Every Road Leads to Montgomery
How Circular Validation Turned One Source Into Many — and Why Nobody Checked
By Project Milk Carton Investigations | February 2026
Part 2 How Circular Validation Turned One Source Into Many — and Why Nobody Checked
EDITORIAL NOTE: This article maps how a single discredited source was made to appear as multiple independent sources through a technique called circular validation. Every claim traced in this article is sourced from court filings, on-the-record statements, sworn testimony, domain registration records, and named-source reporting. Where we draw analytical conclusions about network structure, we say so explicitly.
The Problem With “Multiple Sources Confirm”
In intelligence analysis, the gold standard is independent corroboration — multiple sources, with no connection to each other, arriving at the same conclusion through separate means. When a reporter writes “sources confirm,” the reader assumes those sources don’t all trace back to the same person. In the Montgomery network, they do. Every single one. This is not our opinion. It is what the documentary record shows when you map who told whom.
The Network: Five Tiers
The people who promoted Dennis Montgomery’s HAMMER and SCORECARD claims can be organized into five functional layers. Each layer serves a specific purpose in transforming one man’s unverified assertions into what appeared to be a broadly confirmed intelligence finding.
Tier 1 — The Source
Dennis Montgomery. He is the sole originator of every HAMMER and SCORECARD claim. No government agency, no independent researcher, no court has ever produced evidence corroborating his claims from a separate source. This is documented: in Montgomery v. Risen (875 F.3d 709, D.C. Cir. 2017), the D.C. Circuit noted that Montgomery had “produced virtually no evidence of the software’s functionality” across multiple lawsuits and jurisdictions.
Tier 2 — The Conduits
These are the people who received Montgomery’s claims and repackaged them for public consumption.
Mary Fanning Kirchhoefer, operating TheAmericanReport.org under the name “Mary Fanning.” Beginning in March 2017, she published a series called “The Whistleblower Tapes” presenting Montgomery as a CIA/NSA whistleblower. She is the sole public channel for Montgomery’s post-2015 claims. Her husband, Gregg Kirchhoefer, is a senior partner at Kirkland & Ellis — the firm that advised on the 2018 acquisition of Dominion Voting Systems by Staple Street Capital. This conflict of interest has never been publicly acknowledged by either Kirchhoefer.
“Alan Jones”, listed as co-author on every article at TheAmericanReport.org. According to court records in a defamation lawsuit, Jones’ whereabouts were “unknown” and he could not be served. No journalist, court, or investigator has publicly identified this person.
Larry Klayman, founder of Freedom Watch USA. He served as Montgomery’s attorney, obtained two FBI immunity agreements, and filed federal lawsuits on Montgomery’s behalf — including Montgomery v. Comey, which Judge Leon dismissed as “a veritable anthology of conspiracy theorists’ complaints” (300 F.Supp.3d 158, D.D.C. 2018).
Tier 3 — The Validators
These are the individuals whose real credentials were used to make Montgomery’s claims appear credible.
Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney (USAF, Ret.) — a retired three-star general. He appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast on November 2-3, 2020 — during active voting — promoting HAMMER and SCORECARD. McInerney has stated on the record that all of his information came from Mary Fanning. He conducted no independent verification.
MG Paul Vallely (US Army, Ret.) — a retired two-star general. Vallely served as an organizational architect, founding or co-founding multiple groups (LNSAG, SUA, CCNS) that provided institutional platforms for the network’s claims. He co-authored the 1980 paper “From PSYOP to MindWar” with Lt. Col. Michael Aquino.
Admiral James “Ace” Lyons (USN, Ret.) — a retired four-star admiral and the highest-ranking military validator in the network. Lyons died on December 12, 2018. An alleged deathbed statement — “THE HAMMER is the key to the coup” — was used as the title of a 2020 book by Fanning and Jones. This statement is unverifiable.
Kirk Wiebe — a former NSA senior analyst. In 2014-2015, Wiebe examined the contents of Montgomery’s 47 hard drives and called the data “complete and total FRAUD.” By 2020, Wiebe had reversed his position, calling Montgomery “an American hero” — without publicly explaining what new evidence changed his assessment.
Frank Gaffney — former Assistant Secretary of Defense under Reagan, founder of the Center for Security Policy (CSP). CSP’s institutional credentialing of Fanning’s work gave it the appearance of think-tank validation.
Tier 4 — The Amplifiers
These are the media figures who broadcast the claims to mass audiences.
Steve Bannon — amplified HAMMER/SCORECARD on War Room Pandemic during Election Day 2020.
Brannon Howse — operator of WVW Broadcast Network. Howse made the critical January 2021 phone call — 21 minutes — that connected Fanning to Mike Lindell. This single call opened the financial pipeline. Howse co-produced “Absolute Proof.”
Sidney Powell — promoted HAMMER/SCORECARD on Fox Business with Lou Dobbs on November 6, 2020. Powell later pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts in the Georgia RICO case.
Rudy Giuliani — amplified election fraud claims broadly. Giuliani was subsequently disbarred in New York and Washington, D.C., and found liable for $148 million in defamation damages.
Tier 5 — The Financiers and Operatives
These are the people who spent real money and took real actions based on the claims.
Mike Lindell — the primary financier. Lindell has stated publicly that he spent $35 million or more on election fraud claims. He paid Montgomery’s team an estimated $3 million or more in cash (per on-the-record statements by Josh Merritt to Salon), funded the $1.5 million Naples, Florida home purchased through the “Gray Horse Trust” in July 2021, and financed the “Absolute Proof” documentary and subsequent productions.
Patrick Byrne — the secondary financier. The former CEO of Overstock.com invested $27 million or more through the America Project, including $3.25 million for the Arizona audit and $200,000 per year to Conan Hayes.
Conan Hayes — the field operative. A former professional surfer with no computer credentials, Hayes accessed voting machines in at least four states. In Mesa County, Colorado, he used a fake ID bearing the name “Gerald Wood.” His activities led directly to the conviction of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters on seven charges — four felonies — and a sentence of nine years in prison.
The Circular Validation Loop
Here is the core problem, mapped step by step:
Montgomery tells Fanning his claims about HAMMER and SCORECARD.
Fanning publishes them on TheAmericanReport.org.
McInerney reads Fanning’s articles and repeats the claims on broadcast media, lending them the credibility of a three-star general.
McInerney cites Fanning as his source. Fanning cites Montgomery. But to the audience, it now looks like a general and a journalist are independently confirming the same thing.
Wiebe is cited as an “NSA analyst who validated the data.” But Wiebe’s 2015 assessment was that the data was “complete and total FRAUD.” His reversal in 2020 came without any public explanation of what new evidence he examined.
An affidavit filed in court cites McInerney, Wiebe, and Montgomery as “independent confirmation” of HAMMER’s existence. But all three trace back to Montgomery as the sole original source.
This is textbook circular sourcing. Source A tells Source B, who tells Source C. When someone cites A, B, and C as “three independent sources,” it sounds like strong corroboration. In reality, it is one source counted three times.
What is documented:
McInerney admitted on the record that all his information came from Fanning. Wiebe’s initial 2015 assessment was that Montgomery’s data was fraud. No government entity has ever produced independent evidence supporting HAMMER or SCORECARD’s existence as described.
What we assess:
The circular validation was structurally necessary for the operation to succeed. Montgomery alone had no public credibility — his own attorney had called him a con artist, a federal magistrate had found he committed perjury, and NSA analysts had called his data fraud. Without the laundering function provided by Fanning (literary credibility), McInerney (military credibility), and Wiebe (technical credibility), Montgomery’s claims could not have reached Lindell’s checkbook.
The Broker Who Connected Everything
The network had a structural vulnerability: Fanning published in relative obscurity. TheAmericanReport.org, despite its 20-year domain registration and steady output, did not have the distribution to reach the people with the resources to act on the claims at scale.
That changed with a single phone call.
In January 2021, Brannon Howse of WVW Broadcast Network made a 21-minute call that connected Mary Fanning to Mike Lindell. This has been documented by multiple outlets.
Before that call: Fanning had a website and a small broadcast audience. Montgomery had claims and no money. McInerney had a title and a podcast circuit.
After that call: Lindell began spending tens of millions of dollars. Montgomery received cash payments and a $1.5 million home. “Absolute Proof” aired on One America News. The claims reached the White House.
Howse’s brokering function is, by our analysis, the second most critical node in the network — behind Fanning herself.
Shapley Values: Who Matters Most
Game theory provides a tool for measuring how indispensable each player is to a coalition’s success: the Shapley value. Applied to this network:
Player’s, Shapley Value’s and Role’s
Player: Mary Fanning
Shapley Value: 0.35
Role: Most indispensable — remove her, and Montgomery’s claims never leave obscurity
Player: Brannon Howse
Shapley Value: 0.25
Role: Critical broker — remove him, and Fanning never reaches Lindell
Player: Dennis Montgomery
Shapley Value: 0.20
Role: Source — without him there are no claims, but he cannot self-distribute
Player: Conan Hayes
Shapley Value: 0.15
Role: Operative — without him, claims never become physical actions on voting machines
Player: McInerney
Shapley Value: 0.05
Role: Replaceable — the credibility function could be filled by another retired officer
What this means: Fanning is more indispensable to the operation than Montgomery himself. Montgomery is the source, but he has demonstrated across four cycles that he cannot distribute his own claims. He needs someone to do it for him. In this cycle, that someone is Fanning.
This is our analytical assessment using standard game theory methodology. The Shapley value measures marginal contribution to the coalition — what happens to the operation if each player is removed.
The Conflict Nobody Talks About
In 2018, Kirkland & Ellis — one of the largest law firms in the world — advised on the acquisition of Dominion Voting Systems by Staple Street Capital. This is documented in public deal records.
Gregg Kirchhoefer is a senior partner at Kirkland & Ellis.
His wife, Mary Fanning Kirchhoefer, was simultaneously publishing articles on TheAmericanReport.org alleging that Dominion’s voting systems were tools of election fraud controlled by a CIA supercomputer called HAMMER.
An ethics complaint was filed against Gregg Kirchhoefer with the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (IARDC) by Yaacov Apelbaum, CTO of XRVision, in December 2022. The outcome of that complaint is not public.
What we don’t know:
Whether Gregg Kirchhoefer was aware of his wife’s anti-Dominion publications while his firm advised on the Dominion acquisition.
Whether Kirkland & Ellis conducted any conflict check related to this situation.
The outcome of the IARDC ethics complaint.
What we are not saying:
We are not alleging that Gregg Kirchhoefer directed, approved, or participated in his wife’s publications. We are saying that the intersection of these two facts — the firm’s advisory role and the spouse’s publication history — constitutes an undisclosed conflict of interest that has never been publicly addressed by any party.
Who Has Been Convicted
The downstream consequences of this network’s activities are not hypothetical. They are documented in court records:
Tina Peters
Convicted on 7 charges (4 felonies), sentenced to 9 years — for facilitating Conan Hayes’ breach of Mesa County voting machines
Sidney Powell
Pleaded guilty to 6 misdemeanor counts in the Georgia RICO case
Rudy Giuliani
Disbarred in New York and Washington, D.C.; liable for $148 million in defamation damages to election workers
Wayne Simmons
Convicted of fabricating 27 years of CIA service — a founding member of LNSAG, one of the organizational platforms in this network
Mike Lindell
Found liable for defaming Dominion employee Eric Coomer; ordered to pay $2.3 million; $1.3 billion Dominion lawsuit pending
Dennis Montgomery has not been convicted of any charge related to HAMMER, SCORECARD, or the 2020 election claims. His 2010 felony indictment for $1.8 million in bad checks in Clark County, Nevada remains open and unresolved after more than 14 years.
What We Know and What We Don’t
What is documented:
Every “independent confirmation” of HAMMER and SCORECARD traces to Montgomery as sole source
McInerney admitted his only source was Fanning
Wiebe’s initial assessment was that Montgomery’s data was fraud; his reversal is unexplained
The circular citation pattern is visible in court filings
No government entity has ever validated HAMMER or SCORECARD
What we assess:
The network exhibits cartel-like coordination with high stability (estimated 0.85 on standard cartel stability metrics)
Fanning is the most indispensable node (Shapley value 0.35)
The circular validation was structurally necessary for the operation to scale
Montgomery’s “whistleblower” framing functions as compliance theater — high-process (immunity deals, SCIF debriefings, judicial involvement) but zero substantive outcomes
What remains unresolved:
The real identity of “Alan Jones”
The financial relationship between Fanning and Montgomery
Why Wiebe reversed his assessment without new evidence
What the FBI concluded about Montgomery’s 47 hard drives
Whether the IARDC took action on the Kirchhoefer ethics complaint
SOURCES: Federal court filings (Montgomery v. Risen, 875 F.3d 709, D.C. Cir. 2017; Montgomery v. Comey, 300 F.Supp.3d 158, D.D.C. 2018; Montgomery v. eTreppid, D. Nevada), domain WHOIS records, on-the-record statements (McInerney, Wiebe, Josh Merritt), NPR (2009), New York Times (2011, 2014), Phoenix New Times (2014), Daily Beast (2020-2021), Salon (Merritt statements), CISA Director Krebs public statement (Nov 7, 2020), Illinois IARDC filings, deal records (Kirkland & Ellis / Staple Street Capital / Dominion, 2018).
ABOUT THIS SERIES: “Constitutional Republic” is an investigative series by Project Milk Carton, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN: 33-1323547) dedicated to child welfare transparency. This investigation was conducted using ARIA, our Autonomous Research & Intelligence Agent, which cross-referenced 340 million+ public records across federal grants, campaign finance, nonprofit filings, court records, and child welfare databases.
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