I don’t know why he cooperated instead of what everyone should always do when arrested: demand a lawyer and then shut the hell up.
He said why in his statement afterwards. He knows the amount of privilege he has as a rich American public persona, and wanted to use said privilege to see what these interrogations were actually like. He had a line he wouldn’t let them cross (searching his phone), at which point he would have shut up and gotten his lawyer, but the interrogation ended rather abruptly once he asked if he was being detained and they let him go. He shared some interesting anecdotes from his time in the detention area, and it’s good that this is being reported on instead of being done in secret.
I’m not sure if you have a right to a lawyer in an interview. I think you would have to wait to be arrested but then you could go into holding for who knows how long.
You do have a right to a lawyer for an extended interview, but only as a US citizen. If they allege you’re a non-citizen, I’m not sure what your recourse is then.
A two-hour “interview” is more an intimidation tactic than an “interview”:
Piker, recounting the incident on his Twitch live stream on Monday, said he was led to a private room at Chicago O’Hare airport and interviewed for nearly two hours about his political views.
“The goal here is to put fear into people’s hearts, to have a chilling effect on speech that, like, the government is unafraid of intimidating you,” Piker said. “Does this stop me from saying whatever the fuck I want to say? Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous. But the reason why I wanted to talk about it was to give you more insight into what the government is doing, and to speak out against this sort of stuff.”
His responses were brilliant - and I’m taking note:
Piker repeatedly described the exchange as “cordial” but said he was transparent with the officer interviewing him that he planned to speak out about his experience, which the streamer said felt anything but random and “routine”.
Assuming the officer was familiar with his online commentary, Piker said he was candid about his views, telling the agent he was “not fond” of the US president.
He said the officer was particularly focused on his criticism of Israel’s prosecution of the Gaza war, asking him: “Do you like Hamas? Like, do you support Hamas? Do you think Hamas is a resistance group?”
In response, Piker said he told the officer that he was a “pacifist” and wanted “the endless bloodshed to end”.
“I just kept repeating that over and over again,” he said, describing the line of questioning as “insane” and a violation of his first amendment rights.
He does like and support Hamas, he proudly says it every other time but wimps out when there’s no camera on him.
Is he actually a pacifist? That was not my impression.
Yeah, all those times he advocates for the end of wars. Extreme bloodthirst, that Hasan, not wanting children to be killed.
You don’t have to be a pacifist to not want children to be killed. Pacifism is a very strong stance against violence that very few people adopt.
… cool. That’s what he said he is, so unless you have evidence he isn’t (not sure how) I’m going to agree with him that he’s a pacifist.
I’m not claiming he isn’t but considering I’ve not heard a word from him about this before today it doesn’t seem likely. He’s also made supportive statements of Hamas and Luigi Mangione—both very clearly not pacifists.
I mean, I don’t blame him for lying to get out of there but if he really is a pacifist that would be of interest to me since I find pacifism an interesting topic.
which the streamer said felt anything but random and “routine”.
I think the issue is this is routine…
He said the officer was particularly focused on his criticism of Israel’s prosecution of the Gaza war, asking him: “Do you like Hamas? Like, do you support Hamas? Do you think Hamas is a resistance group?”
In response, Piker said he told the officer that he was a “pacifist” and wanted “the endless bloodshed to end”.
If he had said anything close to “yes” to those questions, they’d have called him a terrorist and sent him to the death camp.
I know I am on lists. I flew out of ORD yesterday. I have TSAPrecheck. Metal detector flagged me for “random” additional screening, which means body scanner. Body scanner flagged my groin, I lifted my shirt to show my belt buckle. “No, it’s lower than that.” I got a big old feel up for my trouble.
I don’t even have two testicles. Now I know I’m on lists. That shit was not random.
Try flipping a coin and see if you get an unusual pattern after a few tosses. Could be some heads in a row or tails in a row or alternating.
They’re weighting the coins funny.
His responses were brilliant - and I’m taking note
No. Never talk to police.
There is no police and right to a legal defense anymore in the US. Just goons.
Not true. Don’t comply in advance.
I didnt meant to say that you should give them anything, just that you shouldnt expect to be granted the rights you might expect. They will absolutely just put you in a cell for days, weeks, months if you dont answer their questions. People should be prepared for that.
Don’t expect it, demand it. Dissidents like Rumeya Ozturk have been freed after pursuing justice in the courts. What you say could happen but then it will be up t lo public pressure to force them to comply with the constitution and laws.
In the absence of legal protections, there is still no benefit of talking to police, even in the face of torture. Thugs have already made the decision to hurt you by the time they pull you off the street, nothing you say will convince them otherwise, and everything you say will be twisted to justify their behavior.
