Day 3 of Gates’ military tribunal began with his lawyer, David Baluarte, imploring the court to hear a statement he had prepared. Begrudgingly, Vice Adm. John G. Hannink of the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps said he’d allow a brief declaration. But Baluarte’s concept of brevity meant beseeching the tribunal in a protracted, animated tirade during which he again reprimanded the military for prosecuting an innocent man and emphasized how tragic America would be, were it not for Gates’ contributions to society.
He touted Gates’ charitable deeds, saying Gates was the greatest philanthropist humankind had ever known, and spent 8-minutes reciting a list of charities that benefitted from Gate’s selfless demeanor. A world without Gates, Baluarte said as he hobbled about the courtroom, would be a dismal, deep, dark pit of despair, bereft of kindness and decency, and rife with more sickness and disease than currently plagues the planet. He boasted the technological achievements Gates had brought to everyday people, saying America would have been thrust back into the dark ages without Gates’ preeminent technologies.
“Bill Gates has been and always will be a visionary,” Baluarte blabbered, “and his expertise, his inventions, and his kindness have saved thousands—millions of lives.”
“Are you finished?” Vice Adm. Hannink asked. “I think this tribunal has indulged your theatrics long enough.”
Vice Adm. Hannink got down to business.
“Sure, Bill Gates donated to charities. I question whether he invented anything at all; he had people smarter than him do that work for him. But his kindness was just a thin coat of veneer, an illusion made to hide who and what Bill Gates really is,” he addressed the 3-officer panel assigned to weigh the merits of the military’s case against Gates.
He presented to the tribunal documents obtained from computers the military had seized during clandestine raids on several of Gates’ properties across the country. They offered a view into Gates’s secretive dealings with several major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Merck, and Johnson & Johnson. One email dated August 4, 2001, Gates made a proposal to then-Pfizer CEO Henry McKinnell, and it outlined what any sane and reasonable person would consider a nefarious agenda—discretely tainting vaccinations with an undetectable poison that would slowly dissolve the recipient’s cerebellum over many years while simultaneously erode vital organs. Symptoms, the email said, would not surface for years, and when they did, clueless clinicians would proscribe the illness to other ailments or to a condition called inexplicable organ failure, a prognosis used when physicians cannot accurately identify the cause of a terminal disease. By the times symptoms presented, it would be too late. Gates wrote his “product” could defeat all treatments and remedies.
What did Pfizer stand to gain from this offer? Gates agreed to “donate” $150,000,000 annually to Pfizer’s research programs on improving safety and efficacy of vaccinations, and $10,000,000 a year into McKinnell’s Cayman Island slush fund.
Vice Adm. Hannink directed the panel’s attention to McKinnell’s response email.
“Dear Mr. Gates,” Vice Adm. Hannink read from the reply, “you know I share your view that our planet is on dangerous road to overpopulation, and that ultimately a culling will be needed to preserve resources for people in a position to actually benefit society. Were it my choice, exclusively, I’d embrace your idea with open arms and move ahead with full steam. However, my colleagues and I feel it’s too soon, and the venture risks incriminating me and the company as a whole. We can continue these talks in the future, as mechanisms are made to prevent I, you, or the company from appearing culpable if the true cause of sickness were made public…”
Gates wrote back that his people had already done clinical trials on 250 persons using an accelerated variation of the drug, which had been introduced into influenza vaccinations. The email did not specify what segment of the population received the poison, but Gates wrote that all 250 people “expired” on the same day, six months after taking the drug.
Baluarte objected, saying the emails could have been fabricated, altered or amended to make an innocent man, Gates, appear guilty.
“Mr. Gates made good effort to encrypt these communications, but our ciphers and independent digital forensic experts linked these to Gates’ digital footprint and there’s no question these emails were written by him or to him,” Vice Adm. Hannink said.
Baluarte begged the tribunal’s indulgence, asking for a recess so he could privately confer with his client.
An exasperated Vice Adm. Hannink, appearing tired himself, agreed and put the court in recess until Thursday morning.