This is related to the previous article, and this whole thing is getting interesting with exposing the corruption going on in North Dakota.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/10/north-dakota-media-outlet-caught-suppressing-news-audio/
by Assistant Editor
BEK TV owns three broadcast stations in North Dakota. It is based out of Steele, North Dakota, which is 45 minutes east of Bismarck in roughly the center of the state.
BEK is a media cooperative, serving both telecom services and broadcasting to 11,000 of the state’s residents, and is digitally available statewide. Its most recent annual report shows $150 million in assets.
The broadcaster employs as their key talent, Lori Hinz. Hinz has been voted “Best TV Personality” around Bismarck in years past. Hinz is a National Committeewoman for the Republican National Committee and an executive with the North Dakota GOP.
BEK TV cultivated a conservative customer base, encouraging deplatformed and dispossessed conservatives to come on their shows and host their programs. BEK wanted to be a right-wing version of Fox News for North Dakota.
But recordings released exclusively to the Gateway Pundit appear to show Hinz agreeing to suppress news content and coordinate likely illegal payments in order to keep a brewing state scandal out of public view.
Hinz was given several hundred megabytes worth of data and documents supporting the claims of a whistleblower alleging systemic corruption and fraud in North Dakota, including accusations of politically-motivated murders. Hinz reportedly promised the whistleblower that she would report the story.
But instead, Hinz, who is close personal friends for several decades with one of the subjects involved, U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer, allegedly attempted to set up a deal by which the whistleblower would stay silent and get paid, and the story would not get reported. The whistleblower was not asking for compensation, but on the tapes it sounds like Hinz was arranging it anyway over his protests.
MEDIA OUTLET BROKERS DEAL WHERE U.S. SENATOR PRESSURES STATE TO PAY OFF SOURCE, AGREES TO BURY THE STORY
On the audio, Hinz is overheard apparently coordinating and negotiating an alleged extortion deal for a tipster and source who is not even asking for money. Hinz appears to be offering to compensate the source and keep his life safe, while simultaneously explaining why she is not going to publish the story.
The sources for this story says Hinz and others offered to let the source name their own price, and prodded him to ask for any amount in payment.
Government sources claim that BEK TV head Derrick Bulawa told a working group, “This story doesn’t have to get out” and that those in attendance expressed concern that the situation felt like extortion, to which they were told, “this is the way things get done.”
Hinz tells the Gateway Pundit that the whistleblower is merely “impatient” and she was willing to write the story, and is even still working on it, but could not say when the story was set to be published. She referenced stories she worked on for six months or more, and offered that as a timeline.
The story involved, still developing, involves billions of dollars of malfeasance in the nation’s supply chain putting airline travel at risk.
Hinz had no coherent response when it was pointed out to her that she felt confident enough in the story to broker a multi-million dollar payment to the source, but did not have enough confidence to publish a single story on the topic.
BEK TV THREATENS TO SUE GATEWAY PUNDIT FOR DEFAMATION
Hinz also repeatedly kept threatening the Gateway Pundit with libel and defamation lawsuits during the phone call, suggesting that “you better get everything right” and that things should be “viewed from a perspective of how it will look as defamation.” Hinz and BEK TV appear to be circling the wagons, as similar threatening language was expressed by BEK TV CEO Derrick Bulawa to the Gateway Pundit.
Hinz’s threats to the Gateway Pundit included this statement: “Well, I certainly hope you take into consideration that there may be defamation issues involved with this, and I think that it would be a really good idea for you to pause, much like we did, and get more information.”
These delays are at the core of what the whistleblower says is the payoff scheme he was being offered: name your price but the cost was that the news, and the full story of what happened to him, would never get out.
The audio evidence shows the whistleblower challenging Hinz for even trying to set up this alleged extortion deal, stating: “You also told me that you were somehow brokering on my behalf, and it makes me very uncomfortable to call them, because you’re doing something that, I am questioning even as to the ethics of it.” Without missing a beat, Hinz replies, “I understand.”
Hinz tells the whistleblower on the tapes: “I, we’re just doing one step at a time. We kinda have to do one step, and then the next step, and the next step. This is the first step. The first step is to make sure that you’re protected, and that you get your money. And that’s, that is the absolute most imperative thing. It is not gonna help our, our State, if you are… It’s not gonna help you, it’s not gonna help our St – it’s not gonna help anybody if, if something happens to… [Hinz stops speaking mid-sentence for about 5 seconds] So, I want you to have plausible deniability.”
BUT THE GATEWAY PUNDIT HAS THE AUDIO TAPES
You can listen to the audio files here (7:32), here (3:29) and here (10:49) for these calls from mid-September 2024. We have posted the full-text transcripts of these clips at the bottom of this story.
The transcripts appear to show that Lori Hinz was not operating as a journalist, but instead it appears she was trying to broker a financial deal for a source to protect North Dakota’s political class, and suppress the explosive news story.
The whistleblower claims they never asked Hinz to assist with money. Rather, the whistleblower claims she and BEK’s CEO pursued the extortion deal independently even after receiving a concerned email from the whistleblower clarifying that in no way was BEK authorized to act as the whistleblower’s “agent, representative, negotiator.” The whistleblower was clear in writing that he was only working with BEK “as a media organization who has an interest in reporting this”.
Legal experts say that this situation appears to amount to a possible form of extortion, where Hinz, acting as the journalist, crafted herself as a middleman to negotiate a multi-million dollar ‘deal’ with U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) to keep the story out of the news.
Those who know Lori Hinz say it is completely out of character for her, and they suspect that she is being pressured to comply and cooperate.
Corruption in North Dakota is, according to insiders, rampant and chronic, covered by a cultural desire not to spread negative gossip and also not to smear the name of the state known mostly for farming, missiles, and oil.
Yet despite that reputation, storms of scandal have been brewing.
ONGOING SCANDALS PLAGUE NORTH DAKOTA
North Dakota’s last two Attorney Generals died suddenly, aged 68 and 48 – both involved in an investigation into an ongoing child sex trafficking ring involving former State Senator Ray Holmberg. Holmberg was originally charged with flying abroad for underage sex with boys and child pornography. The child porn charges have been dropped and Holmberg has been released with no bail bond, just a promise to be good. Insiders say others were clearly involved, but only Holmberg has been indicted.
The whistleblower on the audio tapes lives in fear of his life, and those of his family.
FRIENDS OF HINZ EXPRESS SHOCK, OUTRAGE AT TAPES
Friends of Lori Hinz believe that she was pressured into playing this role. A conservative activist in the state, Jerol Gohrick who runs a group called Sons of Liberty tells the Gateway Pundit, “I want to know who got to Lori, and what pressure those RINOs used to take such an upstanding, respectable, God-fearing woman, and bring her to this – to turn her against an incredibly brave whistleblower whose life has been turned upside down and under threat by corrupt politicians for two years now. Sons of Liberty is investigating those treasonous RINO bosses for other serious crimes; they appear to have no limits on their willingness to extort in this state. I directly confronted [North Dakota Attorney General Drew] Wrigley in his office last week, after he refused my calls for 5 months, and told him, ‘Drew, everyone’s pointing at you on this.’”
“She’s trying to push her own personal agenda. She was trying to keep the Senators out of this mess, to help position herself in all of this. I have known her for several years, and to better her career, she was trying to set up this extortion ring. I don’t get it. Maybe Senator Cramer was going to pay her off, who knows how high this all goes,” continued Gohrick.
Friends of Lori Hinz claim she is very loyal to Senator Cramer, knowing him for 42 years since she was 18, since she was in college. The transcripts appear to show Hinz agreeing to protect Cramer prior to the election, by suppressing bad news stories that might hurt him or implicate him, in exchange for Cramer helping to secure major payments and benefits to the whistleblower.
Hinz challenges that characterization of the excerpts. While confirming the accuracy and authenticity of the recordings, she claims she was merely assisting the whistleblower, and it was not a financial transaction in exchange for not running a story. Hinz said that the longer recordings were relevant, but could not clarify what was left out of the extended versions. The Gateway Pundit has reviewed the longer audio and there is nothing relevant missing from the excerpts. Hinz said her primary goal was the safety of the source and ensuring that the state government fulfilled on their promises. Hinz also protested that she was recorded without her knowledge, though that is legal in North Dakota.
Independent Governor candidate Michael Coachman tells the Gateway Pundit this mafia-style leadership approach in North Dakota is the very thing his candidacy intends to change, and that he has been active in trying to solve this problem without resorting to extortion. “When I first met the whistleblower, I prayed with his family, and they were scared. I reassured them, ‘This is what they want. They want you to feel alone. They want you to feel isolated. They want you to feel like you’re on your own. But you’re not. We’ve got your back.’”
North Dakota billionaire Governor Doug Burgum has been the state’s 33rd top Executive, serving since 2016. Burgum was pushed by some as a potential Vice Presidential candidate alongside Donald Trump. Burgum and his team, say state insiders, were involved in this brewing scandal from the start.
The Gateway Pundit reached out to the Office of U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and that of Gov. Doug Burgum (R) by phone and email and did not hear back.
The Gateway Pundit will update this article if any subject offers additional quotes, statements, or facts.