Michael Voris Contradicts Michael Voris

I have looked again at the two Vortex videos concerning Voris's press incident at the St. Patrick's Day parade, and I feel compelled to comment on the discrepancies in these videos.  

As I reported on my prior post [HERE], a couple of days after the parade, Voris did a video in which he reported suddenly finding footage after his failed questioning of Cardinal Dolan which shows the Cardinal, as he was walking away, saying something to Joseph Zwilling, his communications director, who then speaks to another man, who in turn expelled Voris from the press area. Somehow Voris failled to see this video footage on the day of the parade.

Here is the Vortex episode containing the second report:

According to the newly discovered video footage, Voris tells us that it was 1 minute 29 seconds after he approached the Cardinal that he and his camera man were "shoved out":

1:29 seconds AFTER the interview a man who did not identify himself came up to us abruptly and said we had to leave and began shoving both me and Matt Pearson, who was running one of our cameras, out of the barricaded area.

This is how Voris reports it:

First – back to the immediate aftermath of our question. Cardinal Dolan gives a political nonsensical response and turns away to walk towards a gathering press scrum. Notice who helps lead him away – the man in the green baseball hat. That man is Joseph Zwilling – the communications director for the archdiocese of New York.

Zwilling knows me. He has seen various Vortex reports over the years. He and I have communicated with each other – although it is usually a very short communication. Point is – he knows me and Church Militant.

In one very brief interlude, the Cardinal says something to Zwilling and carries on glad handing.

A few moments later, as the Cardinal approaches the media scrum, Zwilling turns around to look back to see where we are, to keep track of us.

That alone is curious. There were dozens of reporters and cameras bearing down on the Cardinal and Zwilling’s attention is focused on us.

We swung around to the south side of the media horde and when we did that, we happened to capture footage of Zwilling giving instructions to the unnamed guy who a few seconds later came and physically shoved us out of the barricaded area. 

It is beyond dispute therefore, plain video evidence, that the guy who manhandled us, got his orders to do so directly from Cardinal Dolan’s top aide – the communications director.

They were both looking directly at us as you can clearly see. Zwilling is doing the talking and then his guy comes over and does his thing.

The footage shown by Voris does seem to support his narrative. However, it also seems to be spliced somewhat, and there is one scene that definitely does not belong with it showing the Cardinal surrounded by the press.

Notice that Voris reports here that after he attempted to question the Cardinal, "We swung around to the south side of the media horde." According to this report, no one touched Voris at all immediately after the interview. In fact, he had time to walk away from the area where he had originally approached Cardinal Dolan and thus was able to get a different view of Zwilling and the "unnamed guy who a few seconds later came and physically shoved us out of the barricaded area" which is shown on the video.

There is a problem, however, The narrative from the first report released on the day of the parade flatly contradicts this "newly discovered video". Here is that Vortex episode made shortly after the incident:

On the day of the parade, Voris reported this:

As Cardinal Dolan turned away from not answering our question, one of his handlers elbowed me in the stomach, and within less than a minute, another fellow came by and grabbed both me and my camera, Matt Pearson, and dragged us, pulled us, pushed us, out of the little scrum, the press scrum that was developing, and as you can see here in this video, it wasn't a very friendly scene.

Notice that here Voris said he was immediately "elbowed in the stomach" after his question to the Cardinal, and in less than a minute, he and his camera man were "pushed" out of the press area. According to the first report, Voris and his video man did not have a chance to do anything after the question was asked but leave the press area.

According to the second narrative from a couple days later, it is 1 minute and 29 seconds before anyone even approached Voris and his camera man. This gave Voris and his camera man ample time to "swing around to the south side of the media horde" to be in a better position to capture Zwilling giving instructions to the "unnamed guy" who "manhandled" them.  In this narrative, unlike the report Voris did on the day of the parade, there is no mention of being "elbowed in the stomach."   The time frame between the attempted questioning of the Cardinal to being "shoved out" is lengthened from "less than a minute" to "1 minute 29 seconds."  In the first narrative, Voris was immediately assaulted with an elbow to the stomach.  In the second narrative, no one bothered Voris and he was freely able to "swing around the media horde."

It is impossible for both of these stories to be true. You could argue that in the heat of the moment, Voris was confused as to the actual events and seeing them on tape somehow refreshed his memory. But how does one forget that he had time to move around after the question and instead imagine that he was immediately assaulted with an elbow to the stomach and pushed out of the area with no time to react?

Of course, if the first story is true - that these events happened in less than a minute - that would make it almost impossible for Cardinal Dolan to give a message to Zwilling, and then for Zwilling and the "unnamed guy" to converse while giving Voris the evil eye before the "unnamed guy" walked over and ordered Voris and his camera man out. This also would make it impossible for Voris and his camera man to move around the "media horde" to get a better shot of Zwilling and the "unnamed guy."

Just as an aside, I can't help but wonder, if Voris had been physically attacked as he alleged, why didn't his camera man get footage of that? Pretty lousy camera man, I would say, if it actually happened.

If the second story is true, which I actually tend to believe, then Zwilling's actions make total sense. Voris tried to ask Cardinal Dolan a very provocative question, loaded with the implication that the Cardinal is a heretic causing scandal to the faithful. As he reported, Voris got no reaction from the Cardinal and no answer.   As Voris said in his second report, the Cardinal and everyone else just walked away from Voris, ignoring him. Voris and his camera man, as he says, starting circling the media horde. Zwilling looks back and sees a man circling around who had just make a horrific accusation against the Cardinal, and whom he knows to have made public veiled threats against the Cardinal, as I showed in my last post. So Zwilling turned to a man in the security detail and told him to get Voris out of there.  Makes total sense to me.  

Michael Voris also keeps referring to the man who ordered him out of the press area as the "unnamed man." One wonders why Voris did not ask him to identify himself and ask where he gets his authority from. Actually, the answer was quite apparent. The man had a clearly visible "Police" insignia on the front of his coat, as seen here:

The very fact that the "unidentified man" was seen speaking to Joseph Zwilling and was also able to order police to escort Voris out of the area shows he had authority, some kind of high ranking in the police department.  If Voris did not feel the "unidentified man" had the authority to do what he did, he most certainly could have asked "the unidentified man" to identify himself, which Voris did not attempt to do.

So it seems that Michael Voris feels free to pick and choose what he wants to tell however he wants to tell it, changing the timing of events, inserting new "facts" and leaving out other "facts" as he sees fit.

So which is the true story? I don't think we will ever know. I do know this. If you believe one story, you cannot believe the other. Michael Voris completely contradicts himself. When was the video taken of Zwilling and the "unidentified man" taken? Was it before or after Voris questioned the Cardinal? If Voris's first report is true - where he says he was immediately assaulted after trying to question Cardinal Dolan - there was no time to take the video and the second story cannot be true. If the second story is true, that Voris had time to "swing around" and take the video, then the first story is not true.

This kind of game playing is just one of many reasons why I reject Michael Voris and the message he tries to bring to the world.

Michael, you just have to stop this jihad against the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and against Cardinal Dolan in particular. You are starting to really step in it and making yourself look downright foolish. You are doing exactly what you accuse Cardinal Dolan and other ordained hierarchy of the Church of doing. You are causing scandal and division in the Church, and this is most definitely not the work of the Holy Spirit.

At a time when the Catholic Church needs to be pulling together more than ever, when we need to be praying for and sacrificing on behalf of others, you are tearing people apart, urging people to rise up against those those whom God has ordained. Our bishops are the physical leaders in the Church, but as I have repeated time and time again, the real authority is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. When you try to tear down those whom God has put in charge, you are attacking God Himself.

Please pray for the soul of Michael Voris and for all of those that so blindly follow him.