BENSON BYTE: Steven Robinson Previews Upcoming Scandals Surrounding Maine's Troy Jackson

set in stone, like literally set in stone. So it'd be a tough one for him to deny. I mean, the fact that he fathered two kids with his second cousin, that's just gross for all humanity. That's just nothing helpful comes from that, in my opinion. Well, let's just say, I've met at least one of the kids, and it explains a lot, knowing that the family tree is more like a Christmas reef. But I did do some research into this. You're probably talking to the leading expert on cousin marriage in the state of Maine. The state of Maine did not make it illegal. And by the way, you never wanted to be the expert on cousin marriage. This is not something you aspired to, Steve Robinson. No, just like I never wanted to learn about tribal politics in Somalia, but hey, here we are. In 1985, the state of Maine made it illegal to marry your first cousin. But two years later... a lawmaker by the name of John Martin pushed an amendment to that prohibition that said you could marry your first cousin, but only if you sought the counseling of a genetic counselor. So we have an exception to our ban on first cousin marriage. And it turns out that Joe Martin just happens to be from a rustic county, just like Troy Jackson, and is in fact his longtime mentor. And second cousin marriage is totally legal in Maine, and there's a handful of states that do prohibit it, though. Well, and there's a reason for that, obviously. No, no question about that. But very interesting. Now we know all about cousin law in the state of Maine. All right. But these are other baggage as well. You guys had a piece, July 29th by John Featherston at the main wire. From mortgage questions to platinum loyalty, Troy Jackson carries political baggage into the Senate race. Is there more stuff that's going to come out on him? I mean, I hear rumors, but rumors are rumors. Do you expect more to come out? And if so, then why didn't they vet him like they didn't, why didn't they vet Graham Platner? It's the same question. Well, I think that, for one, they didn't have time. The way Graham Platner exited the race in the terms of the state constitution made it clear that they were operating under a time crunch. Properly vetting a candidate takes a minimum of $70,000, skilled investigators. You've got to go up and you've got to really do your homework to properly vet them. Didn't happen with Graham Platner, and it also didn't happen with Troy Jackson. 100% I can tell you more stories are coming out about Troy Jackson, and I'm confident because I'm going to be the one publishing them. We have just in our back pocket stories that we're working on about Jackson, but the ones that we've already laid out there and have been reporting on for years are, frankly, devastating for both his character, as well as how we could expect him to...

operate as a United States Senator. Just to give you one example, Troy Jackson was a pro-gun Democrat for 20 years. For 20 years, he had an A rating from the NRA. He talked about, you know, his love of the sportsman's culture in Maine. And then in 2023, his son's lobbying firm got a $50,000 contract with the Maine Gun Safety Coalition. And within a month... Troy Jackson flipped his position on gun control voting in favor of an assault weapons ban voting in favor of expanded background checks and voting in favor of extended waiting periods the same three pieces of legislation that he had voted against just one year before that's so the flip-flopping is one thing too and then there's questions about his character and his temper right steve Well, that, but I mean, you know, the flip-flop just happened to coincide with his son's lobbying firm getting $50,000. Gotcha. His son has made, in one year, I think, last year, $200,000 as a lobbyist. And, you know, I'll say he's a couple of French fries short of a happy meal. He's not the guy you would expect to be making $200,000 a year as a lobbyist. However... if you're paying his uh chase's firm $50,000 and suddenly the president of the Senate flip-flops a vote on a position he held for 20 years well that starts to make a lot more sense so the question is is Troy Jackson's family business running a pay-to-play operation through his son's lobbying firm and that's not even the most scandalous piece of baggage that Troy Jackson's carrying around Well, you've got to tell us what it is. You can't tease us like that, Steve. Come on. Steve Robinson is with us, editor-in-chief of the main wire, and it's great to have him here on Guy Benson. I mean, that's a, we have to wait for the reveal. Are we working on a story right now, or is it public information? It's public information. This is the story that we published, I think, two years ago, but the U.S. attorney at the time was appointed by Joe Biden, and so never bothered. to pursue an investigation into very credible evidence that Troy Jackson committed mortgage fraud. So the story first requires an understanding that Troy Jackson's district and his alleged home is in Alighash, Maine, up at the very top of the state on the Canadian border. It's 240 miles away from the State House in Augusta. In 2019, Troy Jackson sought a FHA loan to purchase a home in Augusta. An FHA loan is typically for first-time homebuyers, for poor people. You get a lower interest rate in exchange for agreeing to certain terms, like full-time occupancy of that home. So Maine's Constitution requires you to be a resident of the district you represent. So at the same time, Troy Jackson was serving as a state senator for Alligash at the top of the state, he was also benefiting from a low interest rate loan to purchase a home in Augusta, 240 miles away. So he could not honor the occupancy clause of that FHA loan and the state constitution requirement that he maintained residency in his district.

So he either committed mortgage fraud or he lied on his campaign finance documents. And when this entire thing was reported, it led to an ethics hearing in which Troy Jackson swore up and down that he had always been a resident of Alligash, which also means he said over and over again, he never honored the terms of his FHA loan for the home. He's committed mortgage fraud. The statute of limitations hasn't run out on that. And right now, there's a different U.S. attorney who was appointed by President Trump. So any moment now, Troy Jackson could be indicted for committing mortgage fraud. The same exact crime, by the way, that Letitia James, the former AG of New York, committed. And Adam Schiff is also alleged to have committed. Right, in Maryland. Steve Robinson, you have a story of the Jackson 5, a slew of shady Troy stories you're about to slam them to the news cycle. So we've covered Alagash and Augusta, the gun flip. That leaves us with potatoes and BIW. Yeah, well, the Potato Saga and the B.I.W. saga are very similar because they're both stories about Troy Jackson trying to bully people into doing things that are beneficial for him politically or financially. In the case of the B.I.W. story, B.I.W. is Bath Iron Works. They're the fourth largest employer in the state of Maine. They build ships. They're a defense contractor owned by General Dynamics. A very big deal. And they have some unionized employees. And Troy Jackson actually put his name on a letter to the president of BIW telling him that if he didn't hire more unionized workers, then maybe the Senate was going to revisit a tax credit that BIW had received a few years later. Basically, a cartoon version of a mobster threat. He actually wrote in the letter, it would be unfortunate if we had to revisit this tax credit. So, of course, the president of BIW sent it right to the newspapers, and, you know, Troy Jackson ends up looking like a fool, even though he probably should have been criminally investigated for trying to abuse his political position. In the case of the- It sounds like a thug, right? Like, nice tax break here, be ashamed if something happened to it. I mean, that's how my boss is. That's what it is. And Troy Jackson, where's now being the Democrat nominee for replacing Graham Platner for the United States Senate seat in Maine. So all this stuff, I would hope, is going to be under a gigantic spotlight, Steve. But go ahead, tell us about the potatoes. Well, just to close the loop on the BIW thing, because that gets worse. At the time he was doing that, not only was he the Senate president, he was also under contract with the union that would have benefited had BIW hired more union employees. So he's abusing his office for the benefit of his employer with these shady mobster-style shakedown letters. And apparently he didn't learn his lesson because just a few months later...

He found out that a Republican woman by the name of Sue McCrum had taken out papers to run for the state Senate in a district in a rustic county. And in Troy's mind, you know, that's his territory. Only Democrats should be holding those seats. He didn't want Sue running. So according to multiple sources who have talked with me when we reported this at the time, Troy Jackson called Sue McCrum's wife. and had a variation of the same conversation he had with B.I.W. Because Troy Jackson had given Pinobscott McCrum, this large potato processing company, a beneficial tax package worth something like $15 to $30 million over a decade, a very valuable tax credit package. And Troy's threat to the McCrums was sue withdraws from this race or we revisit that tax package. And it was successful. Sue McCrum, within 24 hours, she declared she was running for state senate, and then she backed out and withdrew from the race. And it was kind of a mystery at the time why she had done that. And eventually, the story emerged that it was because Troy Jackson threatened to take away this lucrative tax package for Pinobscott McCrum, which, by the way, allowed them to build this massive facility in rural Oruistic County. that provides thousands of good jobs for people in the area. So here again, this guy wants to be a United States Senator, wants to take Susan Collins job, and he's really just a small-time bully. Yeah, no doubt about it. And if he gets on the national stage, it sounds like he'll become a big-time bully, not just a small-time bully. Well, Steve Robinson, keep this up because people need to know this as we head into the general election. Obviously, it's a little quiet now in August, but post-Labor Day, so this election is going to go in a full swing, and this is a seat. Republicans are going to try very, very hard to keep. And, you know, Jackson just pretends he's just a simple loggerman, you know, who just happens to be with his second cousin, you know, reproducing with her. all these financial scandals and the bullying and the intimidation, people need to know about all this stuff. So thanks for joining us here today. Keep up the good work. And the main daily wire will keep everything, I'm sure, updated and posted for us. What's the best site, Steve, for people who track it? People can find us at the mainwire.com or find us on social media at the mainwire. Thanks, Rich. Thanks, Steve. That was yet another Guy Benson bite. For full episodes of Guy Benson, go to Guy Benson.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

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