On Jan. 11, 2024 conservative US YouTuber Gonzalo Lira died in a Ukrainian prison, where he was held for the crime of criticizing the war, and the US and Ukrainian governments. Now, a FOIA request by Judicial Watch sheds stark light on the Biden Regime’s complete failure to stand up for a US political prisoner in a Ukrainian prison. The e-mails reveal the US Embassy was aware of threats to Gonzalo Lira’s life, which it considered “no rush.”
After Gonzalo Lira’s death, the Embassy was mostly concerned with spin control and how to “beef up press guidance” to address the question of “why didn’t the U.S. government do more to assist Mr. Lira?”
YouTuber Gonzalo Lira (aka “Coach Red Pill”) was arrested in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 1, 2023, by a heavily armed SWAT team of the Ukrainian SBU secret police for the crime of “justifying Russian aggression,” which translates as “criticizing the war and the government.” On July 6, he was released on bail and attempted to leave the country for Hungary on his motorcycle, posting a video on the way. On Aug. 1, he was rearrested and imprisoned in solitary confinement (SIZO) in Kharkiv.
Gonzalo Lira married a Ukrainian woman and moved to Ukraine in 2020, with whom he has two children. They later separated. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2021, he found himself in the middle of a shooting war. In his videos, he frequently criticized the mainstream media, the Ukrainian and US governments, and specifically former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (2021-2024) Victoria Nuland.
The Gateway Pundit filed a FOIA request on Jan. 15, 2024, four days after his death, for all communications concerning the death of Gonzalo Lira between Victoria Nuland and US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink. Eleven months later, the State Department is stalling on this request and recently wrote that the request would not be completed until March 31, 2026. We have now applied for expedited processing due to the overwhelming public interest in this case, which involved the death of a US citizen held as a political prisoner in a country that has received $113 billion in US aid.
After our FOIA request, Secretary of State Antony Blinken suddenly announced the retirement of then-Acting Deputy SecState Victoria Nuland on March 5, surprising many. Ukraine policy architect Nuland was widely considered to be vying for the top job until the Lira case blew up. In September, Nuland joined the board of the Deep State front organization National Endowment for Democracy.
Meanwhile, Judicial Watch has filed a more general FOIA request pertaining to the case of Gonzalo Lira, which does not focus specifically on the communication between Nuland and Ambassador Brink.
The Department of State released 769 heavily redacted pages to Judicial Watch in May, October and November 2024. The Gateway Pundit has received these documents from Judicial Watch and can report exclusively on the State Department’s egregious failure to save Gonzalo Lira’s life and subsequent attempts at spin.
The documents show that the U.S. Embassy became aware of Gonzalo Lira’s arrest on May 11 via mail from the Ukrainian secret police SBU dates May 2. “He is formally charged with a violation of Article 436-2 part of the (Ukrainian) criminal code “Justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants.” Mr. Lira operates a YouTube site where he posts numerous videos that criticize the Ukrainian and U.S. governments, to whom he attributes blame for the war in Ukraine”, an Embassy staffer wrote to Ambassador Bridget Brink Aug. 3, with a full timeline of events to date (see photos).
After Lira’s attempt to leave the country for Hungary and his rearrest on July 31, the US Embassy American Citizen Services (ACS) Department spoke to him on the phone on August 4, 2023, and “tried to ask Mr. Lira about his mental and physical health. Mr. Lira repeatedly interrupted this inquiry with extended monologues about threats to his life and safety, believing the Ukrainian government would actively conspire to have him killed by inmates in prison”, an embassy e-mail reads. The names of the embassy personnel are redacted. (Emphasis added by TGP.)
The emails make it clear the embassy did not attach a high priority to helping Lira and referred to his attempt to escape alive as “his attempt to abscond to Hungary.” There is no evidence the US embassy took any steps to allow Gonzalo Lira to leave the country, which ultimately took his life until Jan. 82024, when it was too late.
A subsequent August 4 e-mail noted that “he (name redacted – possibly Lira’s public defender) requested that the U.S. Embassy reengage with local authorities regarding Mr. Lira’s case, which had decreased in frequency when Mr. Lira was released on bail.”
The e-mails show how the State Department willfully parroted the false charges of being a “Russian agent” that cost Gonzalo Lira’s life.
On Aug. 3, American Citizen Services (ACS) Kiev wrote to ACS offices in Hungary, Moldavia, Slovakia, and Romania – the general direction in which Gonzalo Lira was attempting to flee Ukraine “as a heads up from Kyiv (sic) ACS, most relevantly to Hungary, but potentially to all our neighbors. Gonzalo Lira is a U.S. citizen and outspoken pro-Putin blogger previously arrested in Ukraine on charges related to wartime propaganda. Mr. Lira is very popular among certain niche populations, (That’s us – TGP editor’s note) and our public inbox is full of his followers. (We do not engage or respond.) After his arraignment, the Ukrainian government released him on bail without an ankle monitor and gave him back both his motorcycle and passport. He’s been a bit of a headache to the Ukrainian government, so we suspect they’re hoping he’ll quietly disappear from the country.”
The American Citizen Services department in Kiev thus agreed with Gonzalo Lira’s estimation of his July 31 video on the way to the border: that he had been given a wink by Ukrainian authorities to go ahead and jump bail to leave the country.
Amazingly, no one at American Citizen Services Kiev seems to have had any interest in assisting this American Citizen in leaving the war-torn country that was out to get him.
Contradicting his hunch the Ukrainians may want to get rid of him, Lira was arrested at the Hungarian border and sent back to prison in Kharkiv, where ACS spoke with his lawyer on August 21 ahead of his hearing on August 22.
Lira’s lawyer “commented that he believes the court does not think that the US embassy is interested enough in Lira’s case and that this might impact the court’s decision. However, Kyiv (sic) ACS believes (the lawyer’s) characterization is predicated on his desire to use the U.S. Embassy as a part of his defense strategy by over-emphasizing our role. Kyiv ACS plans to attend tomorrow’s hearing and will follow up to report the events of the day.”
After the hearing on August 23, the Embassy noted that Lira’s lawyer “did not notice any visible signs of physical abuse from this latest detention. He requested that the U.S. Embassy reengage with local authorities regarding Mr. Lira’s case.”
There is no indication the U.S. Embassy did so in any meaningful way in the e-mails.
Speaking to Tucker Carlson, Gonzalo Lira’s father claimed Lira was tortured in prison in Kharkiv by inmates at the behest of the authorities in the Fall of 2023.
In November 2024, Ukrainian opposition lawmaker Alexander Dubinsky claimed he had irrefutable proof that Gonzalo Lira was murdered by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), TASS reported.
“We have come into possession of irrefutable proof that American citizen and blogger Gonzalo Lira was tortured in the Kharkov detention facility. He was beaten in the same way I was in the Kiev detention facility – he was taken to a cell, in putrid condition, where they extorted money from him. When he made this public, he was killed,” Dubinsky said on his Telegram channel.
Dubinsky claimed Lira’s captors broke the reporter’s ribs and threatened to gouge his eye out with a toothpick, TASS reported.
In December, Lira was scheduled to have another hearing as public interest began ramping up due to the Tucker Carlson interview. The Gateway Pundit began directing inquiries about Gonzalo Lira’s well-being and their efforts to secure his release at this time. These e-mails from The Gateway Pundit are also included in the Judicial Watch FOIA release.
A Dec. 6, 2023 e-mail from the U.S. Embassy Kiev ahead of Lira’s Dec. 21 hearing reads:
“On December 6, Kyiv (sic) ACS had an hourlong virtual visit with U.S.-Chilean dual citizen Gonzalo Lira”, the Embassy wrote, noting that “Mr. Lira was agitated and uncooperative throughout the conversation, often berating and threatening ACS… He spoke about his chronic heart issues and requested that the Embassy assist in getting him access to his personal e-mail…
Press. Mr. Lira explained that representatives of Tucker Carlson have attempted to contact him and his family for interviews. He demanded that the Embassy assist with scheduling. ACS offered to relay a request for more frequent contact to his attorney, but we do not intend further action for his request to organize media interviews.
Allegations against the U.S. government. Mr. Lira accused the U.S. government of (1) conspiring with the Ukrainian government to allow him to die in prison; (2) hindering progress in his criminal case; (3) obstructing his access to the Chilean embassy; and (4) failing to advocate for his release due to discrimination. Kyiv ACS rejects these allegations.
Threats to U.S. government officials. Mr. Lira claimed that he had provided the names of Kyiv ACS officers to third parties, who have doxxed these officials. (Our cursory online searches have not corroborated this claim.) Throughout the conversation, he made therats against numerous other U.S. government officials in the Administration and the State Department, including unspecified harm as well as litigation for unspecified claims.
Prosecution. Mr. Lira accused the Ukrainian government of prosecutorial misconduct. He believes the court-appointed translator to be “incompetent” and unable to capture the nuances of his allegedly seditious statements. ACS assured Mr. Lira that we will raise these issues with his attorney.”
As Lira responded with increasing anger and fear for his life, the U.S. Embassy appears to have done nothing to intervene on his behalf, instead responding haughtily and defensively:
“This visit does not sound pleasant and I don’t think anyone deserves to hear this garbage (yes, garbage)”, an unnamed Embassy official wrote in response on Dec. 6. “Question – What were the exact nature of the threats…? Justification – we of course want to provide consular services, but this should not come at the cost of being threatened and having colleagues’ (personal information) out there.”
“No need to answer now, no rush,” the same unnamed official wrote later that day.
Next: Gonzalo Lira’s Father Desperately Tries to Save his Son – State Dept. Spins his Death
