Solari Requests that Lawyer Monthly Retract Inaccuracy-Laden Social Media Post about Carlson-Fitts Interview
By Carolyn Betts, Esq.
To Lawyer Monthly:
I am General Counsel of Solari, Inc., publisher of the Solari Report, Catherine Austin Fitts’s subscription website (solari.com). I have worked with Catherine on and off for approximately 28 years, beginning with her company, Hamilton Securities Group, which served as the lead financial advisor to the Federal Housing Administration during the Clinton Administration in the nineties. Supported by a transcript of the recent Tucker Carlson interview with Fitts, which I have reviewed carefully, I take issue with both the headline of Lawyer Monthly’s story (referring to “legal elites” as a topic of the interview) and the following alleged statements made in the interview:
That Catherine “offered a sharp critique of America’s … legal system, alleging that both [the ruling class and the legal system] played a central role in the nation’s economic and institutional decline.” Note that the term “legal system” does not appear in our transcript and the subject of the American legal system does not come up in the interview. Ms. Fitts’s only reference to a “lawyer” was made in reference to her now-deceased uncle’s statement to FBI agents when they appeared at his New Hampshire farm unannounced and demanded that he turn over documents: “Send me a letter so I can give it to my lawyer and I’m happy to send them to you.”
With reference to your statement, “According to her, a devastating shift unfolded during the 1990s, one that saw America’s political, corporate, and legal elites abandon national interests in favor of their own financial gain.” Note that the term “legal elites” also does not appear in the transcript, and she made no reference to the role of attorneys in the political and economic system she described and did not say that lawyers, or the legal elite, “betrayed America for profit” or “abandon[ed] national interests in favor of their own financial gain.”
The entire section entitled “How the Law Allegedly Enabled America’s Downfall” appears to be made up from whole cloth. Nothing described under this heading is discussed in this interview: trade agreements, privatization deals, deregulation, or strategic litigation. Judicial appointment was mentioned only in the context of the Kavanaugh hearings [to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the Senate] in the context of pinpointing the date when FASAB Statement 56 was adopted. Privatization is mentioned only with reference to the “Red Button Story,” according to which only 1 attendee out of 100 at the socially responsible investing conference said he or she would “push the red button” to end illegal drug trafficking, while the other 99 stated they would not do so because they might lose benefits, including “privatization.” The terms “trade agreements,” “deregulation,” and “strategic litigation” appear nowhere in the interview.
The following statements likewise are fabricated:
[Ms. Fitts] argues that unless the legal community confronts its role in this shift, the gap between the law’s ideals and its reality will only widen.
“If lawyers are only working to help the powerful consolidate more power, then who’s left to defend the people who actually need the law?” Catherine Fitts said.
It is appalling that a legal publication like Lawyer Monthly, of all sources, would publicize false and defamatory quotes in a public forum. I respectfully ask on behalf of Ms. Fitts that you retract the statements made and implications drawn in this article about an attack on the legal profession that did not take place as described.
Links:
Catherine Austin Fitts Drops Bombshell in Tucker Carlson Interview: How Legal Elites Betrayed America for Profit
Lawyer Monthly X Post
Catherine Austin Fitts & Tucker Carlson Interview
Well Done!
Fighting the significant inaccuracies is the right thing to do. Put some scare into these lazy writers with their own narratives. Plus it might actually get more people to listen to the interview.