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Charles Carlisle Johnson (born October 22, 1988) is an American
political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...
who was a public figure in the years 2013 to 2019. A self-described "investigative journalist", Johnson is often described as an
internet troll In slang, a troll is a person who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, an online video game) or who performs similar behaviors in real life. The methods and ...
and has been repeatedly involved in the proliferation and spread of multiple
fake news Fake news or information disorder is false or misleading information (misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, and hoaxes) claiming the aesthetics and legitimacy of news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person ...
stories. Johnson was owner of the
alt-right The alt-right (abbreviated from alternative right) is a Far-right politics, far-right, White nationalism, white nationalist movement. A largely Internet activism, online phenomenon, the alt-right originated in the United States during the late ...
websites GotNews.com, WeSearchr.com, and Freestartr.com, all of which were short-lived. He wrote two books, both published by
Encounter Books Encounter Books is a book publisher in the United States known for publishing conservative authors. It was named for '' Encounter'', the now defunct literary magazine founded by Irving Kristol and Stephen Spender. Based in New York City since 20 ...
in 2013. Johnson, whose family served in the intelligence services and the U.S. Navy , indicated he was a federal informant, as reported by
Business Insider ''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...
, and through a federal lawsuit against
Clearview AI Clearview AI, Inc. is an American facial recognition company, providing software primarily to law enforcement and other government agencies. The company's algorithm matches faces to a database of more than 20 billion images collected from the In ...
.


Education

Johnson attended
Milton Academy Milton Academy (informally referred to as Milton) is a coeducational, co-educational, Independent school, independent, and College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts, educating students in g ...
high school on scholarship. He attended
Claremont McKenna College Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It has a curricular emphasis on government, economics, public affairs, finance, and internat ...
from 2007 to 2011. At college he was awarded the Eric Breindel Collegiate Journalism Award and the
Claremont Institute The Claremont Institute is an American conservative think tank based in Upland, California, founded in 1979 by four students of Harry V. Jaffa. It produces the ''Claremont Review of Books'', '' The American Mind'', and other publications. Th ...
Publius Fellowship. In 2016, Johnson wrote a memo encouraging Claremont Institute alumni to help elect
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
as president. (In 2021, Johnson told ''Rolling Stone'' he had broken with his past and supported Joe Biden.)


Controversies


Peter Thiel

Johnson has a long-standing relationship with Silicon Valley financier and Trump backer
Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in Facebook. According ...
, including collaboration on strategy against
Gawker ''Gawker'' was an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers that was based in New York City and focused on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month in 2015. Fo ...
and work for the Trump campaign, as outlined in detail in the book ''The Contrarian.'' Johnson both recruited and outed Thiel as a federal informant to Business Insider.


Bob Menendez

Johnson was involved in the creation of a '' Daily Caller'' story that accused U.S. Senator
Bob Menendez Robert Menendez (; born January 1, 1954) is an American former politician and lawyer who represented New Jersey in the United States Senate from 2006 until his resignation in 2024. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ...
( D- NJ) of soliciting underage prostitutes in the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...
. A criminal investigation of the case found no evidence, and the women making the allegations later admitted she had been paid by a local lawyer to make the claims.


Cory Booker

On October 14, 2013, Johnson published an article in ''The Daily Caller'' claiming that Newark mayor and then
senatorial A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the eld ...
candidate
Cory Booker Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New Jersey, a seat he has held since 2013. A member of the Democ ...
never lived in Newark. The article cited neighbors of Booker's alleged address as evidence. Booker's campaign provided a reporter from ''
BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...
'' with rental checks and other documents for the address going back several years, and Booker's communications director dismissed Johnson's allegations as "laughable". According to Booker's campaign, he lived there from late 2006 to shortly before he was elected Senator in 2013. Johnson stood by his reporting, claiming that Booker may well have paid rent but did not live in Newark.


David D. Kirkpatrick

In January 2014, Johnson published an article reporting that ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reporter David D. Kirkpatrick was arrested for exhibitionism and had previously posed for ''
Playgirl ''Playgirl'' is an American magazine that has historically featured pictorials of nude and semi-nude men alongside general interest, lifestyle, celebrity journalism, and original fiction. For most of its history, the magazine printed monthly a ...
''. Johnson's source for the ''Playgirl'' claim was a January 22, 1990, article in ''
The Daily Princetonian ''The Daily Princetonian'', originally known as ''The Princetonian'' and nicknamed the Prince, is the independent daily student newspaper of Princeton University. The newspaper is owned by The Daily Princetonian Publishing Co. and boasts a cir ...
'', which was later revealed to be satirical. Johnson apologized to Kirkpatrick.


Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

Johnson told the ABC news affiliate in Fresno that he knew where
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370) was an international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared from radar on 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its planned de ...
was. The airplane disappeared on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. "I just need the funding to go there," he told news reporters.


2014 Mississippi Republican primary election

On June 30, 2014, Johnson published a story on GotNews accusing
Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
senator
Thad Cochran William Thad Cochran ( ; December 7, 1937 – May 30, 2019) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator for Mississippi from 1978 to 2018. A Republican, he previously served in the U.S. House of Representative ...
of bribing
African-Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
to vote for him in the Mississippi Senate Republican primary. The story came days after Cochran had defeated
Tea Party A tea party is a social gathering event, typically held in the afternoon, featuring the consumption of tea and light refreshments. Social tea drinking rituals are observed in many cultures worldwide, both historically and in the present day. A ...
challenger
Chris McDaniel Christopher Brian McDaniel (born June 28, 1971) is an American attorney, talk radio host, perennial candidate for statewide office, and politician who served in the Mississippi State Senate from 2008 to 2024. His politics have been widely descri ...
in a run-off election. Johnson claimed that a black pastor named Stevie Fielder had told him he was paid by Cochran's campaign to bribe black Democrats into voting for Cochran. Johnson paid the pastor for his statements, a controversial practice sometimes known as "
checkbook journalism Chequebook journalism () is the controversial practice of news reporters paying sources for their information. In the U.S. it is generally considered unethical, with most mainstream newspapers and news shows having a policy forbidding it. In contr ...
". Fielder later partially recanted his story, saying that he had been speaking hypothetically, that he had turned down the offer, and that Johnson's recording of his interview had been selectively edited, a claim Johnson denies. During the election, Johnson also accused the Cochran campaign of being responsible for Mississippi Tea Party leader Mark Mayfield's suicide and encouraged his Twitter followers to flood a Cochran campaign
conference call A conference call (sometimes called an audio teleconference or ATC) is a telephone call in which several people share a telephone line at the same time. The conference call may be designed to allow the called party to participate during the cal ...
.


Ferguson

During the
Ferguson unrest The Ferguson unrest (sometimes called the Ferguson uprising, Ferguson protests, or the Ferguson riots) was a series of protests and riots which began in Ferguson, Missouri on August 10, 2014, the day after the fatal Killing of Michael Brown, ...
, Johnson published the
Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
account of Michael Brown and stated that the account "shows a violent streak that may help explain what led to a violent confrontation with Police officer Darren Wilson". Johnson also filed a lawsuit to have Brown's juvenile records released. In Brown's home state of Missouri, the records of minors are private, but Johnson argued that the matter was of pressing public interest under the state's
sunshine law Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatisf ...
. The county court disagreed. Further appeal attempts by Johnson to unseal the records went as far as the State Supreme Court of Missouri, which denied his request. In a separate incident during the unrest, Johnson published the addresses of two ''The New York Times'' reporters, claiming that they published the known addresses of Darren Wilson. ''The New York Times'' has said the reporters only revealed the street on which Wilson once lived.


University of Virginia rape article

In December 2014, ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' columnist
Sabrina Erdely Sabrina Rubin Erdely is an American former journalist and magazine reporter, who in 2014 authored a defamatory article in ''Rolling Stone'' describing the alleged rape of a University of Virginia student by several fraternity members. The story ...
published an article entitled "
A Rape on Campus "A Rape on Campus" is a Retraction in academic publishing, retracted, defamatory ''Rolling Stone'' magazine article written by Sabrina Erdely and originally published on November 19, 2014, that describes a purported group sexual assault at the U ...
" about the alleged gang rape of a
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
(UVA) student named "Jackie" in 2012 at the
Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in 1852. The fraternity has over ninety chapters at accredited four-year colleges and uni ...
fraternity house at UVA. The article was later found to be fabricated.. Johnson publicly identified Jackie, but in the selection of photos he used had the wrong photo of Jackie.


Banning from Twitter / X

On May 24, 2015, Johnson sent a tweet asking his followers for donations to help him "take out"
Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...
activist
DeRay Mckesson DeRay Mckesson (born July 9, 1985) is an American civil rights activist, podcaster, and former school administrator. An early supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, he has been active in the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, ...
. McKesson shared the tweet and took the tweet as a threat. Johnson was permanently banned from Twitter after several users reported him for harassment. In 2018, Johnson sued Twitter for banning him on the grounds that Twitter violated his
First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
right to free speech. The California Superior Court in Fresno struck down Johnson's lawsuit on June 6. In a December 31st, 2024 post on his Substack, Johnson wrote a post explaining how he felt about being banned by Twitter (now known as X) for a third time. The alleged reason was for making a post related to Elon Musk’s family mining business.


Jeff Giesea

In 2014, Johnson met over Twitter with Jeff Giesea, Peter Thiel's former employee, who founded MAGA-X3 with
Mike Cernovich Michael Cernovich (born November 17, 1977) is an American right-wing social media personality, political commentator, and conspiracy theorist. Though he initially called himself alt-right, he dissociated from the movement after Richard Spen ...
who was involved in promoting the
Pizzagate "Pizzagate" is a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, falsely claiming that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democra ...
hoax. “When I met Chuck I wondered why we weren't weaponizing people like him,” Giesea recounted. “He led me on this intellectual journey." In 2017, Giesea wrote an article inspired by his association with Johnson titled “It's Time to Embrace Memetic Warfare,” for the Defence Strategic Communications, an official journal of NATO's Stratcom. In the article, Giesea recommended the adoption of
memetic warfare Memetic warfare is a modern type of information warfare and psychological warfare involving the propagation of memes on social media. While different, memetic warfare shares similarities with traditional propaganda and misinformation tactics, devel ...
to combat ISIS. “The best way to counter ISIS is to unleash an army of trolls on them,” Giesea recalls Johnson joking. “I could totally mess with their recruiting and propaganda.” That conversation led Giesea to conclude: “Warfare through trolling and memes is a necessary, inexpensive, and easy way to help destroy the appeal and morale of our common enemies... Trolling, it might be said, is the social media equivalent of guerrilla warfare, and memes are its currency of propaganda.” Johnson broke with Jeff Giesea over Giesea's involvement with January 6th.


Katie Walsh

In February 2017, Johnson's website GotNews.com claimed that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Katie Walsh was "the source behind a bunch of leaks" in the White House without offering any evidence.


Charlottesville Rally

In August 2017, Johnson's website GotNews was one of several right-wing websites that falsely accused a Michigan man of being responsible for the car attack on August 12, 2017 that killed one anti-racist protestor and injured others in
Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...
. The Michigan man was subsequently harassed, and was advised by police to flee his home following a slew of death threats. Together with his father, the Michigan man filed a defamation lawsuit against 22 corporate and individual defendants, including Johnson. On June 1, 2018, Johnson and GotNews agreed to pay a total of $29,900 to settle the lawsuit.


Trump campaign WikiLeaks liaison

In September 2016, Johnson published a story on GotNews about a soon-to-launch anti-Trump website called PutinTrump.org.
WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by ...
forwarded the story in private to
Donald Trump Jr. Donald John Trump Jr. (born December 31, 1977), often nicknamed Don Jr., is an American businessman and political activist. He is the eldest child of U.S. president Donald Trump and his first wife Ivana. Trump serves as a trustee and exec ...
before publicly tweeting it. ''
Business Insider ''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...
'' speculated that Johnson's story in September on GotNews may have marked the beginning of Donald Trump Jr.'s—and the Trump campaign's—back-channel contact with
Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of News leak, leaks from Chels ...
and Wikileaks. (Johnson wrote after Wikileaks tweeted the story, "About 2 hours after our original article, Julian Assange's WikiLeaks repeated our discoveries. Guess which big leaks organization reads GotNews & WeSearchr on the downlow! Come on Julian, let's work together. WikiLeaks & WeSearchr is a match made in heaven. We can take down Hillary together.") In August 2017, Johnson brokered and attended a meeting in London between GOP Rep.
Dana Rohrabacher Dana Tyrone Rohrabacher ( ; born June 21, 1947) is an American former politician who served in the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 to 2019. Representing for the last three terms of his House tenure ...
and Julian Assange to discuss a presidential pardon for Assange.


Fraudulent sexual harassment claim against Senator Charles Schumer

On December 11, 2017, Johnson wrote on his
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
page, " Michael Cernovich & I are going to end the career of a U.S. Senator." Johnson claimed to have uncovered a sexual harassment lawsuit against Senator
Charles Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from New York, a seat he has held since 1999. A member of the Democratic Party, he has led the Senate Democratic Caucus si ...
. The lawsuit, however, turned out to be a forgery. Moreover, language in the forged lawsuit was copied verbatim from a real sexual-harassment complaint filed against Rep.
John Conyers John James Conyers Jr. (May 16, 1929October 27, 2019) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1965 to 2017. Conyers was the sixth-longest serving member of Congress and the lo ...
. Schumer referred the matter to
Capitol police Capitol police in the United States are agencies charged with the provision of security police services for various state agencies, but especially state legislatures. Capitol police may function as part of the state police or may be an independe ...
for investigation.


Holocaust denial

In 2017, Johnson posted on a
Reddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...
Ask Me Anything "I do not and never have believed the six million figure" (referring to the number of Jewish people killed in the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
) and "I agree with
Holocaust denier Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: *Nazi Germany's "Final Solution" wa ...
] David Cole (journalist), David Cole about Auschwitz and the gas chambers not being real." When Rep. Matt Gaetz, Matthew Gaetz brought Johnson to President Donald Trump's 2018 State of the Union Address as a guest of Florida, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League cited these statements—along with Johnson's website WeSearchr having raised more than $150,000 for the legal defense of neo-Nazi propagandist
Andrew Anglin Andrew Barret Anglin (born July 27, 1984) is an American neo-Nazi, conspiracy theorist, and editor of the website '' The Daily Stormer''. Through his website, Anglin combines Nazi ideology with Internet memes originating primarily from 4chan ...
and other actions—in urging Gaetz to "discontinue any association with Johnson and to publicly repudiate his views immediately".


Sarah Unsicker

Missouri state representative Sarah Unsicker, a Democrat, was stripped of her committee assignments in 2023 after she repeatedly posted a photo on social media of herself posing with Johnson.


Point Bridge Capital Lawsuit

In October 2024 Semafor reported that Point Bridge Capital had filed a lawsuit against Johnson for civil racketeering. The lawsuit states that “Johnson is running a fraud and extortion scheme under which he
ill ILL, or Ill, or ill may refer to: Places * Ill (France), a river in Alsace, France, tributary of the Rhine * Ill (Vorarlberg), a river in Vorarlberg, Austria, tributary of the Rhine * Ill (Saarland), a river of Saarland, Germany, tributary o ...
falsely present imselfas intelligence agents or assets of U.S. government agencies. Johnson and Greenwill seek investments in upstart technology companies operating in the defense and intelligence sectors, which heavily rely on government contracts. If a company or investor doesn’t give in to their demands for equity or favorable investment terms, Johnson
ill ILL, or Ill, or ill may refer to: Places * Ill (France), a river in Alsace, France, tributary of the Rhine * Ill (Vorarlberg), a river in Vorarlberg, Austria, tributary of the Rhine * Ill (Saarland), a river of Saarland, Germany, tributary o ...
threaten to sabotage the companies’ contracts or funding under the guise of their false claims to be government agents.” Johnson has denied the validity of these claims, characterizing them as
lawfare Lawfare is the use of legal systems and institutions to affect foreign or domestic affairs, as a more peaceful and rational alternative, or as a less benign adjunct, to warfare. Detractors have alternately begun to define the phrase as, "An att ...
.


Books

Johnson has written two books published through
Encounter Books Encounter Books is a book publisher in the United States known for publishing conservative authors. It was named for '' Encounter'', the now defunct literary magazine founded by Irving Kristol and Stephen Spender. Based in New York City since 20 ...
: ''Why Coolidge Matters'', an essay collection encompassing various points in
Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously ...
's political career with blurbs by
John Yoo John Choon Yoo (; born July 10, 1967) is a South Korean-born American legal scholar and former government official who serves as the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Yoo became known for his legal opi ...
,
Michelle Malkin Michelle Malkin (; Maglalang; born October 20, 1970) is an American conservative political commentator. She was a Fox News contributor and in May 2020 joined Newsmax TV. Malkin has written seven books and founded the conservative commentary ...
, and
Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...
, and ''The Truth About the IRS Scandals''. Both books were published in 2013.


Gawker lawsuit

In June 2015, Johnson sued
Gawker ''Gawker'' was an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers that was based in New York City and focused on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month in 2015. Fo ...
for
defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...
in Missouri for $66 million for Gawker's publication of rumours that Johnson defecated on the floor while a student at Claremont McKenna College, and filed a similar suit in California in December. In January 2016, the Missouri suit was dismissed. Johnson settled with the by then-defunct Gawker in 2018.


Work with Jeffrey Epstein and Steve Bannon

On October 18, 2021, more than two years after the death of
Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( , ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American financier and child sex offender. Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional career as a teacher at the Dalton School, despite lacking a col ...
, Johnson discussed his
Breitbart ''Breitbart News Network'' (; known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an Radical right (United States), American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * syndicated news, opinion, and commentar ...
boss and mentor
Steve Bannon Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist for the first seven months of president Donald Trump's first ...
's relationship with the pedophile and human trafficker in an interview with ''Rolling Stone'' reporter Seth Hettena. Steve Bannon met with Epstein multiple times after exiting the White House, including in December 2017. This was while Johnson was being managed by Bannon at Breitbart. Johnson told ''Rolling Stone'' that Bannon viewed Epstein as both a rival and spy, and was deeply interested in emulating Jeffrey Epstein's operation. Bannon also offered to introduce Johnson to Epstein, and Johnson claims he declined but continued to work under Bannon at Breitbart. In addition, Johnson declared in the ''Rolling Stone'' piece that he quietly shifted his allegiance from Donald Trump to
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
, likely after the presidential election or sometime in early 2021.


Websites (GotNews, WeSearchr, Freestartr)

Johnson was the founder of three websites, all of which are defunct. In early 2014, Johnson created GotNews, an alt-right news website.Murphy, Tim (December 6, 2014
"The Rise and Fall of Twitter's Most Infamous Right-Wing Troll."
Mother Jones. (Retrieved October 1, 2018.)
The site went offline with no advance warning on September 17, 2018. GotNews filed for
bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
in May 2019. The bankruptcy petition lists GotNews' total liabilities as between $500,000 and $1 million. In 2015, Johnson created WeSearchr, a
crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...
website. By 2017, the site became a fundraising platform for
alt-right The alt-right (abbreviated from alternative right) is a Far-right politics, far-right, White nationalism, white nationalist movement. A largely Internet activism, online phenomenon, the alt-right originated in the United States during the late ...
causes, though Johnson claimed that was not his intention.
Andrew Anglin Andrew Barret Anglin (born July 27, 1984) is an American neo-Nazi, conspiracy theorist, and editor of the website '' The Daily Stormer''. Through his website, Anglin combines Nazi ideology with Internet memes originating primarily from 4chan ...
, the founder of the neo-Nazi website ''
The Daily Stormer ''The Daily Stormer'' is an American neo-Nazi commentary and message board website that advocates for a Second Holocaust, second genocide of Jews. It is part of the alt-right movement. Its editor, Andrew Anglin, founded the outlet on July 4, ...
'', used the website to raise money to defend himself against a lawsuit brought by the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...
(ACLU) on behalf of a woman trolled by followers of Anglin. In addition to crowdfunding legal battles, the site was also designed to crowdfund bounties on reporting goals. According to Johnson, he used the site to receive money for information he had already acquired. The site closed in May 2017. Johnson also started the crowdfunding site Freestartr, which collected funds for white nationalist
Richard B. Spencer Richard Bertrand Spencer (born May 11, 1978) is an American neo-Nazi, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and white supremacist. Spencer claimed to have coined the term "alt-right" and was the most prominent advocate of the alt-right movement fr ...
's legal defense,
far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
activist
Tommy Robinson Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (' Yaxley; born 27 November 1982), better known as Tommy Robinson, is a British anti-Islam sentiment, anti-Islam campaigner and one of the UK's most prominent far-right activists. Robinson has been active in ...
, Canadian nationalist
Faith Goldy Faith Julia Goldy (born June 8, 1989), also known as Faith Goldy-Bazos, is a Canadian far-right, white nationalist political commentator, associated with the alt-right. She was a contributor to '' The Rebel Media'' and covered the 2017 Unite t ...
, Johnson himself, and others. In mid-2018, Freestartr stopped accepting funds, as the site was banned by
Stripe Stripe, striped, or stripes may refer to: Decorations *Stripe (pattern), a line or band that differs in colour or tone from an adjacent surface *Racing stripe, a vehicle decoration * Service stripe, a decoration of the U.S. military Entertainment ...
and
PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...
, which Freestartr used to process payments.


Clearview.AI

Johnson is a cofounder of
Clearview AI Clearview AI, Inc. is an American facial recognition company, providing software primarily to law enforcement and other government agencies. The company's algorithm matches faces to a database of more than 20 billion images collected from the In ...
, as reported by a 2021 ''
New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazin ...
'' article. He was bumped out of the nascent Clearview initially, but came to an agreement of holding a ten percent interest which would be as a silent partner as he would assist in marketing and wind-down his stake gradually.Luke O'Brien. (May-June 2025) "Clear and present danger"
Mother Jones magazine website
Vol. 50, no. 3. P.21. Retrieved 14 April 2025.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Charles C. 1988 births Living people American political writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Claremont McKenna College alumni Place of birth missing (living people) American male journalists American male bloggers American bloggers Internet trolls Milton Academy alumni Activists from Massachusetts