Well, Son Of A Bitch!

The last we heard of Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, late a 46-year-old Florida man named Mike who'd turned up as "Sarah", the oficial spokestrans for the Ukrainian territorial defense force, was that once the story attracted the attention of Ohio Sen Vance, he'd been suspended from the role of spokestrans.

On social media, the TDF said: “The statements of (Junior Seargant) Ashton-Cirillo in recent days were not approved by the command of the TDF or the command of the AFU. When conducting military operations against the aggressor, the defense forces of Ukraine strictly observe the norms of international humanitarian law.

“The command of the TDF will conduct an official investigation into the circumstances of these statements. Appropriate decisions would be taken. Sergeant Sarah Ashton-Cirillo will be suspended immediately pending the investigation.”

It looks like the official investigation has taken place, the appropriate decisions have been taken, and, son of a bitch, Sarah's back on the job!

Ukraine’s controversial transgender spokesperson Sarah Ashton-Cirillo has claimed to have been reinstated in the role representing the Territorial Defence Forces (TDF) after being suspended last month.

“I continue in the role of TDF spokesperson. Truth, trust, and humanity will always prevail over accusations, allegations, and artificial intelligence,” Ashton-Cirillo said on Tuesday.

The original story of Sen Vance's letter and Ashton-Cirillo's suspension broke on September 20. However, on September 22,

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced Thursday that President Joe Biden would name Penny Pritzker, a billionaire heiress and former commerce secretary, to manage Ukraine’s economic recovery from the ongoing war.

In this post, I discussed Penny Pritzker's position as a Democrat megadonor, as well as her cousin James Nicholas Pritzker AKA Jennifer Natalya Pritzker, the first transsexual billionaire. There can be little question that getting Sarah her job back must have been one of Penny Pritzker's earliest priorities as Ukraine's recovery czar.

But one of my biggest points in my post last month on "Sarah" was that he seemed already to have had friends in high places: "[W]ho vouches for him? He must have handlers. Who are they?" Yesterday's Breitbart link raises additioonal questions:

The American citizen, born as Michael John Cirillo before ‘transitioning’, went on to claim to have signed two book contracts with Potomac Books publishing, with the first volume set to be released in the summer of next year.

Potomac Books says on its website,

Potomac Books has a long and distinguished pedigree. Founded in 1983 as the U.S. imprint of Brassey’s, a renowned British publishing house established in the nineteenth century, Brassey’s-U.S. was acquired by Books International in 1999 and renamed Potomac Books in 2004.

The University of Nebraska Press bought Potomac Books in 2013, acquiring its impressive backlist in military history, politics, current events, international affairs, terrorism, intelligence, and national security. As a general-interest imprint of UNP, Potomac continues to build on its strong roots in these fields, keeping readers informed about the critical issues and challenges of today’s world.

Later, the Breitbart link says,

Last year Ashton-Cirillo was presented with awards from Nevada Democrat Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Democrat Congresswoman Dina Titus.

Mike's previous publishing history is as a vanity self-publisher; now he's writing for a respected publisher in the military and intelligence fields. So far, I've been able to find no reference at all to any academic or journalistic achievement that might qualify Mike to write for a university press on military or intelligence issues. For instance, Mike doesn't appear to have either a four-year or a two-year degree, or any job ever with a recognized news outlet, much less The Atlantic or the Washington Post.

Yet somehow Mike is traveling in rarefied circles with the likes of Anne Applebaum and David Ignatius. I can only think he's got highly influential friends in extremely high places. Sen Vance in his letter last month had a point:

. . . Is this individual an American citizen? Did they ever serve, in any capacity, in American intelligence services?