You Can Indict a Ham Sandwich and No One is Doing Anything About It

The speaker discusses the political dynamics of appointing deputies in a sheriff’s office, suggesting that it’s common for a sheriff to appoint a politically savvy individual as their deputy to help them win elections. He argues that this is not a form of bribery, but a strategic move. He also mentions that sheriffs have the power to swear in anyone as a deputy, regardless of their background or experience. The speaker then criticizes the federal government’s handling of his case, expressing frustration over the amount of information his attorney had to sift through and the quality of the FBI’s recording equipment. He ends by expressing hope that someone will review his case.
The speaker, presumably a public official, was unexpectedly investigated by a grand jury during his reelection year. Despite the usual practice of allowing the accused to present their side before an indictment, this did not happen in his case. He chose not to campaign or accept donations due to the ongoing investigation, which led to his election loss. The speaker believes this experience is part of a larger effort to undermine the role of sheriffs in the U.S., and he hopes to appeal his case.
The speaker believes in President Trump and hopes he would help if he knew his story. He criticizes the political donation system, where big donors can influence both parties and even become ambassadors after large donations. He encourages sheriffs across the country to be vigilant and fight for justice, as he fears what could happen in the future. He ends by expressing gratitude and a wish for justice to be restored in America.

God forbid we had some ruthless, dirty people that were evil wanting to go after sheriffs or other constitutional offices and so forth that appoint staff. And you could take my case and go after another sheriff who, let’s say, John Smith’s running for sheriff in this county. And he knows nothing of local politics. He knows no one, but he is a sharp guy, will be a good sheriff. He finds the most political savvy, best known and loved guy in the county and he says, Hey, Tom, I’m going to make you my chief deputy. Partner with me and help me campaign this year.

We’re going to win this election. Well, I’m sure if you’re going to be the number two guy, the salary is 100,000 a year. Okay. By the standard the federal government is using on me, and I hope other sheriffs are listening, because there’s 3,000 plus of you out there that need to think about this. By this standard, because clearly they’ll go back, they’ll set plans, they’ll send people in, they’ll do anything if they’re ruthless. But I’m sure I know of sheriffs that have done this where they say it’s politics. You pick a number two guy and you campaign because he has strengths or you have weaknesses politically or otherwise.

Maybe it’s your education and resume. Whatever it is, you win the election and you appoint that guy as your number two guy. Every sheriff in America would say, that’s fine. Okay, well, didn’t you just reward him with $100,000 taxpayer bribe of a salary? Because he, in exchange for you giving him this reward, he got you elected basically because, you know, X, Y, and Z. I say that because there’s so many ways you could cut this and shape it and change it for other things. It’s just like saying, well, you know, there’s no earthly reason you would hire this man who’s 70 years old and has no law enforcement experience.

He’s been a businessman or he’s a this or that. Well, Newsflash, the actor for Superman, Dean King. Okay, here’s a guy who was an auxiliary officer and an agent I can’t even remember. Shaq, Shaquille O’Neal, Southwest Virginia sheriff, makes him a deputy, as I mentioned before, recently, Jelly Roll. But think about me, for example, the hit show Discovery Channel, Moonshiders. I swore in Tim Smith, one of the stars from that show years ago, solely because he started helping us with fundraisers for charity, for a Shop with a Cop program, for charity for kids and so forth.

Tim’s never went out and worked the street or uniform and so forth, but it happens every day across America. I mean, you could ask anyone and to say suddenly, well, okay, Sheriff Scott, you know, we’re coming after you because this doesn’t pass the smell test. You’re not training these guys. You’re not doing this or that. Well, I would ask, you know, has, you know, who else has not went through the police academy or never intended to when they were sworn in? But yet they have that law enforcement authority. They have the ability to carry a weapon or whatever if they choose to.

God bless them. That’s part of being a sheriff. If you don’t like it tough, change the law. But yes, Chiefs of Police, the director of the FBI group, I guess they can’t do what, you know, we can’t. I don’t know all their policies and laws, but I just know that a sheriff can choose. I can walk out the door tomorrow if I’m sheriff and, you know, pick the random person on the street. Are they a U.S. citizen? Do they have a U.S.? Do they have a high school diploma equivalent and so on? And take them and swear them in.

Now, if that person happens to also have written me a check for my campaign the year before or whoever, suddenly I’m a criminal. No. But if you want, if you’re ugly enough, evil enough, and want to go after people and you parse conversations and things. And this is another thing, you know, talk about, you know, people want to say, oh, everything was a buff board. You know, your case, you were a criminal, you did X, Y, and Z, we have you recorded here and there. Okay, what about the conversations that are not available? They don’t take terabyte of information on my attorney who had a few months to prepare for trial.

A terabyte, for those who don’t know, you can Google it. I did one day because I couldn’t get my head around it. It’s like 1,300 filing cabinets full of paper or I forget 100,000 encyclopedia sets. That’s how much, that’s how many pages of information were dumped on my attorney. And somehow, and we went to court. We fought to say, judge, can you make them highlight and note what page we can find this and that on that we’re trying to, nope, good luck with that. So, again, and then we have an agent sit in my trial, and I just shook my head with disbelief.

I was a small town sheriff, and we had, God knows how many pieces of equipment for undercover operations, body parts, cameras, recording devices, and so on. An agent of the FBI who has billions of dollars to spend, news to me, it was interesting. He sat on the stand in my trial that they build all their equipment in-house, and sometimes it just doesn’t, I’m paraphrasing, doesn’t hold up well. Because we had this one black screen where they’re playing what is supposedly all of my recording. It went to black, and you could only hear this garbled mess that they’re putting the words on the screen, and I’m sitting there, and I’m thinking to myself, I didn’t say those words, but you suddenly lost my video, too.

And when they question him, he says that, well, that’s common. We build our equipment in-house, and it’s not necessarily as durable or the same grade or quality as a commercial. So I’m thinking, my God, a local sheriff’s office has better undercover body wire equipment than the FBI, or, well, no, I’m sure they wouldn’t want to have that out and have something like that. With all the crap we’ve seen that they’ve pulled on other people in our country in recent years, I’m sure that’s not. Why the hell are you building stuff in-house to use on operations? And you’re testifying, saying that, yeah, sometimes it doesn’t hold up well, and we lose voice or we lose visual on the recordings.

Well, that’s pretty damn convenient, kind of like some of the conversations where I’m screaming at my attorney preparing for court going, look, that one, that sounds really bad. But as soon as that, right after that, I’m saying, no, no, we can’t do that. But conveniently, that part of the conversation, well, the body wire was off, and they don’t have that. And it was infuriating preparing for trial with things like that going on. So many things, and I mean, for two years, I’ve had so much of this stuff that I wanted to just scream from the rooftops of what is wrong with this, you know, this.

But, you know, everyone knows that, you know, that’s how the federal system works. Ninety-eight percent of the cases never even go to trial. And the two percent that do, most of them go to prison, because it’s the full weight of the government’s act against you. I mean, I sold my home and spent every dime I had on attorneys, and I’m still, you know, here I sit. I’m praying that someone can get word to the president or someone to look at my case or hear it. Well, we’re working for you and praying for you, Sheriff. And I’ve got to go back in history.

All of us were enthralled with everything you were saying. But when was it? How long ago, 12 years, 15 years that I first was invited by you to come train all your office? Yes, I guess that would have been my first year, 2012. I had read your book and just, you know, as soon as I was sheriff, I remember, I think that I knew as soon as I could, I was contacting you to come and speak. And yes, I know your case well. And I look at what they did to you. You know, when you were sheriff for two terms and then you got screwed by, you know, knocking on your door, raiding your office and so forth, and then never hearing from again.

But making sure days before an election, they pulled that crap and you lost and then you never hear from me. I mean, it sounds to me, it’s like what they did to Chuck Jenkins. You know, that may have been ATF, not the FBI. I don’t mean to say the wrong thing about the wrong people, but we understand how DOJ and everything works. Yeah, that is a fit. But I think you’ve proven the point that I wanted you to make to all of our members that are on the program right now. And that is this. That the value of a constitutional sheriff is immense and we need more constitutional sheriffs in this country just like you.

What was it that got you out of office? I don’t remember talking to you about that. Well, you know, this case, you know, honestly, I’ll just be blunt with you. You know, they knocked on my door the end of January 23, which is beginning of my reelection year. And they began immediately coming through the door of my office and questioning, just pulling staff member after staff member, interrogating them and asking questions and taking them before a grand jury. They spent those first months, February, March, April, all the way up to summer. I mean, they drug my 70-year-old aunt to the federal court before a grand jury for whatever questions.

And of course, I can’t know any of this. That’s the thing. You can’t talk. You know this. You know, I’m in the dark with whatever they’re doing. Were your attorney ever allowed to be part of the grand jury investigation? No, we’re never a part of that. And yet you’re given this opportunity supposedly in the federal system if they follow their ethical procedures they normally do. You are given an opportunity to profit, to sit down with a prosecutor with your attorney, answer questions and give your version of the facts before they do an indictment. It happens every day in America.

And my attorney, Mark Shamel, with Venable in D.C., was in contact with them directly over and over with this lady Heather, who later resigned abruptly for whatever reason. He talked with them and the ladies from DOJ repeatedly. And, you know, whether it’s a proffer or reverse proffered, so forth, we wanted to do was a question. But we were in constant communication. They were going to let them know before, obviously, their continued grand jury for months and questioning people. But when the time comes before an indictment, we would get that call and say, you know, yes or no, you at least get an option.

You do or don’t want to sit down with them. And, you know, we just get a phone call out of the blue. I remember the day Mark called me. He said, Scott, you’re not going to believe it. And he’s had a lot of call. And I’ve never heard the man. A lot of colorful language on that. He said, I am so sorry. He said, I am all the years I’ve never seen this happen before. They have just gone to the grand jury directly and indicted you. They never called, never offered. I said, you know, I was just standing there in my driveway and shopping on the phone.

And the same thing happened to Chuck Jenkins. They came after him all election year. The grand jury system has been so bastardized by these corrupt prosecutors. That’s why the Chief Justice of New York said, the New York Supreme Court said you can indict a ham sandwich and nobody’s doing anything about it. You know, I know, you know, grand jury system was designed that way for a reason. So they can, you know, at least get the charges going in the process and have that person that may be dangerous and so forth. But when you’re talking about white collar crime and things, the person’s not done a violent crime.

So there should, you know, you have that person’s entire reputation and life in your hands. And with me, your question to your question, I guess, the accused has a right to be to present. But, you know, put yourself in my shoes. I’m the very, the very thing that they have knocked on my door, sat with me questioned and threatened to put me in prison for the donations to my campaign. They, they seized the thousands of dollars I had in my campaign account, locked that account down. And so if you’re me in February, did you reside or did you lose the plan? No, I would not.

I would not. I would not. And that they couldn’t believe from the day they talked to me, everyone rolls over generally and they couldn’t believe I was going to fight. And I said, you know, I’m not, I’m going to prove, you know, I couldn’t believe they’d actually indict me. But, you know, we go on for months. All this stuff’s going on. I’ve got my office and whole community newspapers. Everything is talking about this FBI investigation. And I’m thinking to myself, you know, well, I’ve got thousands of people that are still supporting me. They’re contacting me saying, you know, don’t let, you know, we, we give you the benefit of the doubt.

You’re innocent until proven guilty. But we go on for months. And obviously, you know, I’m talking with my staff and family and others. And I’m saying, look, I’m not opening another campaign account. I’m not taking in any money. I’m not giving them a chance to somehow, you know, you’re scared. Honestly, you’re scared. You may have been a cop all your life, but you’re sitting here going, you know, they want to put me in prison for life first for these things. I’m not going to give them another opportunity. So I have to sit and go, well, I’m a Republican sheriff.

I’ve served three terms and I’m not even going to follow to ask for the Republican nomination. I don’t want, you know, I don’t want to accept donations. So I never spent a dime on my campaign. I never took in money or spent money. I never ran any ads. I attended two public forums with the two guys running against them. One guy ran. Well, it was uncontested. He accepted Republican nomination. It infuriated my local party that I’ve been part of, you know, for years. But, you know, it was just, I was, you know, I can’t describe it.

It was the toughest, toughest year so far in my life. And so I was just trying to tread water running office. And so not getting the Republican nod and now having a three-way race, that splits it worse. So bottom line, yeah, I didn’t win the election. Surprisingly, I did get a few thousand votes. And, you know, had I taken that Republican nomination and done some campaigning, I think everyone would agree, yeah, I edged out the guy that did win. But, you know, that’s a story for another day. But, you know, I had to focus on survival of me, my family, and keeping regard.

We’re all proud of you. We love you. We are so concerned about your wife and family. And we know you have great support there. We’re still going to be doing everything we can to get this in front of President Trump. Hopefully, Pam Bondi and maybe Kash Patel that could still do something about it. I’m sure Pam could, the AG could, but I know for a fact that President Trump has. You’ve been to his home before, and we’re going to be pushing this. Sheriff, God bless you for this strong constitutional sheriff you are. I’ve valued our friendship and relationship for a long time.

And we are not going to abandon you. We are going to be there for you. And then after we get your pardon and get you out of this, then we got to do a fundraiser for you to get you back all this money that you’ve spent on this. Believe me, I know what this is like. We’ve been through this with my son just recently. So anyway, we’ve got to run here. But thank you so much for coming. We’ll have you back another day. And folks, again, did we learn something today about the value of a constitutional sheriff? The people in our ranks of 3,100 sheriffs in this country that have the courage and the guts to stand for what’s right and to stand for our Constitution.

Thank you so much for that great example, Sheriff. And we’ll talk soon. Thanks for being here. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you. God bless you. Jack, I’ll turn it back to you. All right, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Sheriff Jenkins. My final comment is that I’ve been involved with this organization for the last several years. And I can feel it in my bones. The undermining of the American sheriff is on the agenda. And I know that you talked about some of the things that were involved with reasons why you might be in that situation. But it turns out, as far as I can tell, this is also going to be used to undermine sheriffs all around the country as well.

And it’s a sad day for the Constitution and a sad day for the United States of America. And I’m sorry that you’ve had to go through this. I can tell. I mean, the fact that they pushed you over to Charlottesville, I mean, that has a history of a town that’s used for lots of terrible things. And, you know, it’s just the whole case stinks to high heaven. And anyway, I wish you the best. And I’ll work with Sheriff Mack anyway. He can work to see if there is anything that can be done. And certainly you get an appeal, right? Yes.

I had no money left for an appeal, but we are noting we’re going to file one and try to work on that as well. But I pray every day that if we could. I truly believe if I could get an hour of time with someone in the administration to sit down and lay out some facts on my attorney. And I really believe if they could hear the other side, which I couldn’t get in front of a jury. I believe, well, I believe Trump. I believe him wholeheartedly in the president. I believe he heard the information. I know he would help if he knew my story.

I appreciate any help, but I thank you, gentlemen, for your time. All right. Thank you, Sheriff. You know, a real brief review comment I have, too, is a big pharma donor can donate to both the Democrat and Republican in the same race. And he’s just trying to guarantee that whoever wins, he’s buying them. Those people don’t go to jail. Those people aren’t charged with anything. That’s part of the process. And then my attorney said often he said you can write a $200,000 check for a meal at a campaign fundraiser for a president. And, you know, weeks later after the election, suddenly you’re the ambassador who was in Bob way or somewhere.

But that’s not that’s not that’s not a pro quo. And you never had anything to do with them before. But you wrote a big check at a fundraiser and suddenly you’re an ambassador. That is the country we have. And if you don’t like it, change the law. But don’t come after the people who I mean, and I say this wholeheartedly, not as a scare package, sheriffs across the country. I was a free term sheriff and loved every minute. Well, not every but love my job serving the community that I love. But sheriffs all across the country, please listen up to things like this because President Trump, we’re not going to happen forever.

We’ve only got him for four years. I wish longer. But, you know, what can happen in the future? You need to buckle down and fight today while we have good people in these offices in B.C. We got to do everything we can now to prepare because any of you 3000 can be next. Thank you so much, Sheriff. And thank you. Thank you. All of you. Thank you. Thank you for all your comments. Maybe we need to play this back next week. So we answered some of the questions everybody had. But God bless all of you.

God bless America. And may justice be restored to our country, to one and all of us, and justice for all. Oh, that we would implement that within our government ranks. We’ll see you next time, folks. Great show. Thank you again, Sheriff Jenkins. We’ll talk soon. You’re my brother. We’ll see you soon. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. [tr:trw].