What the hell is going on at the Hotel Wolcott? Yesterday, local reporter Jason Goodman, who goes by "Crowdsource The Truth" on X, took video of military personnel inside the hotel, where he was turned away and told he couldn't film. The clip was reposted by conservative gadfly Laura Loomer, and today, The Gateway Pundit picked up the story.
Fanning the flames, Loomer claimed last night that a federal law enforcement officer told her that the New York National Guard had begun staging troops in hotels around the New York State Supreme Court, where Donald Trump will be sentenced on September 18th. Ostensibly, the troops were placed there to manage the potential chaos when Trump will be jailed following his sentencing, according to Loomer.
In a later tweet, Goodman claimed that today, a day after his clip went viral, the military personnel were no longer present at the Wolcott. He went back to the Wolcott, walked inside, and indeed, no uniformed military were present. [Skip to 22:30 for the Wolcott scene.]
On the flip side of the fracas, another local reporter who goes by "Viral News NYC" poked holes in the Goodman story. Viral News claimed to have spoken to "multiple sources" at the hotel who confirmed that it is one of the many hotels commandeered by the city for the purpose of housing migrants.
The Wolcott is one of the 135 NYC hotels repurposed to house migrants.
Predictably, the story has spawned many theories. So what's the upshot?
We are familiar with Jason Goodman from the period where we both covered the Trump trial outside of the NY Supreme Court. His style is abrasive. His goal appears to be to goad individuals into making statements that he can use to generate clicks. Nothing wrong with that, but it should be noted.
Viral News NYC breaks local stories as well. His work is balanced. He and Goodman have had their disagreements in the past.
Laura Loomer is infamous for her brash style. Politicians live in fear of being #Loomered. Love or hate her, she has had several major scoops, especially lately.
Our take: this could be nothing...or it could be huge. Viral News correctly states that military personnel have been stationed in migrant hotels for a long time. We have seen troops in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown, one of the first large hotels to be repurposed. So Goodman's claim that military in NYC hotels is newsworthy falls flat.
With that said, Viral News NYC's claim that nothing nefarious is going on here is naive. The fact that we have normalized military in our hotels that are luxuriously housing illegal aliens is absurd.
Also, Loomer's sources have proven accurate in the past. There's a reason she is still relevant. Lastly, Goodman's follow up video shows zero military personnel in the Wolcott lobby or in front of the building. Their absence is more suspicious than if they had still been present today.
We have begun to investigate the claims made by Loomer today, and the migrant hotel/military situation broadly. More to come on this developing story.
