The Fanning Bridge
A Kirkland & Ellis Partner, a 20-Year Domain, and the Conflict Nobody Disclosed
By Project Milk Carton Investigations | February 2026
Part 3: A Kirkland & Ellis Partner, a 20-Year Domain, and the Conflict Nobody Disclosed
EDITORIAL NOTE: This article focuses on the role of Mary Fanning Kirchhoefer and TheAmericanReport.org in the Montgomery network. Every factual claim is sourced from domain registration records, court filings, Illinois corporate records, public deal records, and on-the-record reporting. Where we assess patterns or raise questions, we say so explicitly.
Why Fanning Matters
In Part 2, we showed that every “independent confirmation” of Dennis Montgomery’s HAMMER and SCORECARD claims traces back to Montgomery himself through a circular validation loop. At the center of that loop sits one person: the writer who goes by “Mary Fanning.”
Our game theory analysis assigns her the highest Shapley value in the network — 0.35, higher than Montgomery himself (0.20). This means that removing Fanning from the network would do more damage to its function than removing Montgomery. Montgomery is the source, but he has proven across four fraud cycles that he cannot distribute his own claims. Fanning is the bridge between a discredited con artist and the people with the money, the platforms, and the titles to make his claims matter.
This is our analytical assessment. What follows are the documented facts about who she is and how TheAmericanReport.org operates.
The Domain
TheAmericanReport.org was registered on February 25, 2015 with a 20-year registration term expiring in 2035.
What is documented:
The domain uses GoDaddy as its registrar with WHOIS privacy enabled.
The site runs WordPress on consumer-grade cPanel hosting.
A 20-year domain registration is atypical for journalism websites. Most news sites register for 1-2 years at a time. A 20-year registration suggests either an unusual commitment to the project or an attempt to prevent domain lapses that could expose registration history.
The site carries no advertising. There is no visible monetization model beyond book sales and speaking engagement promotion.
What we don’t know: Who paid for the 20-year registration. The WHOIS privacy service prevents identification of the registrant through standard domain lookups.
The Identity
Court records and domain registrations identify “Mary Fanning” as Mary Fanning Kirchhoefer.
What is documented:
An Illinois LLC called “Absolute Proof LLC” was incorporated by Mary Fanning Kirchhoefer in 2013. The entity has since been dissolved. The name “Absolute Proof” later became the title of the February 2021 documentary funded by Mike Lindell and produced by Fanning and Brannon Howse.
Mary Fanning Kirchhoefer’s husband is Gregg Kirchhoefer, a senior partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP — one of the largest law firms in the world, with over 3,000 attorneys and more than $7 billion in annual revenue.
In a defamation lawsuit, Fanning’s co-author “Alan Jones” could not be located or served. The court record states his whereabouts were “unknown.” No journalist, investigator, or court has publicly identified this person.
The Conflict
In 2018, Kirkland & Ellis advised on the acquisition of Dominion Voting Systems by Staple Street Capital. This is documented in public deal records.
During the same period and continuing through 2020, Mary Fanning Kirchhoefer was publishing articles on TheAmericanReport.org alleging that Dominion’s voting systems were instruments of election fraud, manipulated by a CIA supercomputer called HAMMER using a program called SCORECARD.
The timeline’s Date’s and Event’s
Feb 2015
TheAmericanReport.org registered (20-year term)
Mar 2017
“Whistleblower Tapes” series launches — HAMMER/SCORECARD claims begin
2018
Kirkland & Ellis advises on Dominion acquisition by Staple Street Capital
Oct 2020
TheAmericanReport publishes “Biden Using SCORECARD and THE HAMMER to Steal Election”
Feb 2021
“Absolute Proof” documentary airs on OAN — Fanning is executive producer
Dec 2022
Ethics complaint filed against Gregg Kirchhoefer with IARDC by XRVision CTO Yaacov Apelbaum
What we are saying:
A senior partner’s spouse at the firm that advised on Dominion’s acquisition was simultaneously publishing allegations that Dominion’s systems were tools of fraud. This is a textbook undisclosed conflict of interest.
What we are not saying:
We are not alleging that Gregg Kirchhoefer directed, funded, or participated in his wife’s publications. We are not alleging that Kirkland & Ellis had institutional knowledge of the conflict. We are not alleging any violation of law.
What we are asking:
Did Kirkland & Ellis conduct a conflict check? Was the firm aware of the relationship? Did any party involved in the Dominion acquisition know that the adviser’s partner’s spouse was the primary public voice alleging Dominion fraud?
These are questions of professional responsibility, not criminal law. They remain unanswered.
The Content Evolution
TheAmericanReport.org did not begin with Montgomery’s claims. Its content evolved over time:
Period and Content Focus
2013-2014
Anti-Obama military content; criticism of military leadership
2015-2016
Clinton Foundation allegations
2017-2019
Launch of HAMMER/SCORECARD narrative via “Whistleblower Tapes”
2020-Present
Election fraud; Dominion allegations; documentary production
This evolution is consistent with a publication finding its most profitable narrative and committing to it. It is also consistent with the introduction of Montgomery as a source during the 2015-2017 period.
What is documented:
The site’s shift to HAMMER/SCORECARD content coincided with the registration of TheAmericanReport.org domain (February 2015) and the period when Montgomery was turning over hard drives to the FBI (August 2015) and being debriefed in a SCIF (December 2015). Montgomery’s rebranding from “discredited con artist” to “CIA/NSA whistleblower” appears to have begun during this window.
The Ghost Co-Author
Every article on TheAmericanReport.org is co-bylined “Mary Fanning and Alan Jones.”
What is documented:
In a defamation lawsuit, Alan Jones could not be located for service. His whereabouts were listed as “unknown” in court records.
No public interview, photograph, biography, or identifying information for Alan Jones has ever been published.
The name “Alan Jones” is common enough to resist identification through standard open-source methods.
What we don’t know:
Whether “Alan Jones” is a real person, a pseudonym for another known individual, or a pen name used by Fanning herself.
Whether “Alan Jones” has any financial relationship with Montgomery.
Why a co-author who has published hundreds of articles under this name has never appeared publicly in any capacity.
The Propaganda Structure
Dennis Montgomery never appears publicly. He does not give interviews, attend events, or publish under his own name. His last known public legal action was a 2024 9th Circuit filing.
Instead, his claims move through a distribution chain:
Montgomery provides claims to Fanning
Fanning publishes them as journalism on TheAmericanReport.org
McInerney lends military credibility by repeating the claims on broadcast media
Howse provides the broadcast platform (WVW) and broker function (connecting Fanning to Lindell)
Lindell provides financing and mass distribution
This structure is notable because it insulates the source from scrutiny. Montgomery is never in the room when the claims are promoted. He is never on camera. He is never asked questions. The people who are asked questions — McInerney, Lindell, Powell — can truthfully say they got their information from Fanning or from “multiple sources,” without knowing (or acknowledging) that every road leads back to Montgomery.
What we assess:
This distribution model functions identically to classic intelligence influence operations, where a source remains hidden while cutouts handle public-facing distribution. We are not alleging that this is a government intelligence operation. We are observing that the structural pattern matches.
The Financial Question
The financial relationship between Fanning and Montgomery is one of the most significant unanswered questions in this investigation.
What is documented:
Montgomery received $3 million or more in cash from Lindell, plus a $1.5 million home.
Fanning was executive producer of “Absolute Proof” and subsequent documentaries.
Fanning and Jones published a book, “THE HAMMER is the Key to the Coup” (Amazon Kindle, 2020).
Fanning co-authored “Invisible Treason in America” with McInerney, Vallely, and others.
What we don’t know:
Whether Fanning receives payment from Montgomery — or whether the flow goes the other direction.
Whether Fanning received production fees from Lindell for the documentaries.
Whether TheAmericanReport.org generates revenue beyond book sales.
The total financial benefit Fanning has derived from the HAMMER/SCORECARD narrative.
Three Single Points of Failure
Our network analysis identifies three individuals whose removal would collapse the operation:
Fanning — Without her, Montgomery’s claims have no literary conduit. He demonstrated during the Arpaio cycle (2013-2015) that claims distributed through law enforcement channels alone do not scale.
Howse — Without the January 2021 phone call connecting Fanning to Lindell, the financial pipeline never opens. Fanning’s audience at that point was insufficient to attract Lindell’s attention directly.
Hayes — Without Conan Hayes, the claims remain theoretical. It was Hayes who physically accessed voting machines, creating the real-world consequences (Peters’ conviction, criminal investigations in multiple states) that gave the narrative tangible stakes.
Remove any one of these three, and the downstream chain from that point collapses.
What We Know and What We Don’t
Documented facts:
Mary Fanning is Mary Fanning Kirchhoefer
Her husband is a senior partner at Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis advised on the Dominion acquisition in 2018
TheAmericanReport.org was registered for 20 years in February 2015
“Alan Jones” has never been publicly identified and could not be served in a lawsuit
Fanning is the sole public conduit for Montgomery’s post-2015 claims
An ethics complaint was filed with the IARDC against Gregg Kirchhoefer in December 2022
Our assessment:
Fanning is the most indispensable node in the network (Shapley value 0.35)
The undisclosed Kirchhoefer/Dominion conflict is the most significant unaddressed professional responsibility question in this story
The distribution structure mirrors intelligence influence operations in form, regardless of intent
Unresolved:
The identity of “Alan Jones”
The financial relationship between Fanning and Montgomery
Whether Kirkland & Ellis conducted a conflict check
The outcome of the IARDC ethics complaint
Whether Fanning received production fees from Lindell
SOURCES: Domain WHOIS records (GoDaddy/ICANN), Illinois Secretary of State corporate filings (Absolute Proof LLC), court records (defamation lawsuit, service failure on “Alan Jones”), public deal records (Kirkland & Ellis / Staple Street Capital / Dominion, 2018), IARDC complaint filing (Apelbaum v. Kirchhoefer, December 2022), on-the-record reporting (Daily Beast, Salon, NPR), TheAmericanReport.org content archive (Wayback Machine), Amazon publishing records.
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.
Project Milk Carton — Shining light where it matters.
So if I am understanding the basis of your article is to disprove that the Hammer & scorecard tech used by the Obama, Biden & Clinton cronies was used to steal the election? The same individuals who have actually harmed children? Yet the basis of your organization is to help save children? I'd say THAT is a conflict of interest. I've been following all geopolitical news and events & have help in awakening the masses to the crimes against humanity, sedition & treason since 2018 & I personally witnessed the numbers flip just prior to switching to commercial during the 2020 election & have written about the use of that tech in Venezuela among other places including the US. It traced back to servers in Italy & the intelligence agencies were certainly involved & not just the CIA. This article seems to be more likely part of a disinformation campaign to muddy the waters of what we Anons already know for fact that not just the 2020 election was stolen but the Clinton campsign fully expeted to win the 2016 election because they attempted to steal but the White Hats intercepted the attempt & helped to overcome that steal to put Trump in the W column. Further, we know that the 2020 election was allowed to be stolen for multiple reasons but one of the primary reasons was to catch the players involved. In order to prove a crime one must have the evidence. The 2020 election was a sting operation.