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Tag: u s air force
'Potentially Illegal': DeSantis Aide Hid Sweetheart Deal On Migrant Flights

'Potentially Illegal': DeSantis Aide Hid Sweetheart Deal On Migrant Flights

Larry Keefe, an advisor to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, was in conversation with Vertol Systems Company CEO James Montgomerie regarding the coordination of migrant flights using a private Gmail account, Politico reports.

According to NBC6, which first reported the email records, the private email channel was created by DeSantis’ “public safety czar” Keefe when Montgomerie requested a contract in August to send migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard.

Newly released records from DeSantis’ office show that emails between Keefe and Montgomerie occurred over the course of three weeks leading up to the mid-September flights for about 50 Venezuelan asylum-seekers. AlterNet previously reported that Vertol Systems was paid about $615,000 to carry out the task.

He was paid another $950,000 for more flights that were originally scheduled to go to Delaware and Illinois, but haven’t happened yet.

A former Trump attorney, Keefe used the alias “Clarice Sterling” from the film 'Silence of the Lambs', along with the address “heat19.heat19@gmail.com” to communicate with Montgomerie, who was paid nearly $1.5 million to carry out the migrant flights. Keefe helped Montgomerie craft proposal language for the Florida Department of Transportation.

Keefe said the name “heat19” came from retired U.S. Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster.

Ben Wilcox, co-founder of nonprofit government watchdog Integrity Florida told Politico, “This appears to be a purposeful attempt to evade Florida’s public records laws. It’s not surprising that the Governor’s office wanted to keep these records secret because they suggest that a public official helped draft a bid by a private company for government services.”

He continued, “That’s bid-rigging and it’s potentially illegal.”

NBC6 reported that advocates filed a lawsuit on behalf of the migrants on the basis that “DeSantis, Keefe, Vertol and others ‘conspired to dupe [migrants] into a political stunt … (a) cruel photo opportunity … to use political fervor over immigration to boost defendant DeSantis’ national profile,’” and the Department of Treasury is in the process of looking into whether DeSantis is using COVID-19 federal assistance aid to pay for migrant relocation.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

U.S. Air Force Rescues Injured Chinese Sailors 1,000 Miles At Sea

U.S. Air Force Rescues Injured Chinese Sailors 1,000 Miles At Sea

By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times

SAN DIEGO — Air Force rescue specialists from a base in Arizona were sent to bring two critically injured Chinese sailors from more than 1,000 miles off the Mexican coast to a burn unit in San Diego.

According to initial reports, a Venezuelan fishing boat found 11 of the Chinese sailors in a raft on Friday. Four were badly burned, two of whom later died, the Air Force said.

Two Air Force fixed-wing aircraft and three helicopters flew 11 hours to reach the fishing boat. Rescue specialists parachuted into the water to reach the boat and provide emergency medical care.

“We not only rescue pilots, we are prepared to rescue anyone, anytime, anywhere,” said Col. Sean Choquette, commander of the 563rd Rescue Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

Plans are for the men to be airlifted to Cabo San Lucas and then to San Diego, the Air Force said.

The mission was complicated by the distance, the need for aerial refueling and the challenges of communication, the Air Force said. The mission required 10 parachute specialists and three dozen support airmen.

“The amount of personnel involved in this rescue mission is standard, in terms of deploying a package capable of maintaining operations in a non-military location,” said Lt. Col. Peter White.

Photo via Xinhua/Zuma Press/MCT