Last year, we documented how WorldNetDaily writer Alicia Powe whitewashed and outright lied about Capitol rioter Zachary Rehl in an attempt to dishonestly portray him as a victim, even more dishonestly claiming that the thuggish Proud Boys militia, of which Rehl was a member, was nothing more than a “drinking fraternity.” Powe tried to whitewash Rehl again in order to once again bestow victimhood on him in a July 10 WND article:
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Treasury Department are forcing Jan. 6 political prisoner Zachary Rehl, who was convicted of “seditious conspiracy,” to pay back every dollar of military benefits he received after the Capitol riot.
Zach’s wife Amanda thought she had endured the worst of the government’s abuse and humiliation of her husband and family.
But Zach, a Marine Corps veteran, was stripped of his military benefits after he and his co-defendants were found guilty of “seditious conspiracy” on May 4 by an overwhelmingly left-wing, pro-Biden, Washington, D.C. jury.
On Jan. 6, 2021, after Rehl was hit with rubber bullets, tear gas and flash grenades that police indiscriminately fired into the crowd, he walked through the Capitol building for approximately 12 minutes and took a few selfies.
Powe is once again lying about what Rehl did. In fact, he assaulted law enforcement by spraying a chemical irritant at them, lied about doing that during his trial, broke into a senator’s office where he smoked and posed for pictures, then expressed pride for the Proud Boys assault he helped lead afterwards in a message to his mother: ”Seems like our raid of the capital set off a chain reaction of events throughout the country.” Also, the article she wrote for Gateway Pundit she linked to as evidence that Rehl’s jury was “overwhelmingly left-wing, pro-Biden” contains absolutely no proof to back up that claim. Instead, Powe continued to push the bogus victim narrative:
A few weeks later, on March 17, 2021, Rehl was apprehended by the FBI in a predawn raid, when his wife was six months pregnant with her first child.
He and his co-defendants Ethan Nordean, Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs and Dominic Pezzola were practically starved for the 17 months they were detained in a 6-by-8-foot, windowless, freezing-cold jail cell in solitary confinement.
Zach’s brief stroll through “The People’s House” resulted in U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly handing him a stunning 15-year prison sentence for his role in the Capitol riot. Government prosecutors had sought a 30-year sentence.
[…]Nevertheless, Joe Biden’s Justice Department is not done making an example out of the Proud Boys leaders. Days after Zach was sentenced, his wife Amanda received a notice from the V.A. warning that he must immediately repay approximately $70,000 of military benefits he had received since Jan. 6, 2021.
The Rehls had already, understandably, spent their life savings and tens of thousands of dollars in donations provided by the American public on Zach’s criminal case, and simply do not have $70,000 to pay back.
In fact, incarcerated criminals typically lose many of their military benefits while in prison, and Powe offers no evidence that Rehl is being treated differently, even through the government’s attempted clawback of benefits received after he committed his crimes — she’s too committed to her bogus victimhood narrative to bother to do basic reporting. Indeed, she gave the sob-story treatment to Rehl’s wife:
It’s been a struggle to get a job,” Amanda stressed. “I can’t even get an interview. I don’t know if they’re not seeing experience that they want, or if they’re Googling my name and seeing my husband. I have been pinching pennies. I don’t do anything or go anywhere when it’s impossible to find a job with a daycare-aged child. I can’t afford to put her in daycare, it costs about $30,000 a year.
“We had an entire future planned out that we were working toward. We were putting our house up for sale. We were having a baby. We were buying a bigger house. We had so much planned, and with his arrest and everything that’s happened, I had to give up that future. I’ve become a single mom. My little girl just turned three. She has only been held by her dad three times in her entire life.
“It’s so crazy to think that this has happened to us when we’ve lived our lives to never be put in this situation. My husband’s not a criminal. He’s never gotten in trouble with the law to any capacity … to [now] be incarcerated for 15 years! He’s a good person.”
Regarding prison life, Amanda told WND: “They really don’t keep edible food in there, so you must purchase commissary. They also have to have basics, deodorant, toothpaste, clothes.”
Maybe her husband should have thought through the consequences to his family before he committed his crimes. No evidence is offered that Rehl is being treated any differently in prison than any other inmate. And it’s clear Amanda is in denial if she thinks her husband — a convicted felon — is a “good person” and didn’t ruin her life through his criminal behavior.
Powe followed this with Rehl’s complaints about funding cuts for prisons — though neither of them would ever care about that if it didn’t help their partisan narratives. Powe concluded with a whine from Rehl: “Is there any lawyers trying to actually get us out of prison? Because the end of the tunnel looks black, and I don’t see any light! Help me!” He seems shocked to have to face the consequences of his own behavior — and Powe and WND trying to help him evade those consequences.