WND Publishes Another Gateway Pundit Article Pushing Violent Capitol Rioter’s Purported Sob Story

WorldNetDaily republished yet another piece from the discredited Gateway Pundit peddling another sob story about a Capitol rioter. From the Dec. 31 article by former WND writer Alicia Powe:

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons acts as the coercion arm of the politically weaponized Department of Justice, torturing J6 political hostages to coerce them into flipping on Trump in exchange for their freedom.

Viral photographs of Samsel allegedly locked in a “hard cell” in FDC Philadelphia are a glimpse of the cruel and unusual treatment he’s endured in a series of assaults by correctional officers in pretrial custody and attempts by dirty cops to manipulate him with enhanced interrogation to cooperate in a plea agreement.

During multiple interrogations, FBI agents allegedly pressured Samsel into taking a deal that entailed affirming their bogus narrative claiming the January 6 “insurrection” was conspired by the Proud Boys and President Trump to go home or pay the price.

As in previous Gateway Pundit articles WND has republished, Powe refused to explain to readers what, exactly, Samsel is accused of doing during the riot — specifically, knocking over a Capitol Police officer while trying to destroy barricades around the Capitol, causing her to suffer a concussion. And Powe definitely won’t tell readers about Samsel’s history of criminality and violence, including the fact that at the time of the riot, he had an open warrant regarding accusations that he broke into a woman’s house to attack her and was on parole for brutally assaulting his pregnant girlfriend. Samsel also reportedly wrote a letter talking about getting rid of politicians with a woodchipper, and he has previously made several statements about stabbing or punching FBI agents.

But at the Gateway Pundit, just as with WND, narrative is more important than facts, so Powe went on to repeat unsubstantiated claims about Samsel’s purported mistreatment in prison. Powe also complained that the the fact that nothing Samsel said has been proven was called out:

State-run fact-checker Snopes immediately tried to delegitimize Samsel’s story about being tortured, citing a public affairs official at the Federal Bureau of Prisons who claimed the photos where he is locked in the hard cell “do not depict a cell at FDC Philadelphia.” Jail personnel including BOP public affairs officials have a history of demonstrably lying to this publication.

An article published by 1776 Returns.com titled, “The Tangled Web of J6 Truth And Lies In The Case of Ryan Samsel” claims the photos were not real, blasting TGP for publishing “malarkey.” Using a voice-changing device, two men who claimed to be inmates told the publication Samsel’s story was “fabricated” and the photos were taken in a janitor’s closet.

“All of the stories recently on The Gateway Pundit — his interviews with eyepatches saying his arms don’t work, and a picture of him laying down in some broom closet –they are completely fabricated,” a man with a concealed voice told 1776 Returns reporter Mel Hawley. “When I saw that picture I started laughing my ass off. I’m like, he’s in a fucking janitor’s closet… The fact that everybody is blowing it up with this story and I’m sitting back here going really guys — you’re really going to fall for this?”

“I haven’t heard from Ryan in a minute. Maybe he’s just back in the janitor’s closet,” Hawley reports. “Which guard was cleaning out your potty bucket? Who took these pics? How did these pics get ‘leaked?’ Was the janitor mad that his closet was appropriated?”

“All those who were fooled into thinking this is not the American prison system. Think again. This is real,” Samsel said in response to the “fact-checks.” “I’m not the only one who was caged in that cell, it was just my turn. People don’t believe this is a real thing. This is the American prison system.”

Still, Powe offered nothing to substantiate Samsel’s claims or to prove the 1776 Returns article incorrect.

Interestingly, when Samsel was convicted on riot-related charges earlier this month along with four others, WND was completely silent — not even bothering to regurgitate Gateway Pundit propaganda about it.