Regular watchers of Fox News—which, okay probably isn't you, but they do comment here on the Merc site whenever we talk about gun legislation—will recognize long-time "terrorist analyst" and former self-proclaimed CIA special ops agent Wayne Simmons who has been appearing on such Fox shows as Fox and Friends and Your World with Neil Cavuto since 2002. ONLY HERE'S THE THING: He's apparently not a former CIA agent at all, and has been arrested for FAKING HIS ENTIRE CAREER. From CNN:

Simmons is accused of falsely claiming that he worked as an ‘outside paramilitary special operations officer’ for the CIA from 1973 to 2000. On Fox, this was often shortened to ‘former CIA operative.’ He was also indicted for using that false claim to gain government security clearances and an assignment as a defense contractor, where he advised senior military personnel overseas.

Oh, but it gets better! From Uproxx:

Simmons’ website states that he “spearheaded Deep Cover Intel Ops against some of the world’s most dangerous Drug Cartels and arms smugglers from Central and South America and the Middle East.” These claims (and his TV notoriety) led to more contracting assignments on behalf of the U.S. military. Simmons received an “interim secret security clearance” from the U.S., and he then worked as a “Human Terrain System Team Leader.”

Naturally, when asked for comment, a Fox News' PR flack coughed, harrumphed and deflected the accusation of repeatedly featuring a fake expert by saying he was "never a contributor for Fox News"—which is to say he was never PAID for his contributions. Nice try, Fox—but NOPE. (To be fair, Simmons also fooled the US government who, as mentioned above, actually gave him security clearance. Whoops.)

Simmons was tailor-made for Fox, however, and it's easy to see why they wanted him so badly to be real. According to the CNN article, Simmons often made shit up such as his dubious claim from January that there were "at least 19 paramilitary Muslim training facilities in the United States," as well as previously accusing President Obama of being a spineless novice, and insisting that waterboarding is not torture.

If convicted on fraud charges, Simmons could receive up to 35 years in prison. Fox News will continue doing what they always do, I guess, with no ramifications whatsoever.