DOJ Going After Donations To January 6 Rioters

After trying to trash our democracy and install a fascist criminal in the Presidency on January 6, many of that day's seditionists have been raising funds allegedly for their defense, and the Justice Department is going after their loot.  Unsurprisingly, the rioters are typically presenting their cause as "political prisoners," instead of the felonious cultists that they are, and are using a Christofascist fundraising site to raise money:

"Most of the fundraising efforts appear on GiveSendGo, which bills itself as “The #1 Free Christian Fundraising Site” and has become a haven for Jan. 6 defendants barred from using mainstream crowdfunding sites, including GoFundMe, to raise money. The rioters often proclaim their innocence and portray themselves as victims of government oppression, even as they cut deals to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors.

Their fundraising success suggests that many people in the United States still view Jan. 6 rioters as patriots and cling to the baseless belief that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election from Donald Trump. The former president himself has fueled that idea, pledging to pardon rioters if he is elected."

As the Justice Department has noted, while many of the rioters are claiming to need the funds for legal expenses, many have Government-funded legal representation. Cases in point:

"Markus Maly, a Virginia man scheduled to be sentenced next month for assaulting police at the Capitol, raised more than $16,000 from an online campaign that described him as a “January 6 P.O.W.” and asked for money for his family. Prosecutors have requested a $16,000-plus fine, noting that Maly had a public defender and did not owe any legal fees." [snip]

More rioters facing the most serious charges and longest prison terms are now being sentenced. They tend to also be the prolific fundraisers, which could help explain the recent surge in fines requests.

Earlier this month, the judge who sentenced Nathaniel DeGrave to more than three years in prison also ordered him to pay a $25,000 fine. Prosecutors noted that the Nevada resident 'incredibly' raised over $120,000 in GiveSendGo fundraising campaigns that referred to him as 'Beijing Biden’s political prisoner' in 'America’s Gitmo' — a reference to the Guantanamo Bay detention center.  

'He did this despite seeking to cooperate with the government and admitting he and his co-conspirators were guilty since at least November 2021,' a prosecutor wrote." (our emphasis)

We hope that the Justice Department takes every penny of the funds raised by these seditious goons and uses it to fund their ongoing investigations into the January 6 attempted coup.

 (photo: Getty Images)