Vermont Official Works for Putin
Part 2 of the Helali file arrived in twenty-four hours. Christopher Helali — still the elected High Bailiff of Orange County, Vermont, the office whose one job is arresting the county sheriff — surfaced in Tehran this week. On July 13 he was on RT, Vladimir Putin’s state network, broadcasting from the Iranian capital mid-conflict. He then gave Iranian state media an exclusive about his escorted press tour: struck universities, a hospital, a school strike site, the Isfahan airstrip where wrecked American aircraft are displayed, and the Strait of Hormuz — days after Iran declared it closed. At the airstrip, the wreckage was presented as an American disaster. The record of the April rescue operation says otherwise: both downed F-15E crew members were recovered alive, not one American was lost, and the aircraft on display were demolished by U.S. forces themselves during withdrawal so the enemy couldn’t have them.
And the Vermont thread: before Tehran, Helali is the man who introduced Mohsen Mahdawi to Vermonters as a victim of ICE. Mahdawi was never on a student visa — he was a green-card holder arrested at his own citizenship interview, with Marco Rubio personally signing off on his removal — and Vermont’s political class launched a legal defense fund for him without asking who brought him. Vermonters are nice people. They might not have thought this one through.
I’m Eric Garland. I’ve spent 30 years in strategic intelligence practice, and I’m personally sanctioned by the Russian Federation for my work on Russian intelligence operations — so I follow the pro-Moscow traffic with some interest. On Game Theory Today I walk through the questions a professional analyst actually asks about the news, not the answers you’re handed.
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SOURCES
RT, Sanchez Effect — Helali on air from Tehran — July 13, 2026
Tehran Times — press-tour exclusive: strike sites, Isfahan airstrip, Strait of Hormuz — July 2026
April 2026 rescue operation record — both F-15E crew recovered alive; U.S. aircraft destroyed in withdrawal
MEMRI TV — Helali: “freer and safer in Moscow”
AP / PBS NewsHour — green-card holder arrested by ICE at his citizenship interview, Colchester, VT — April 14, 2025
VTDigger — state leaders launch immigration legal defense fund — May 8, 2025
White River Valley Herald — “A High Bailiff Abroad: From Russia, Helali Talks OC Role” — September 25, 2025
American Communist Party (X) — High Bailiff election announcement — November 2024
