In August, Politico published a remarkable profile of Michael Caputo, the smashmouth Republican consultant and onetime Trump campaign aide who had been a disaster of a spokesman at the Department of Health and Human Services during the COVID-19 crisis. His tenure at HHS, where he interfered with scientific reports about the pandemic in an attempt to boost Donald Trump’s image, ended in September 2020 with a bizarre Facebook rant in which he claimed anti-Trump “hit squads” were “going to have to kill me” and that armed conflict was coming after the election—and then he was diagnosed with a potentially lethal cancer. Politico this summer caught up with Caputo at the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas, 10 miles from the Mexican border, where Caputo, declaring himself a new and better man, was a volunteer worker, handing out stuffed animals to migrant children. He was clear of cancer and had changed his life, he said, because he believed that all those years of practicing slash-and-burn politics had been one cause of the illness that nearly killed him. He reported he had become closer to his Catholic faith and was pursuing a master’s degree in theology. It seemed quite a turnaround for the onetime acolyte of dirty trickster and conspiracy theorist Roger Stone.

This weekend I received text messages from Caputo, which he subsequently publicized on Twitter. It read: “More and more, Durham is revealing that your book is a farce and history will call it a pack of lies. You are disgraced and you will burn in hell for what you did to my family and others. Burn baby, burn.”

These did not seem like the words of a more spiritual-minded fellow. And it was puzzling. I checked the index of Russian Roulette, the book I wrote with Michael Isikoff on the Trump-Russia scandal, and Caputo does not appear in it. It’s hard to know what his grudge is. He was, of course, referring to Trump-era special counsel John Durham, who recently indicted Igor Danchenko, a source Christopher Steele had used to compile his notorious dossier, for allegedly lying to the FBI. The indictment Durham filed raised new and serious questions about Steele’s methodology, which had been previously challenged and undercut by a Justice Department inspector’s general report.

I don’t understand why the Durham news triggered Caputo. I was indeed the first reporter who revealed the existence of the Steele memos and the FBI’s investigation of the allegations they contained. I did not publish the actual memos. BuzzFeed News did that months later. And in the most recent edition of Russian Roulette, Isikoff and I noted that the most sensational allegations of the Steele dossier (including, yes, the “pee tape”) were unverified or undermined by special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, that Steele’s memos had been misused by FBI agents in obtaining a secret surveillance warrant on Carter Page, a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, and that the IG report had revealed that Danchenko had told the FBI that Steele had “misstated or exaggerated” the material passed to him.

But the Steele memos (as the IG report concluded) had nothing to do with the start of the FBI’s Russia investigation that eventually led investigators to Caputo’s door. That happened all on its own. And the Mueller report ended up with only a few paragraphs about Caputo that recounted how in 2016 he had hooked up Stone with a Russian businessman who claimed to have access to derogatory information on Hillary Clinton. Mueller’s investigators found no evidence this episode yielded any dirt.

By the way, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s impressive and damning report on the Russia scandal—which was released last year and endorsed by the Republicans on the committee—referred to Caputo in a section on “counterintelligence concerns.” It noted that Ukrainian fixer Andrii Telizhenko had participated in a January 2020 anti-Biden documentary Caputo produced for the right-wing OAN network called The Ukraine Hoax: Impeachment, Biden Cash, and Mass Murder. Most of this portion of the report is redacted, but a declassified US intelligence report released in March linked this documentary to a Russian intelligence effort to influence the 2020 election. And in early January—while the Trump administration was still in office—the US Treasury sanctioned Telizhenko for being “part of a Russia-linked foreign influence network.” So, was Caputo (unwittingly, I presume) part of a Russian op?

Back to that text message. Why would Caputo blame me and our book for his troubles? None of my reporting directly led to FBI agents and congressional investigators knocking on his door. He is, though, following a familiar pattern. Any time news comes out denigrating Steele and his memos, the Trump-Russia denialists embrace it as ammo for their never-ending crusade to depict the Russia scandal as a hoax. As I’ve pointed out too many times, the basic truths of the matter (as confirmed by multiple investigations) are these: Putin attacked the 2016 election to help Trump; the Trump camp had secret and improper contacts with Russian operatives (including an alleged Russian intelligence agent) while the Kremlin was trying to sabotage the election; Trump and his aides repeatedly denied that Moscow was assaulting American democracy (thereby providing cover to Putin); and the FBI had plenty of reason in midsummer 2016 to launch its probe of Russia’s clandestine intervention and the interactions between Trumpland denizens and Russians. Don’t forget this: While Trump was running for president in 2016, he lied to cover up his ongoing and secret effort to score a huge development deal in Moscow. To secure that lucrative deal—which eventually fell through—his company asked Putin’s office for assistance.

As I’ve recently noted in this newsletter, the Steele dossier has been a godsend for Trump and his henchmen and other Russia-hoax propagandists, ranging from Rep. Jim Jordan to Glenn Greenwald. They have used it repeatedly to distract from the undeniable facts I just cited. Raise the matter of Putin’s covert operation, and they will scream about the Steele dossier. Report on how Trump, in a profound act of betrayal, aided and abetted that attack, and they will scream about the Steele dossier. They are now fervently rooting for Durham to further discredit the Steele memos, believing that absolves Trump (and them) of complicity in a foreign power’s successful subversion of democracy. Yet nothing Durham has produced has changed the fundamentals of this tale of Trump’s treachery.

Caputo and I used to be pals. We had different views of the world. But occasionally we would meet at the bar at The Hamilton, a restaurant a few blocks east of the White House. We’d joust genially over policy issues, trade political gossip, talk about our families. In a fruitless effort to understand Roger Stone, I’d try to wring information out of Caputo on this malevolent fellow whom Caputo described as “like a brother to me.” At one point, he explained to me the Trump crew’s strategy regarding the Russia investigation. We maintained this connection until early 2019. But the ever-increasing acrimony of the Trump years ended all that. We stopped communicating. Still, when the news broke in September 2020 that he had head and neck cancer, I sent him a note: “Sorry to hear about the diagnosis. Good luck in the stretch ahead.”

I hadn’t heard from Caputo until this text condemning me to hell. I see he still has more work to do on his rehabilitation, and I wish him the best of luck.

Got a comment on this item? Anything else to say? A tip or a lead? Email me at thisland@motherjones.com.

The Watch, Read, and Listen List

Stillwater. Amanda Knox was upset with this movie, which took her tabloid-covered case as inspiration. Putting aside that controversy, this film is an engaging piece of storytelling. Matt Damon plays a fuck-up from the oil fields of Trump country whose daughter Allison is in a Marseille prison, having been convicted of killing her roommate and lover. On a trip to visit Allison, Baker learns she has been passed a tip that could overturn her conviction. When her lawyer won’t investigate, Baker, an alcoholic who was an absentee dad, pursues the lead in blunderbuss fashion. Fortunately for him, he makes the acquaintance of Virginie, an actress and a single mom, who feels an attraction for this lost soul and helps him navigate the language obstacles he faces. (In one scene, she expresses amazement that Baker owns a gun. “Two,” he says.) Baker ends up relocating to Marseille to stay on the case and finds construction work to support himself. Now sober and a practicing Christian, he draws close to Virginie and her young daughter Maya. Slowly he becomes the partner and parental figure he never was back in Stillwater. This is a movie, so you know the moment is coming when his devotion to his new family will conflict with his relationship with Allison. Yet there are a few deft twists that render Stillwater more than a straightforward tale of redemption. What makes this film sing is Damon’s performance. Baker doesn’t say much, and in a lesser actor’s hands he could come across as the clichéd and not-that-interesting strong-and-silent type. Damon, though, presents him as much more than a simple man, and in this day of tribalized politics the film is a reminder not to judge a book by its cover or a fellow by his overalls. Damon shows us that Baker’s still waters can run deep.

The Beatles, Let It Be (Super Deluxe). Ahead of the November 25 release of Peter Jackson’s much-awaited three-part documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which chronicles the band during the 1969 recording sessions that led to Let It Be, its last record, Apple Records has released a five-disc edition of the album. It’s a delight. The 57 tracks include outtakes and rehearsals for songs that did and didn’t appear on Let It Be. The original Let It Be documentary depicted the Beatles as a combo of unhappy mates at odds with each other and their group identity, but these tracks show the Fab Four having fun in the studio, goofing on songs, and often functioning as a team. As George Harrison rehearses “Something,” he says he has had trouble completing the line “attracts me like…” He explains, “I can’t think of what attracted me.” John Lennon advises, “Just say whatever comes into your head each time. ‘Attracts me like a cauliflower.’ Until you get the words.” A poignant moment comes when Harrison sings “All Things Must Pass” to the guys—a song about endings that would not make it on to a Beatles album but would become the title track of his first post-Beatles solo album.

Expanded-edition albums tend to show that the versions officially released were the best takes and mixes. Musicians and producers usually make the right decisions. But Let It Be has been a topic of debate for decades. The Beatles’ manager hated the original mixes by Glyn Johns, a producer and engineer who had worked with the Rolling Stones, and he brought in legendary producer Phil Spector to remix the album. Spector gussied it up with a bigger sound and more sweeping orchestration. Paul McCartney reportedly hated it—and wanted the album pulled. He lost that battle. With this edition of Let It Be, a half-century later, we can hear the tracks that McCartney preferred and reach our own judgments. Whatever versions you fancy, this special release gives us a chance to eavesdrop on the lads as they practice their craft. It whets the appetite for the documentary to come.

Here’s Glyn Johns’ mix of “Let It Be”:

Got anything to recommend I watch, read, or listen to? Email me at thisland@motherjones.com.

Read Previous Issues of This Land

November 6, 2021: The Democrats’ anger problem; Dumbass Comment of the Week; the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

November 2, 2021: Whatever happened to Christian Nationalism and the January 6 attack?; thoughts and prayers for COP26; Rock ’n’ Roll Flashback: Bob Dylan, Jesus, and me; and more.

October 30, 2021: Is it time to use the F-word for Fox?; how politics really works; Dumbass Comment of the Week; the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more

October 26, 2021: How ABC News just helped Donald Trump; the GOP’s big con in Virginia; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Special Edition); new music from Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats and from The War on Drugs; and more.

October 23, 2021: Joe Manchin, “bullshit,” and me; Dumbass Comment of the Week; the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

October 19, 2021: Who’s the most dangerous House Republican and why you might not know his name; why Squid Game hooks us; a new book on the history of xenophobia; Rock ’n’ Roll Flashback: a young and angry Elvis; and more.

October 16, 2021: Crunch time for Merrick Garland; Bannon, QAnon, and the Virginia governor race; Dumbass Comment of the Week; the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

October 12, 2021: How Donald Trump betrayed Trump country; one of the best books about survival and isolation ever; the disappointments of The Many Saints of Newark; and more.

October 9, 2021: Can Trump and the GOP be stopped from shoving 1/6 into a memory hole?; how you can join a This Land online salon; the world premiere of Jill Sobule’s new song, “You Better Not F*ck in Texas”; the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

October 5, 2021: The Democracy Crisis: Could this be Joe Biden’s big mistake?; kicking Pat Robertson on the way out; Skyfall vs. Casino Royale; a Velvet Underground tribute; and more.

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September 29, 2021: Note to Greta Van Susteren: The road to hell is paved with both-siderism; the value of Netflix’s Worth; a crazy CIA story; and more.

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September 21, 2021: The Trump-Russia scandal denialists are taking another desperate stab at gaslighting you; Netflix’s The Chair nails the assignment; and more.

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September 8, 2021: 9/11 plus 20: a remembrance and a thank-you; the chilling climate crisis warning in HBO’s Reminiscence; and more.

September 3, 2021: Texas shows how Trumpism has become fascistic vigilantism; Dumbass Comment of the Week; Rock ’n’ Roll Flashback (how I was popped by Iggy Pop); MoxieCam™; and more.