We’ve documented how WorldNetDaily is further discrediting itself by republishing factually deficient whitewashes and sob stories about Capitol rioters from the even more discredited far-right website Gateway Pundit. That pathetic tradition continued with a republished Feb. 24 article by the Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft:
Chris Kuehne was sentenced on Friday for his actions on January 6, 2021 at the US Capitol.
Chris is a 22-year veteran who received numerous medals and awards, including the Purple Heart, a Navy Commendation Medal with Valor, and a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Valor for actions in combat.
Chris has personally sacrificed his blood, sweat, and tears serving our country and has paid the price for his duty and continues to live with debilitating and invisible injuries. Even before this Chris has protected people and helped people in need. As a 9-year-old Cub Scout he was awarded the Boy Scouts of America’s highest honor, the Medal of Merit, for saving his young sister from a burning car.
On January 6, 2021, Chris went inside the Capitol but did not cause any harm or damage – in fact he cleaned trash off the floor, helped to stop theft of government property, asked people to leave the building, and went up to Capitol Police Officers to ask how he could help. Chris was also set-up by an FBI operative that day. Chris committed no violence and did nothing wrong.
Hoft doesn’t have the guts to tell his (and WND’s) readers the full story of Kuehne’s offenses. For that, we have to turn to an actual news organization:
The government said in its sentencing memorandum that Kuehne was a vocal advocate of violence regarding a potential confrontation with Antifa and Black Lives Matter in the lead-up to Jan. 6. “On January 3, in a planning chat with other Kansas City Proud Boys members and prospects, he told the group: ‘Be prepared not only to beat down but when you do action of violence so utterly massive that we send a message,’” the memorandum said. “He later continued: ‘This is going to get kinetic quick. If a soy boy or girl wants to get it on they need to expect a hospital trip…its the only thing they understand.’”
Kuehne drove to Washington with other Proud Boys from the Kansas City area, the document said, bringing at least one AR-15 style rifle with him on the trip. They stayed in a rental property on Jan. 5, it said, and Kuehne “continued to encourage and instruct the others in tactical preparations for the activities of the next day.” He stressed the importance of having a recognizable identifier, such as a piece of reflective tape, that would allow the group’s members to recognize one another in the crowd, the document said. The morning of Jan. 6, the government’s filing said, Kuehne and the others went to the national mall “outfitted for violence” and wearing orange tape Kuehne had bought and distributed. Kuehne could be seen in photos and videos from that day with two rolls of tape strapped to a backpack and a strip of tape on the back of the ballistic helmet he was wearing.
[…]A group that included Kuehne and other Kansas City Proud Boys chased police officers out of the Crypt and into an area leading to the Capitol Visitor Center, the document said. Officers tried to escape to safety behind an overhead gate that was being lowered.
[…]In the days after the riot, the government’s document said, Kuehne destroyed evidence of the crime and told others in the group to delete their messages and photos, keep a low profile and stop texting one another.
Rather than tell the truth, Hoft chose instead to portray a violent rioter as victim by complaining about how he was arrested:
One month later, in the early morning of February 11, 2021 Chris, his four-year-old child, and his wife Annette, who was pregnant at the time were awakened to sirens, cell phone rings, and bursts of colorful lights reflecting through our windows.
[…]Today we have exclusive video of Annette holding her crying son as armed FBI agents raided their home! Their boy was terrified and crying after FBI goons lit up his little face with red lasers and woke him up with armored vehicles surrounding their home.
We are losing America to these heartless tyrants.
The little boy is crying for his daddy. This was taken the morning of the raid.
Annette Kuehne was forced outside barefoot in February in Kansas. Annette miscarried their baby the next day.
Hoft failed to explain why anyone should have sympathy for a man who tried to overthrow the government. Instead, he still tried to portray Kuehne — who was a member of the violent Proud Boys, something Hoft failed to mention — as a victim: “For the record, Chris was setup by an FBI operative who was embedded in his Kansas City group before Jan. 6.” But as the actual news organization further reported, this “FBI operative” didn’t actually do much, and the government filed a motion saying the informant was an unreliable witness and that the “credibility of his reporting was impeached” on several issues, pointing out that the alleged informant “entered the Capitol building without authorization from his FBI handlers” and “had a profound incentive to minimize his own culpability and that of his companions.”
It can also be argued that if Kuehne had not traveled to Washington to try and overthrow the government, his wife wouldn’t have been traumatized by his arrest and miscarried. Hoft didn’t mention that possibility.
Further, While Kuehne did issue something of an apology, officials noted that he was merely trying to minimize his own conduct and made “no mention whatsoever of the injuries to persons and the damage to property that occurred on January 6, let alone the damage to the country’s democratic institutions.”
Kuehne got off pretty lightly for what he did — he was sentenced to 75 days in prison and two years of supervised release. Still, Hoft whined, “His son will forever be traumatized for this wicked act by his government.” Yes, Hoft thinks it’s “wicked” to hold people accountable for the crimes they commit — and, apparently, so does WND.