Linda Thompson (April 26, 1953) is an American attorney, filmmaker, and the founder of the American Justice Federation. In 1993, she quit her job as a lawyer in Indianapolis, Indiana to start the American Justice Federation, according to Snopes.com. The AJF was a non-profit group that promoted pro-gun and pro-Constitution causes through a shortwave radio program, a computer bulletin board, and sales of its newsletter and videos.[1]
Contents |
Thompson was opposed to the Bill Clinton presidency, and supported conspiracy theories surrounding Vince Foster and other theories in the Clinton Chronicles. In 1994, in a letter to congressional leaders, former Rep. William Dannemeyer listed 24 people with some connection to Clinton who had died "under other than natural circumstances" and called for hearings on the matter. This list was mostly compiled by Linda Thompson.[1]
In about June 1993, she produced a videotape entitled Waco: The Big Lie, which contained footage of the siege of the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas and a history of the community. The videotape was distributed widely and for a short period after its release she was a regular guest on talk radio shows, especially those of Art Bell and Chuck Harder. The film challenged the mainstream news reports of the Branch Davidian siege and created a small sensation, alleging a government coverup of the events surrounding the siege. Thompson pointed out many inconsistencies in the official story and the government reports, and the hypocrisy of using deadly weapons to "rescue" children from their parents.
Thompson also claimed that three BATF agents whom she alleges were killed by friendly fire during the siege were all former bodyguards of then-President Bill Clinton and the friendly fire was actually an assassination ordered by Clinton.
Linda followed up her first film with another, Waco II: The Big Lie Continues, in which she offered rebuttals to those who were critical of her first film, and continued to stand by the most controversial allegations in Waco: The Big Lie.
She made a third film in 1994, America Under Siege. This film showed footage of helicopters at U.S. military bases such as Fort Campbell, Kentucky which she asserted were the black helicopters alleged by some New World Order conspiracy believers. She also claimed in this film that color coded stickers that had begun appearing on the back of highway traffic signs were intended to guide military vehicles in the event of a military occupation of the United States. This video also showed alleged evidence that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was establishing concentration camps. The supposed FEMA Camp was in reality a Big Four Railroad(now Amtrak) repair facility in Beech Grove, Indiana.[2]
In 1994 she filed suit against Liberty Lobby for producing bootleg copies of her videos. Also in 1994, Thompson declared herself "Acting Adjutant General" of the "Unorganized Militia of the United States" and announced plans for an armed march on Washington, D.C. which was to be held on September 19 of that year, in which an ultimatum demanding the repeal of such laws as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Brady Bill would be delivered to members of the United States Congress, and those members refusing to comply with the ultimatum would be arrested and tried for treason. The proposed march was almost universally denounced by groups on the right wing, from the John Birch Society to the militia organizations. Thompson canceled the march, claiming publicly that the announcement was never anything more than a publicity stunt and the march was never intended to actually happen, while claiming to her supporters that operatives in the Federal government had plans to detonate a small nuclear device in D.C. and blame her organization for the act. Publicity stunt or not it effectively spelled the end of her time in the limelight. She continued to be active on her AEN computer BBS network into the late 1990s.
On May 12, 1995, Thompson was arrested by Marion County police and charged with carrying a concealed handgun without a license and obstructing traffic. She was found not guilty at trial.