Mayor Lied In Hate Crime Hoax Probe But DOJ Refused To Charge Him, FBI Official Says

The FBI referred Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade for prosecution for making false statements related to a hate crime hoax intended to boost his candidacy, but the Department of Justice refused to pursue it for racial and political reasons, an FBI official told The Daily Wire.

On Nov. 12 the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado announced that three of Mobolade’s supporters had been charged with writing the n-word on one of his campaign signs, erecting a burning cross in front of it, and sending video of the spectacle to the news media to turn out the black vote for Mobolade, an African immigrant. Mobolade, a left-wing candidate, went on to defeat a white Republican in a closely fought election in the conservative-leaning city.

Communications obtained by investigators showed that the now-mayor was in close contact with the lead suspect, Derrick Bernard, before the incident, on the day of, and afterward.

The FBI interviewed Mobolade twice to determine his knowledge of the hoax, and Mobolade explicitly and strenuously denied contact with Bernard, the official said. The official said there were dozens of messages between Bernard and the now-mayor. The official also said Mobolade was scrolling through his phone as a memory aide during the interview, but that “he was literally skipping over text messages,” not realizing that the bureau had already obtained them elsewhere.

Bernard is a career criminal who was sentenced to 32 months in prison in 2018, allegedly attempted to kill two police officers, and has since been convicted of an unrelated murder of a rapper who disrespected him.

As a result of Mobolade’s conduct in the interviews, the FBI referred the now-mayor to the Department of Justice to face charges for making false statements to federal investigators, the official said. But the Justice Department refused.

“The initial response from the Department of Justice was ‘we can’t indict the first black mayor of Colorado Springs,’” the official said, adding “In my experience if anyone had been in that position they would have been charged with lying to a federal agent.”

Instead, the Justice Department arranged for Mobolade to do a third interview.

“During that interview, most of his answers consisted of ‘I do not recall.’ This was contrary to his interview answers from the previous two interviews where he denied involvement very strongly,” the official said. The DOJ then told the FBI it would not charge him with false statements.

The would-be hate crime occurred in 2023 between an April 4 general election and a May runoff election that was scheduled because the general election was so close. Earlier this month, arrest warrants were issued against the three suspects, and on November 12, the case was unsealed and made public.

Acting U.S. Attorney for Colorado Matt Kirsch put out a press release that day that misrepresented the candidate’s role. It said Bernard sent a message “to the other defendants” that said he was “mobilizing my squad” for “black ops.” But that message, according to the actual indictment, was sent to the now-mayor, not to Blackcloud and West. The message also notified Mobolade that “I spoke with some of my friends in other places and theirs [sic] a plot amidst.”

When The Daily Wire asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Colorado for comment on the allegation that it rejected an FBI criminal referral for false statements and included a false statement in its press release, a spokesman said “we have no comment” and stealth-edited the press release to strike the phrase “to the other defendants.”

Yet Mobolade seemed to expect even more from the Justice Department. On November 13, The Daily Wire emailed the mayor’s spokespeople asking about his communications with Bernard. That day, he personally called the Justice Department to request that it put out a second press release saying he was not a subject in the hoax hate crime investigation, the official said.

The Justice Department seemed open to doing so, and consulted the FBI about it. But the FBI was taken aback by the request, because the mayor was, in fact, on investigators’ radar, the official said. Additionally, such a statement would come just as the other defendants had a reason to provide information about any involvement by Mobolade as part of plea deals, and an unusual and premature exoneration from the DOJ could derail that, the official said.

The indictment relates several other interactions raising questions about whether Mobolade knew about Bernard’s hoax either before or after.

Early in the morning on April 23, 2023, the trio allegedly staged the hate crime and emailed photographs to media outlets from an anonymous email address. The email used the supposed hate crime to turn out black voters.

That night, Bernard texted Mobolade, “I guarantee the finish,” referring to winning the election, the indictment says. Three days later, on April 26, Mobolade and Bernard spoke on the phone for five minutes, the indictment says.

Law enforcement mounted an intensive investigation to get to the bottom of an apparent white supremacist hate crime. But as the NAACP pressed for a full-scale investigation into the incident, Mobolade’s campaign seemed to hope for the opposite, saying it was probably a hoax and asking not to give it “any oxygen.” Mobolade has not explained what led him to believe it was a hoax.

Local media covered the incident as Bernard intended, and Mobolade won the May 16 election with 58% in what local news called a “stunning turn of events.” That day, Bernard allegedly texted the candidate saying, “we got you through it all brother.” He added, “I have the info you requested before. Another time though, we’ll handle business.” Bernard texted Blackcloud a link to city job openings and implied that he anticipated a favor from Mobolade, saying, “I want favors quicker than later.”

Bernard, Blackcloud, and West are charged with using interstate commerce to make a threat and convey false information, but not with a hate crime or election interference.

Mobolade did not return a request for comment from The Daily Wire with specific questions. He previously sent a statement saying, “My knowledge and interaction with Bernard was as a local media personality, and I was not aware at the time that he was suspected of this crime. I appreciate local and federal law enforcement’s work in pursuing justice and sending a message that we will not tolerate such reprehensible behavior.”