Page Six: Did Morrissey lie about Secret Service probe into his Trump murder boast? (January 13, 2022)

UPDATE Jan. 18:

Page Six Secret Service probe follow-up: emails from Morrissey's manager; meeting took place December 9, 2017 for 30 minutes in NYC (January 18, 2022)

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Did Morrissey lie about Secret Service probe into his Trump murder boast?

Heaven knows I’m misinformed now! It seems the magical musical misery may have been taking liberties with the truth, or perhaps misremembering the facts.

pagesix.com

Excerpt:

Page Six hears that magical musical misery Morrissey seems to have been taking liberties with the truth — or perhaps misremembering the facts a little.

The “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” singer said in 2017 that he had been investigated by the Secret Service after he told German paper Der Spiegel that he would kill Donald Trump for the “safety of humanity.” (The claim recently resurfaced in a Daily Beast story about his peculiar politics.)

But we’re told Freedom of Information Act guru and Bloomberg senior investigative reporter Jason Leopold recently asked the Department of Homeland Security to look up its records about the supposed inquisition — but the men in dark sunglasses say they don’t know what he’s talking about.

In a letter seen by Page Six, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the USSS, wrote to Leopold, “The Secret Service FOIA Office has conducted a reasonable search for all potentially responsive documents. [It] searched all Program Offices that were likely to contain potentially responsive records, and no records were located.”

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At 4:08:

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Related items:

• Morrissey's December Speech 2017 - SER / YouTube - Dec. 17, 2017
• Der Spiegel audio file of Morrissey interview released - Dec. 12, 2017
• Morrissey interview + Polaroid photo in German Spiegel magazine - Nov. 17, 2017

 

[ACTON]

reminds me of the time he was questioned by u s immigration officers and one of them had to go to his car and a get a cd with his face on it to show the other officers proof of identity.

That's 100% accurate. The situation got serious only after they accidentally picked a Van Morrison CD.

 

[Anonymous]

Typically these type of interactions aren’t covered by freedom of information requests. Also I can imagine a phone call or having an agent turn up to his hotel wouldn’t be too far fetched and would not necessarily be recorded.

That depends on whether you are talking about the UK or US. It is not unusual in the US.

 

[King Leer]

Is it really the type of incident a file would be officially "opened" for?
Too bad there wasn't one as it'd be a treasure trove of potential Moz song titles and lyrical snippets.

 

[Juan Dulces]

And the police - they actually know me
They said:
"You're just another person in the world
You're just another fool with radical views
You're just another who has maddening views
You want to turn it on its head
By staying in bed!"

I said: "I know I do"

One of his best classic tracks. I have always loved how they included that song in the Zenith show for 'Beethoven Was Deaf'.

Also, when he brought Yes, I Am Blind back to the setlist after decades, it was terrific.

 

[Fungus Amoung Us]

Wonder if his was really interrogated by British authorities for Margaret on a Guillotine.

 

[goinghome]

reminds me of the time he was questioned by u s immigration officers and one of them had to go to his car and a get a cd with his face on it to show the other officers proof of identity.

Wasn't he also visited by secret service about the song Margaret On The Guillotine, only for the officers to apologise and ask him to sign some singles/albums of his they owned?!

It seems surprising that a media giant like Bloomberg would task a 'Freedom of Information Act guru and senior investigative reporter' with this inquiry. Why, and why now?

Anyway, looks like sleeping dogs can lie, and no news is good news, except for poor empty-handed Jason Leopold.

 

[saintjimmy456]

BREAKING NEWS

Newly released photos prove that Morrissey couldn’t have spent the day in bed, because he was spotted at the studio recording the song. More lies!

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

‘I lie a lot - it's really useful’

-Morrissey ( Starhits 1987)

 

[Redacted]

Making a FOIA request is different than asking for a comment

 

[Redacted]

Exactly. Probably par for the course with those guys. I'd say they ticked a box and didn't need to file a report. Probably got some Bowie records signed too.

I think reports are always filed, just like they are with the local police. Let's say someone calls you and says something you think is threatening and you call your local police. The police will go to the person who made the alleged threat and speak to them. If they determine a crime has been committed, there will be an arrest and all the paperwork and reports that go along with it. If there was no crime committed, the police still file what is called an Incident Report to document your call, their action, the discussion with the accused and the conclusion.

 

[SeniorLife]

Or imagine how pointless your life is to lie about it having happened in the first place?

It always seemed very unlikely.

US Secret Services have far more to be busy with than having any concerns with an ageing pop star making some flippant comment in some interview.

There are huge numbers of celebrities who have spoken out against Trump far more effectively than Morrissey ever did and have never been questioned by the secret services.

I suspect he just likes to embellish life to try to make it more interesting for himself or to try to make his place in the world seem far more significant that it is in reality.

I doubt they even cared. Morrissey would like to think everything he says is taken notice of or gets some kind of high ranking attention. Most people won't even notice.

Wrong.

No matter how flippant the remark, or the intention of the remarker, if you say anything as blatant as that (assuming he did), the Secret Service are obligated to look into it. They have looked into far less. Just because you don’t get a personal visit by the Secret Service doesn’t mean your comment wasn’t looked into.

Want to see something interesting, YT when Trump, then just a nominee was giving a rally and a guy crawled over the crowd to get to the stage. The Secret Service were on him so fast, as well as forming a circle around Trump, all in a matter of less than 5 seconds.

The Secret Service don’t f**k around.

Fun fact: the Secret Service was originally created to combat counterfeiting. Still one of their duties.

 

[gashonthenail]

Any article that refers to Morrissey as the ´Heaven Knows I´m Miserable Now´ singer should be treated as suspect. It generally indicates someone who hates Morrissey.
Meant no doubt as a fairly throwaway, tongue in cheek pun, that song title has become such a millstone. And it´s not like it went to number 1 and stayed there for weeks. It´s not even that great a song. I bet Moz regrets ever releasing it as a single. It did invite a certain degree of parody.

 

[ACTON]

Any article that refers to Morrissey as the ´Heaven Knows I´m Miserable Now´ singer should be treated as suspect. It generally indicates someone who hates Morrissey.
Meant no doubt as a fairly throwaway, tongue in cheek pun, that song title has become such a millstone. And it´s not like it went to number 1 and stayed there for weeks. It´s not even that great a song. I bet Moz regrets ever releasing it as a single. It did invite a certain degree of parody.

Yessir. The line 'Page Six hears that magical musical misery Morrissey...' says it all and frames the whole article as a hatchet assassination job from the very start.

 

[Morrissey-so-old.com]

Wasn’t he investigated for his comments on George W. Bush as well?

 

[goinghome]

How to be a spy, learn all the basics!

PSYOPS: The ULTIMATE Guide to Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) | Intelligence101

www.intelligence101.com

In a nutshell, "influence the emotions, motives, and behaviour of governments, groups, organisations or enemies...target people’s vulnerabilities to influence them."

That's essentially it. Obviously tactics can be badly misused and people ruined for no gain whatsoever except for political whim. But do a lot of people engage in this kind of behavior when relating to people even just to keep up? I don't know.

What I found really intriguing was learning about a bird native to Africa called a drongo that practices its own kind of 'tactical treachery' whereby "they essentially wait for other animals to be eating their meal then scare them off with warning calls! Once the animal flees, they eat the meal" - https://faunafacts.com/animals/symbiosis-examples/

No Nobel Peace Prize for you, bold little birdie!