WorldNetDaily, it seems, can’t stop publishing false and dubious claims about the Capitol riot after all these years. An April 11 article by Bob Unruh is a stenography job on a lawsuit Republican Rep. Troy Nehls filed against the Capitol Police for entering his office during the riot, claiming that, in Unruh’s words, an officer “forced his way into Nehls’ congressional office without consent, then photographed materials in the room, including a whiteboard with a discussion of proposed firearms legislation.” As usual, Unruh refused to seek out the other side of the story, in which the Capitol Police pointed out that Nehls’ office was “open and unsecured” and that police are directed to document that and secure the office. The Capitol Police have also criticized Nehls for “spreading unfounded conspiracy theories” about its officers’ actions.
Alicia Powe, meanwhile, served up yet another whitewash from another rioter whining that he was held accountable for his actions in an April 21 article:
They came before dawn.
Not with facts. Not with a warrant for justice. But with battering rams, AR-15s, flash grenades and the chilling certainty of a government gone rogue.
Zachary Rehl, a Marine Corps veteran and former leader of the Philadelphia Proud Boys chapter, was yanked from his home at gunpoint by an army of FBI agents as if he were a terrorist.
His wife, six months pregnant, watched helplessly as federal agents dragged away the man she loved.
His crime? Supporting President Donald Trump and walking peacefully through the U.S. Capitol building for 20 minutes on Jan. 6, 2021, a misdemeanor by every legal standard, but under a weaponized, Biden-era DOJ, that stroll became a “seditious conspiracy.”
Rehl carried no weapon. He committed no violence. Yet, he was branded an enemy of the state, stripped of his honor, his military benefits were revoked and he practically starved to death while locked in solitary confinement for nearly three years and denied bail.
Powe is lying — again. As we’ve documented after Powe’s previous whitewashes, Rehl 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.
Even though she has discredited herself by repeatedly lying about about what Rehl actually did during the riot, Powe pushed a conspiracy theory designed to exonerate him and other rioters: “Explosive court filings containing internal FBI communications expose what appears to be a calculated, malicious campaign by activist agents within the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center to destroy Zach Rehl’s life, secure convictions at any cost and shatter his family in the process.” Further demonstrating her dishonest bias, Powe concluded her article with a link to Zehl’s legal defense fund, which similarly whitewashes his violence and criminality.