Free Republic

Dr. Ron Paul has warned of Soviet-style political persecution of conservatives amid detention and torture of January 6 protesters. In an article on Monday, Paul wrote the conviction of protester Paul Hodgkins was a miscarriage of justice. “He said the words Joe Biden’s Justice Department wanted to hear,” he explained. “Words reminiscent of the sort of Soviet-style confessions beaten out of political dissidents the world over: ‘Joseph R. Biden is rightfully and respectfully the president of the United States.'” Paul went on to say Hodgkins did not commit any violence and he was punished for his political views. “The saving...

The January 6 Capitol clash may be the gift that keeps on giving to cynics everywhere. In the coming months, Americans will likely see jaw-dropping bureaucratic debacles, stunning abuses by federal prosecutors, and appalling bloodlust by angry Biden supporters. Perhaps the least likely outcome is that the coming train wreck will restore faith in American democracy. The Justice Department declared last week, “The investigation and prosecution of the Capitol Breach will be the largest in American history, both in terms of the number of defendants prosecuted and the nature and volume of the evidence.” The feds are sorting through “237,000...

Capitol siege defendant Paul Hodgkins was captured on surveillance video inside the U.S. Senate Chamber on Jan. 6, 2021. To the right, Qanon Shaman Jacob Chansley is partially visible in the frame. Captured on surveillance video waving a Donald Trump flag near the dais of the U.S. Senate Chamber on Jan. 6th, Florida man Paul Hodgkins received an 8-month prison term on Monday. Hodgkins is the first person on the U.S. Capitol breach docket to be sentenced for committing a felony, and prosecutors argued a stiff sentence was necessary to keep others from engaging in acts of “domestic terrorism.”

U.S. prosecutors this week put a price tag on damage to the U.S. Capitol from the Jan. 6 breach — $1.5 million so far — and for the first time are asking defendants to cover some of the bill in plea offers, prosecutors and defense lawyers said. The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington cited the damage estimate Wednesday in court and in plea papers filed in the case of Paul Hodgkins, 38. The Tampa crane operator pleaded guilty to one felony count of obstructing an official proceeding of Congress and faces sentencing July 19 in Washington. “Your client acknowledges that...