First Amendment Auditor Shade George “Audit Them” Ghanayem responded to criticism aimed at our release of a document in his on-going civil and criminal cases against David “Dr. Dave” Coulter on Thursday by filming himself going to the cook County, Illinois, Courthouse and attempting to prove that the document was real.
The document, which we obtained through a source not related to either Ghanayem or Coulter, purported itself to be a conditions of pretrial release instruction for Coulter, who is currently on trial for violating a civil protective order obtained by Ghanayem.
Almost immediately after posting it, criticism of the document flooded in. Accusations were made towards the document being faked as there appeared to be multiple different handwriting samples on the page and Coulter denied that his instructions included giving up his firearms.
Ghanayem livestreamed during his ride over to the Cook County Courthouse and then restarted the stream when he entered the records room of the facility. He interacted with other patrons and approached a computer to access the records associated with the case and showed the document that we released last week.
Screen shots of the document (available on both our YouTube community page and the text version of this document) matched the document we released last week. This includes the alleged multiple handwriting samples.
He followed it up with the same details of the pre-release conditions within the computer system itself. They clearly show:
- Refrain from possessing a firearm or other dangerous weapon
- Surrender FOID to Clerk and Firearms to Law Enforcement by
- Refrain from communicating with particular persons
- Refrain from going to certain geographic areas
It also apparently sets a court date for September 29, 2026.
Critics were quick to jump on our publication of the screen shots from his livestream. They correctly pointed out that while the screen shots prove that the document is authentic, it does not actually prove the need for a protective order against Coulter or the criminal case pending against Coulter for allegedly violating the protective order.
There also remained criticism of the protective order being classified in a domestic violence court, since Coulter lives in Ohio and Ghanayem lives in Illinois and the two are not part of a domestic couple.
This can be explained, however, as all protective order cases in Cook County are handled by the domestic violence courts.
Further criticism has been made towards Ghanayem’s case as Coulter has classified his videos telling Ghanayem to “go jump in a lake” as supposed “death threat” included in Ghanayem’s petition for the protective order.
Others have criticized Ghanayem’s previous actions against Coulter, including allegedly swatting Coulter earlier this year when Coulter was going to a hospital for blood work. Police investigated the incident but declined to press charges against Ghanayem or anyone else for that incident.
Ghanayem himself has used the on-going action against Coulter to warn Coulter’s associates that they may be facing future charges as well for helping Coulter to allegedly violate the protective order. While he did not specify who he was targeting, he said someone from New York and someone from Texas would be the next to be targeted by his actions.
Coulter and Ghanayem’s YouTube rivalry has been legendary over the past few years as both are considered to be “gateway drugs” into the world of first amendment auditors. That rivalry is not expected to end after the civil and criminal cases resolve, and Coulter has pledged that he will be vindicated in up-coming court hearings when he is allowed to present his side of the story.
This is a developing news story.
