NPR Publishes Hit Piece On Advocates Seeking Due Process For J6 Detainees
The article centers on the charity’s founder, Cynthia Hughes, who launched the group to support Jan. 6 defendants held for months on end.
National Propaganda Radio (otherwise known as the state-funded media outfit NPR) ran a hit-piece Thursday on a charity collecting donations for political prisoners held under the Biden regime over charges related to Jan. 6.
“Experts see ‘red flags’ at nonprofit raising big money for Capitol riot defendants,” NPR Investigations headlined, smearing the Patriot Freedom Project (PFP) as a shadow charity whose board is run by supervisors plagued with financial headaches of their own.
The article centers on the charity’s founder, Cynthia Hughes, who launched the group to support Jan. 6 defendants held now more than a year in reportedly inhumane conditions, and their coping families. Hughes’ own “adoptive nephew” is among those in jail.
“Over the last decade, NPR found, Hughes has filed multiple lawsuits, in which she represented herself, and publicly disclosed serious personal financial problems,” NPR wrote, outlining two lawsuits filed in 2013 and 2018 where Hughes sued credit agencies for thousands to change her rating. “Hughes stated in court documents that she struggled with late payments, poor credit scores, and the ripple effects of filing for bankruptcy in the 2000s. In each case, the parties either settled the claims, or the cases were dismissed outright.”
NPR invoked the testimony of “experts” to cite Hughes’ financial history as problematic while the group aims to raise eight-figure sums to fund the costly legal challenges of those held in detention and denied due process. The government outlet then used the testimony of disgruntled family members of other J6 defendants disenfranchised by the charity to smear the transparency of the project.
“Family members of some alleged Capitol rioters have questioned what the group’s criteria are for sending donations and begun pushing for more transparency,” NPR wrote. “‘A few of us have asked for transparency and got NO WHERE,’ said one family member.”
Behind-the-scenes politics related to those anonymously critical of the group failed to make it into the piece. Joseph McBride, a New York-based attorney representing several Jan. 6 defendants, told The Federalist he warned NPR of the bad-faith critics in advance.
“I spoke to the reporter beforehand and I let them know there was a family member who was hostile to what Cynthia was trying to do and cautioned him from publishing anything based on the person’s claims,” McBride said. “This family member is disgruntled and was denied a leadership role at PFP because of her inability to deal with people in a civilized manner.”
While branded as an organization blindly coming to rioters’ defense, the Patriot Freedom Project only offers assistance to those denied due process and meaningful representation.
“Patriot Freedom Project exists to fight for political prisoners. The ones that are being attacked by our own government and being denied due process and living in hellacious conditions in the D.C. jail,” a charity spokesperson told the outlet.
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