OAN’s Brooke Mallory
4:35 PM – Sunday, May 28, 2023
Texas resident Daniel Goodwyn had appeared on Tucker Carlson’s program less than two months after he pleaded guilty to entering the U.S. Capitol. On the show, he promoted a website showing supporters where they could send money to him and other protesters, whom the site referred to as political prisoners.
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In a move that is part of a rising government effort to stop what they call “dissidents” from being able to directly profit from taking part in major protesting events, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is now working towards getting Goodwyn to forfeit more than $25,000 of the money that he raised.
According to an examination of court documents by the Associated Press, in more than 1,000 criminal cases dating back to January 6th, 2021, prosecutors are increasingly seeking judges to impose fines in addition to prison terms to make up for donations from supporters of the U.S. Capitol protesters.
Numerous defendants have started online fundraising campaigns to raise money for their legal fees, and prosecutors have already admitted that it is acceptable and legal for them to do so.
However, due to the fact that many of those accused have received government-funded legal representation, the Justice Department has questioned where the money is actually going.
The majority of the fundraising is done through the platform GiveSendGo, which has become a shelter for January 6th defendants who are prohibited from utilizing more mainstream crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe. As they agree to plea bargains and cooperate with prosecutors, the protesters frequently insist on their innocence and insinuate that they are no worse than the BLM rioters, who caused much more property damage and violence overall, all the while being praised by networks like CNN and MSNBC and facing barely any legal repercussions.
“The vast majority of citations and charges against George Floyd protesters were ultimately dropped, dismissed or otherwise not filed, according to a Guardian analysis of law enforcement records and media reports in a dozen jurisdictions around the nation,” the center-left-leaning outlet reported.
The January 6th protestors’ success in collecting donations demonstrates that many Americans continue to support them as patriots and lovers of freedom and truth. That notion has also been strengthened by former President Trump himself, who promised to forgive a “large portion” of protesters if elected.
Markus Maly, a Virginia resident whose sentencing for allegedly assaulting Capitol police is set for next month, earned more than $16,000 through an internet fundraising campaign that referred to him as a “January 6 P.O.W.” and requested donations for his family. The prosecution is asking for a fine of at least $16,000 due to the fact that Maly had a public defender and no outstanding legal fees.
“He should not be able to use his own notoriety gained in the commission of his crimes to ‘capitalize’ on his participation in the Capitol breach in this way,” wrote a prosecutor in court papers.
So far this year, prosecutors have reportedly requested more than $390,000 in fines from at least 21 protester suspects, with amounts ranging from $450 to more than $71,000.
Additionally, 33 U.S. Capitol breach defendants have received fines totaling at least $124,127 from judges this year. Judges imposed fines totaling more than $240,000 on more than 100 riot suspects during the previous two years.
Separately, judges have also mandated that hundreds of protesters who were found guilty pay the government more than $524,000 in reparations to offset the more than $2.8 million in damages to the Capitol and other costs associated with the events of January 6th. How they came up with these figures is unclear.
“There’s a segment of the population that is sympathetic toward the plight of these defendants,” said William Shipley, an attorney for Nathaniel DeGrave, one of the men facing the court system who was present on January 6th.
“Until they admit they committed a crime, they’re perfectly entitled to shout from the rooftops that the only reason they’re being held is because of politics,” Shipley asserted. “It’s just First Amendment political speech.”
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