Monday, March 27, 2023

More On Secret Agent CHS-SA

It looks like the story of multiple FBI informants within the Proud Boys isn't going away. The New York Times interviewed Agent CHS-SA, Jennilyn Salinas AKA "Jen Loh", on Friday -- this version seems to be the same as the Times story, which is behind a paywall. However, I'm posting excerpts out of order. The first is nearly at the end of the story:

Ms. Loh said that she began working with the F.B.I.’s office in San Antonio, Texas in 2018 or 2019 after falling victim to an attack from what she described as activists from the leftist movement antifa. At first, she said, she gave the bureau what she believed was “useful information” on leftist protesters.

Soon, however, she began getting paid for her work. At that point, Ms. Loh, who once served as a top official in an organization called Latinos for Trump, started providing information to the F.B.I. on “any type of domestic terrorism — on the right or the left,” she said.

So OK, as far back as five years ago, she started "working with" the FBI after some sort of episode with Antifa. But then the FBI began to pay her. Now it's not too hard to extrapolate that this probably wasn't a car payment, but it was maybe her morning latte, it was something in any case, and she didn't want to lose it. And "working with the FBI" made her feel important. (Can you say grooming?) So she gradually expanded her role to inform on "any type of domestic terrorism". The piece goes on to say that, apparently during this time, she was "a top official in an organization called Latinos for Trump", which sounds pretty terrorist to me.

Intriguingly, "Jen Loh" does turn up as a self-described Trump supporter in stories here and there during her time as an FBI informer, as here on November 4, 2020, the day after the election:

Police in Washington said they were investigating a stabbing near the White House after a confrontation between Trump supporters and another group in the early hours of November 4.

This footage, livestreamed to Facebook by Texas woman Jen Loh, shows the incident.

Loh said the she was among a group of conservatives, including Proud Boys members, who were walking from Harry’s Restaurant towards the White House when Christian activist Bevelyn Beatty was attacked.

Loh told Storyful that Beatty and a Proud Boys member were both stabbed. Loh said Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio was also present.

Isn't that odd? Here's "Jen Loh", a San Antonio resident, turning up in Washington as a "Trump supporter" in the midst of a violent protest after the 2020 election. This story places "Jen" with some of the same Proud Boys who are now on trial at that event:

On election night [sic] in 2020, Nell was filmed with Tarrio, other Proud Boys including Jeremy Bertino and anti-choice activist Bevelyn Beatty in what appears to be a melee on an otherwise deserted street one block from the White House. The incident was livestreamed on Facebook by Jennilyn Salinas, a far-right activist better known as Jen Loh, who can be heard in the video saying, “Whoa, whoa, hey… Black Lives Matter over here…. Oh shit, they stabbed Bevelyn Beatty right now.”

The first link on that episode above goes on to say of "Jen",

Loh describes herself on Twitter and Facebook as a leading member of right-wing political organizations called ‘American Up’ and ‘Texans United for America.’. She also describes herself on Twitter as a former vice president of Latinos For Trump. That organization confirmed in emails to Storyful that Loh was previously a member, but sought to distance themselves from her, writing: “We have no association with her and do not want our organization name tied to her name.”

Isn't that strange? Latinos for Trump wants nothing to do with this lady, whom we now know, courtesy of the FBI, was an FBI informant. (Remarkably, her Facebook page is still up, and she still lists Latinos for Trump on her CV.) A story behind a paywall in the San Antonio Express-News places "Jen Loh", a San Antonio resident, at a Portland, OR protest in 2019. It teases, "Salinas, who goes by Jen Loh, recorded videos from the middle of crowd in Portland, Ore., at the 'End Domestic Terrorism' rally." So wait a moment. A few moments spent on the web brings up a legend of "Jen Loh", leading right-winger, traveling on somebody's dime to video protests in Portland and Washington, DC.

Maybe the FBI paid her more than just latte money, huh? In fact, it sounds like from 2018 or 2019 or whenever it was, she was quite a busy girl, serving as a "leading member" of Latinos for Trump, American Up, and Texans United for America, posing as a "far right activist", going to protests, and, er, taking videos.

One problem for the FBI is that "Ms Loh" likes to talk about herself, something we've already seen in news stories from 2019 and 2020. She certainly opened up to the New York Times on Friday. At the link above,

In an interview on Friday, Ms. Loh said that she had never spied on the Proud Boys or their lawyers and said that the F.B.I. never asked her any questions directly related to the trial that is now unfolding in Federal District Court in Washington. She also confirmed that she had parted ways with the bureau when she started talking with Mr. Tarrio’s lawyers.

Ms. Loh maintained that while she provided the government information about some of the defendants before the trial began, her interest in their families and legal situations was genuine.

“It’s hard to see people calling me a rat and a fed and things like that,” she said. “I think it’s sad that we’ve gotten so polarized in this country.”

But wasn't she taking video in Washington after Election Night 2020? Was, er, the FBI covering her expenses on that trip? Did she, er, turn over her video footage to her FBI handlers? Isn't it a coincidence that she, by at least two news accounts, was with now defendant Tarrio and several other Proud Boys? But she never spied on the Proud Boys, oh, no. All she did was provide the government information about some of them. What's the fuss all about? We're so darn polarized. Can't we all get along?

Sounds like Latinos for Trump was on to something. It also sounds like there's a lot more to learn. Let's recall, though, that a major activity of the KGB back in the day was to sponsor anti-Soviet organizations among Russian émigrés for the purpose of gaining intelligence -- especially to find out whom to liquidate back home. That the FBI should be infiltrating apparently legitimate political organizations like Latinos for Trump on the pretext of seeking out domestic terrorism is very disturbing.

On the other hand, back in the day, the KGB knew there were flakes and nut jobs it didn't want to touch, like, for instance, Lee Harvey Oswald. In the case of Secret Agent CHS-SA, maybe the FBI needed to study the KGB a little more closely.