy,
veiled or otherwise, to be

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thrown at me on Twitter in tweet
form.

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The tweets from an attorney and
Mr Elizondo posted online riled

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up a digital mob before my video
was even done playing. The

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result was a digital lynching by
a small but noisy group of Mr.

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Elizondo his biggest supporters.
Anyone that has a following and

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has followers should be careful
when posting such legal jargon

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and veiled accusations. The
result is much more damaging

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than one might think. But sadly,
I'm starting to think that was

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the intent. Although Mr.
Elizondo is attorney has every

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right to tweet at me, and Mr.
Elizondo has every right to do

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the same. In this process, they
are revealing an enormous

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problem in today's world. And
that is not everything should be

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met with a lawyer veiled legal
threats, or post that I am sure

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all parties involved would know,
would rile up a digital mob of

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supporters. Rather just attack
my information. If you choose to

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make public claims than expect
feedback from the public. It's

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up to you to respond or not. If
you feel the desire answer the

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questions I posed, show evidence
to the contrary of what I

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showed, prove me wrong. Heck,
I'll let Mr. Elizondo or anyone

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do it on my own show, as I've
already proven in the past, not

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only with Mr. Elizondo, but
others who I have spoken out

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against as well. I'm not afraid
of being proven wrong,

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especially on my own show, or
having a pressing a pressing

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question answered adequately.
But if he chooses not to do it,

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then don't all of which is
everyone's right to do. But

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nothing I did warranted the
flashing of an attorney or

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dropping words like defame
defamation and disinformation.

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Especially when a digital mom is
clearly foaming at the mouth for

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more digital ammunition,
ammunition to use. The flashing

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of his attorney gave them all
just that. The bottom line, I

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did nothing wrong. I exercised
my freedom to information. I

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exercise my right to express my
opinion. I vetted taxpayer paid

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people and taxpayer funded
programs and posed questions

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that I would 100% Defend under
oath in a courtroom. None of

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this none of what I did is in
the legal definition of

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deformation or Sue worthy, it's
not even legal threat worthy.

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Anyone who decides to talk the
definition talk about what I

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did, is telling the general
public more about themselves

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than they are about me. I know
Mr. Elizondo, his biggest

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supporters out there won't watch
this video. And if they do, they

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will continue to throw rocks and
sling mud and the name of

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disclosure as they won't
actually listen to what I have

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to say. They just think I'm out
to get them. But I made this

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explanation to tell all of you,
in case you had any reservation

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about what in the world Jon's
doing. So I could tell you this

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is not about Luis Elizondo the
man. It never has been. As I've

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said numerous times, I actually
like the guy. But what this is

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about the claims of a former DoD
intelligence agent, one that

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Americans paid for to have a
job. And it's about his claims,

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doing taxpayer funded research,
or running taxpayer funded

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programs, and creating taxpayer
funded property. That is that of

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the people. We own these
programs they create, and if

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somebody who was on the inside
and running it all for nearly a

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decade, and let me add someone
who kept it all secret, a secret

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from us. For all that time. We
have a right to question it.

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Once the information is out in
the open. We paid for it. Just

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because someone tells us they
will always tell us the truth.

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Newsflash, it doesn't actually
mean, they still will. It

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doesn't mean that we shouldn't
challenge them, or the stories

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or the claims. The Absolute
Truth will not be harmed by

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anything anyone throws at it.
Not a question. Not an opinion.

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Not anything. The Absolute Truth
will survive it all. I will not

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be intimidated from doing what I
have done for 26 years. I have a

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long history of questioning
claims by the government claims

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from politicians, claims of FOIA
offices, claims of former DOD

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personnel and the list goes on.
That is what the black vault is

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all about. And despite what some
noisy haters on Twitter say,

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I will continue to do it. I will
continue to show you all a

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glimpse into my journey trying
to figure this all out with you.

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And I won't apologize for
pushing for answers or asking

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for more evidence. We should all
be doing that even if we think

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150% Of what Mr. Elizondo claims
is 150%. Legit. Keep pushing for

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answers. Because I assure you,
we don't have them all.

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Especially not about this. I've
always said, and I'll say it

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again, I don't claim to always
be right. I don't want you to

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agree with everything I say.
Because the black vault is not

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an echo chamber, nor do I want
it to be. It's a place to see,

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share, and reflect on ideas,
evidence, theories, and data on

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all sorts of issues. And
nothing, and no one will keep me

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from running the black vault for
the next 26 years, and hopefully

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far beyond to give you all a
place where you won't be

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intimidated to share your ideas,
or learn from others or

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challenge your own beliefs. But
most of all, and I mean this,

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most of all, I want you all to
have a place where you are

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motivated to ask questions, and
never be afraid to do so. No

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matter how many attorneys they
have to tweet at you. It's your

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right. It's our right. And I
hope none of us are met with

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enough opposition to forget that