US Marines Kick Out RTF’s Mike Parrott

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UPDATE (11/9/22): The U.S. Marines are ousting Mike Parrott from their ranks, after a military hearing found he violated articles of the U.S. Code of Military Justice.

The board of inquiry, held on Oct. 24–25 at Quantico, VA, involved two days of witness testimony before a three-judge panel of senior officers.

At the end of the two days, the panel found Parrot to be in violation of Article 92 (violating a lawful order) and Article 133 (conduct unbecoming an officer). They also found him to have engaged in "substandard performance" as a Marine. 

He will be separated under a "General Discharge." A source close to the proceedings confirmed with Church Militant it is "exceedingly rare" to issue an "Other Than Honorable Discharge," which is reserved for the worst offenses. (A dishonorable discharge is not available in administrative hearings, only in court martials).

As a result of the discharge, Parrott has lost his health benefits from the Department of Defense and will no longer be a member of the Marines.

WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - The U.S. Marines are confirming Mike Parrott of Restoring the Faith Media (RTF) lied to them and engaged in other serious misconduct, making him subject to potential court martial.

Parrott, a "traditionalist" Catholic podcaster, has blamed his impending ouster from the U.S. Marines (USMC) on his refusal to take the COVID shot, or alternatively, on Church Militant, but he was in fact suspended from the Marines in February after an investigation substantiated allegations of deception and misconduct.

In light of Parrott's recent legal loss and admission of defamation, it is yet further confirmation of Parrott's track record of lying.

The USMC launched a confidential investigation in late November after an anonymous complaint, unconnected to Church Militant, was filed Nov. 15 pointed to Parrott's misconduct, which included targeted harassment of others, falsehoods, bigoted slurs, fraudulent fundraisers and other offenses.

The Nov. 30, 2021 letter initiating the command investigation (CI) tasked the investigating officer with "inquir[ing] into the facts and circumstances surrounding the alleged social media misconduct of Major Michael R. Parrott." 

It also asked the officer to determine whether Parrott engaged in "bullying, harassment, unlawful discrimination or abuse ... ."

Church Militant has confirmed that multiple individuals filed formal complaints against Parrott to the USMC over his egregious behavior.

Those individuals encouraged Senior Producer Christine Niles to submit her own complaint, as she was the primary target of Parrott's harassment. She did so on Nov. 27 under her own name (not anonymously), giving evidence that Parrott doxxed her family home.

Parrott has a track record of doxxing critics, in one case suspended from Twitter for publishing a man's private phone number in retaliation for criticism.

The USMC investigating officer initiated contact with Niles in December, also contacting Parrott to get his statement. Church Militant has confirmed that Parrott made numerous false official statements to the investigating officer, leading to his suspension.

Church Militant also submitted evidence to the USMC that Parrott asked for a personal kickback from the attorney defending Fr. James Jackson, FSSP, a traditionalist priest who recently admitted in court the government has probable cause to prove he possessed child porn. The attorney refused his request, since accepting it would have constituted wire fraud.

In the spring, Parrott sought help from Missouri senator Josh Hawley. He asked the senator to intervene on his behalf, Parrott painting himself as the victim of "an illegal investigation" by the USMC. Hawley agreed to write to the Marines.

The senator received a response on May 4. The USMC confirmed the investigation as well as its findings that Parrott violated three articles in the Uniform Code of Military Justice:

In November 2021, an Investigating Officer was assigned to conduct a CI [command investigation] into the facts and circumstances surrounding an anonymous complaint alleging that Major Parrott engaged in harassing behavior on various social media platforms and participated in a fraudulent fundraising campaign. The CI, endorsed by the Commanding Officer, Headquarters Battalion (HQBN), TECOM, substantiated allegations that Major Parrott violated the Marine Corps Prohibited Activities and Conduct Order, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) Article 107 (False Official Statements), UCMJ Article 133 (Conduct Unbecoming an Officer), and UCMJ Article 134 (General — Conduct Prejudicial to the Good Order and Discipline of the Armed Forces).

As the letter notes, the findings of the command investigation were endorsed by the commanding officer.

Article 107 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice states: 

Any person ... who, with intent to deceive, signs any false record, return, regulation, order or other official document, knowing it to be false, or makes any other false official statement knowing it to be false, shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

Parrott made a number of false official statements in a questionnaire sent to him by the investigating officer.

The first question asked, "Are there employees for Restoring the Faith Media?"

Parrott answered, "RTF is a hobby basement-produced podcast about the Roman Catholic Faith, not a business."

This is a blatant falsehood; RTF is a registered LLC incorporated in Delaware that receives thousands of dollars in income annually. It is a business, and is required to file taxes and report annual income. 

When confronted with this falsehood during his May 31 deposition, Parrott resorted to insulting the intelligence and experience of the investigating officer rather than admit he lied.

Among Church Militant's discovery requests was RTF's tax records. While Parrott submitted these, he has fought against making them public. He will not publicly answer questions as to whether he reported income from RTF, as required by law.

Failure to report business income constitutes tax fraud, which carries serious financial penalties and prison time.

Parrott also falsely claimed on the questionnaire that his Michigan attorneys (he is represented by Bodman law firm) "dismissed three frivolous Church Militant lawsuits in December 2021 alone."

Bodman law firm has never litigated against Church Militant, much less "dismissed" three Church Militant lawsuits "in December 2021 alone." This is a fact easily verifiable by a search of the public record.

Parrott admitted in his deposition that he had no basis in fact to make this claim.

He also falsely told the investigating officer that Church Militant is "forbidden" from calling itself "Catholic" by the Detroit archbishop. This claim also has no basis in fact.

Parrott was additionally found to have violated Article 133, which covers "conduct unbecoming an officer."

According to William Winthrop's Military Law and Precedents, an officer "must offend so seriously against law, justice, morality or decorum as to expose to disgrace, socially or as a man, the offender, and at the same time must be of such a nature or committed under such circumstances as to bring dishonor or disrepute upon the military profession which he represents."

Article 134, which Parrot also violated, involves "all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty ... ."

Church Militant sued Parrott for defamation in November, after he falsely accused this apostolate of extortion, blackmail and threats to his family, among other crimes. The litigation ended on Sept. 27, when Parrott admitted to his wrongdoing, apologized for his defamation and agreed to pay a portion of attorneys' fees.

In spite of his apology, he has left his defamatory content up.

In his now-dismissed countersuit, Parrott blamed the loss of his family's military health benefits on Church Militant. At his July deposition, where he was caught in numerous falsehoods, he was unable to provide proof to substantiate this allegation.

As the USMC letter makes clear, it was Parrott's own serious misconduct and deceit that led to the Marines' decision to cut ties.

View clips from Mike Parrott's deposition.

View complete coverage of RTF Media.

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