Matt Agorist | The Free Thought Project
Maricopa County, AZ — United States Senator John McCain is conducting damage control after a staff member of his re-election fundraising campaign was arrested Tuesday. Emily Pitha, 34 was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of drug charges after Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies raided her home and found an active meth lab along with other illicit drugs.
Immediately following the bust, McCain’s campaign fired Pitha and issued a statement decrying her actions.
Late Tuesday night, McCain’s campaign manager, Ryan O’Daniel, issued this response:
According to AZ Central, a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman said authorities were first alerted to possible drug activity at Pitha’s Phoenix home by a parcel in transit from the Netherlands containing over 250 grams of MDMA – raw ecstasy. Detective Doug Matteson, the MCSO spokesman, said Pitha’s boyfriend, 36-year-old Christopher Hustrulid, signed for the packaged when it arrived at their doorstep Tuesday afternoon.Detectives executing a search warrant at the home discovered an active meth lab, along with unspecified quantities of LSD, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, about $7,000 in loose currency, and counterfeit money, according to Matteson. A separate building on the property was found to have a hidden room that was to be used as a marijuana-grow facility, he said, according to AZ Central.
Pitha and Hustrulid were arrested and expected to face numerous drug violations, in addition to possible child-endangerment charges.
According to police, inside the home with the meth lab were two children, ages 5 and 10. Police say the children “had easy access to all of (the) drugs and materials, even the bomb-making materials that were located in the back with the meth lab.”
The irony here is the Senator McCain is one of the most ardent drug warriors around. McCain has expressed the most hawkish positions on drug policy. He wants to increase penalties for selling drugs, supports the death penalty for drug kingpins, favors tightening security to stop the flow of drugs into the country, and wants to restrict the availability of methadone for heroin addicts.
However, his hawkish views only apply to those outside of his immediate family. McCain has admitted that his wife not only illegally used drugs but walked away from criminal charges. The McCains have worked to make Cindy McCain’s addiction into a political asset–despite the fact that she stole the drugs from a charity she directed and used them while mothering four young children. Perhaps, the Senator will try out this magic again.
Politicians and their staff members, or businesses getting caught with drugs or conducting their hypocrisy out in the open is nothing new. Just last year, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was under investigation for his involvement in a drug deal worth over $54 million.
The Free Thought Project regularly reports on politicians all over the world getting caught up in drug smuggling scandals.
Last November, we reported that a Saudi Prince was caught with over 2 tons of amphetamines on his private jet. In 2014, we reported that a boat with ties to US politicians Mitch McConnell was found with 90 pounds of cocaine onboard.
Meanwhile, last October, former British Territorial Army mechanic Anthony C Heaford released a report, and a series of photos which he says proves that British troops are harvesting Opium in Afghanistan.
Heaford’s report is just the most recent of many, and government drug trafficking is so widespread that more cases are surfacing all the time.
In September of 2007, a CIA jet crashed in Mexico with 3.2 tons of cocaine onboard. The jet was on its way from Bolivia when it was spotted by Mexican helicopters that followed in pursuit. The chase resulted in the crash of the jet and the seizure of the cocaine.
Upon inspecting the wreckage site, the Mexican authorities found no body or survivors but did find several thousand pounds of cocaine. The serial numbers on the plane were eventually traced back to a company that transported terrorists for the US government. This story is not uncommon, there have been many cases where government planes have crashed in south and Central America with tons of illegal drugs onboard.