Speaker 1: And we are back with another edition of the Federalist
Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, Senior Elections correspondent at the
Federalist and your experienced Shirpa on today's quest for Knowledge.
As always, you can email the show at radio at
the Federalist dot com, follow us on exit FDRLST. Make
sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcast, and of
course to the premium version of our website as well.
Our guest today is Cynthia Hughes, founder and director of
Patriot Freedom Project. Cynthia founded the Patriot Freedom Project to
support January sixth defendants and their families. Her nephew is
Tim Hale, one of the many j six political prisoners
spent two twenty three hours a day in solitary confinement
in the DC Gulag on trumped up charges again politically
driven charges over the last few years in this country. Cynthia,
thank you so much for joining us on this edition
of the Federalist Radio Hour.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you for having me, and very happy
to be here with you.
Speaker 1: Yes, very glad to have you with us. And we
do intend to provide an update and where things stand.
But let's begin where unfortunately too many people are today
languishing in jails, in prison, some still awaiting to have
their day in court. As we record this, we're two
days away from Thanksgiving, where people, you know, we just
take for granted that we're going to be with our
family and friends and enjoy the time together. These folks
will not have that opportunity. How many people are still
languishing away in our prisons in America?
Speaker 2: I'm so happy to hear you ask this question and
to make that statement. So, you know, we have close
to sixteen hundred people in total that are caught up
in this mess. And of that number, we have a
little over three hundred people that are behind bars and
they're all you know, serving a sentence. And you know,
we in addition to that, we have people who are
facing you know, entry into prison because their case is
now adjudicated and they were sentenced. And on top of that,
you know, you still have a few people that have
not even gone to trial, who have not been convicted.
And so you know, switching gears now to you know,
to bring up the you know, the word pardon commutations.
I think our priority has to be the people that
are in jail right now, and I think our priority
after that needs to be the people that are facing jail,
people that are adjudicated, like my nephew Tim. They can
wait for their pardon. They had their time in court,
they did their time their home, they're with their family,
and we need to make sure that these men and
women who are behind bars right now, you know, are
with their family for the next holiday possible.
Speaker 1: And you've got some good news on this. You've had
a historic meeting with the President elect, who has been
very public about this and his concern about people that
you know, and you'll note as well, I know you
have in the past. There are some people who broke
the law here. There's there's no doubt about that. There
are some there are some things that happened that should
not have happened. Things turned violent, there are things that
happened that shouldn't have happened because there were people in
positions of authority who should have known better as well.
Yet they've yet to be held accountable on that front
as well. This began as a protest, you know, a
peaceful demonstration at the Capitol on January sixth, two thy
twenty one. Because people will believe that the system was
rigged that the election was not fair for so many
different reasons. They had a right to be there, just
like we think about the protesters of twenty twenty who
were protesting, you know, violence against individuals in terms of
law enforcement, those things turned riotous. Those you could think
of those things as insurrections or call them insurrections because
they involved federal or government buildings, which is the definition
therein Yet you know the same sort of justice, let
us call it was not meeted out. But to the point,
the immediate point, how confident are you that there will
ultimately be justice for the people who have been serving
time or FaceTime unjustly.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, let me say this. There's a lot
of unpack and everything that you just said, but I
will I will start with this. Anybody that really follows
President Trump and supports President Trump, then you know that
President Trump is a man of his word. You know,
a president who keeps promises. So we've heard President Trump
speak candidly multiple times now that he will be looking
very closely at these defendants or hostage hostages as he
calls them for pardons. That being said, you know, you
and I I think we can agree on this after
what you just said, uh, there are some people that
went to the Capitol on that day and did very
bad things. And even though we know that this was
an orchestrated effort from Nancy Pelosi and you know, the
mayor of DC, and God only knows who else, and
hopefully we're going to know that, uh, you know, in
the coming year. You got to keep your head about yourself, right,
And even though we know that the police, you know,
they were spraying people that they kind of you know,
started this, if you will, I mean, people like look
at my nephew, you know, people like Tim people like
you know, Sandy Wayer, people like uh, you know, Tom Caldwell,
Ken Harrelson. I mean, I could go The list is long,
Kelly Megs, Jessica Watkins, I could go on and on.
They kept their head about themselves. They were there to
hear their commander in chief speak, they were there to protest,
you know, what they thought was a fraudulent election, and
they didn't get violent. So you got to wonder about
the people who did. I'm sure there are some people
that you know, we're we're reacting, and I know several
people who I've spoken to the family, even the defendant
who in fact, you know, didn't react to being sprayed
and and their skin burning and their eyes burning, and
you know, their mouth burning because they were sprayed. So,
you know, tremendously with you know, the bear spread. But
I feel strongly that there's people that made the decision
that day to be violent, that came there would be
intent to be violent. And because of those people, hundreds
of people. Look at Julian Cater, you know, they're languishing
behind bars and they're suffering. I mean, poor Julian Cater
when you think about his story, I mean, this poor
kid is going to be hailed as a cop killer
for the rest of his life, and I don't know
if we're ever going to be able to make that
right for him. I'm very close with his family. I
see his father often. We both live here in New Jersey.
I don't know how we rectify some of these situations
for some of these people, but I do know this,
I have one hundred and fifty thousand percent faith in
President Trump that he.
Speaker 1: Will What has the President elect communicated to your organism?
I know this is, you know, the following a historic meeting.
What is the general theme here? You're you're getting from
the president to moving forward.
Speaker 2: Well, I wouldn't call it, you know, a meeting. I
would say, you know, there's been you know, multiple events
that I have or you know, organized with January sixth families,
and I've brought you know, a lot of the children
of these defendants to President Trump's properties here in Jersey
and in Florida, where President Trump has sat down with
these families and very publicly has said, you know that
he will be looking at their parents, you know, whether
it's their father or mother for pardons, that they're going
to have a great life under his next administration. You know,
he has very publicly said that, you know, these defendants
have been treated very unfairly, They've been denied their due process,
and he's made it very very clear that this is
going to be a big priority for him, you know,
on you know, starting on January twentieth. Now, you know,
I don't I can't say for sure, you know, what
his actual plans will be, but I can say this,
I trust him, I believe in him, and I know
that he keeps his word, and so I'm very confident
we will see swift action, very quickly.
Speaker 1: Here's a counterfactual and it perhaps is not good to
dwell on what might have been, particularly when it comes
to elections, but this thing could have been very difficult,
much more difficult had Kamala Harris won this last election.
I want to ask you, what do you think life
would be like for these people who have been going
through this trumped up judicial process four years now? What
would life be like for them had Kamala Harris and
Tim Walls one election?
Speaker 2: H Well, I think we both know the answer to that.
Kamala Harris number one time spoke about uh, the unlawful
you know, actions by Merrick Garland and his DJ or
you know, President Viben's DJ, and I don't think there
would have been any action. I don't think we would
have been I think if we were going to see anything,
it would have been an uptick in you know, in
a continuation of the witch hunt that has been you know,
happening for the past almost four years now. So to
say it's a relief, I you know, I mean, I did.
The hope that these families have now is you know,
is a wonderful thing. To say there was no hope.
People were worried, people were very, very worried that if
this woman had been elected president, which thank god she wasn't.
You know, they're working to see their loved one for
a long time. You know, you have men and even women,
you know, that are sitting in prison with very lengthy
prison sentences. Okay, and you know, let's talk about Rachel Powell.
Rachel Powell is a mother of eight. She lives in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately,
she made the decision to break a window and kind
of get involved with, uh, you know, the wrong crowd,
if you will. She didn't assault anybody, She did not
assault police. She broke a window. They put her on
house arrested. She had an ankle monitor. She was not
allowed to leave her home for three years. She missed
her daughter's wedding, She missed the birth of one of
her two of her grandchildren. She couldn't even go to
a doctor appointment if one of her children, you know,
needed the assistance of their other. Her youngest child is
eight years old now, was seven years old when she
was sent to prison. I was at her sentencing and
I was with the entire family. All of her children
were there. We sat all together, and we were in
front of one of the worst judges, Judge Lambert, who
is you know, in his eighties, falls asleep on the bench,
has no business presiding over any let alone these cases.
But any case, he should retire and go sit in
a rocking chair on his porch and enjoy the rest
of his life. But that's not the case. She was
very emotional she read, you know, her statement. There was
not a dry eye in the courtroom. There was plenty
of media there and you know, when she got one,
you know, the judge picked up a piece of paper
and he said, that's quite the statement. And your children,
you know, you should be commended for you know, great children.
And I see your children here, he said, but I
have a job to do. And he waves this paper
in the air and he says, you're going to prison
for five years. And he did not, you know, give
her any time served or credit for the three years
that she sat in her house, not even being able
to leave the yard, the perimeter of the of the
front door. These this is when you think about what's
gone on, you know, or what went on in twenty
twenty when you saw people actually burning down police stations,
federal buildings, people's businesses, people's cars. We know that, you know,
Officer David Doran was savagely murdered. You and then you
look at a person like this who has no criminal history. Yes,
she broke a window, give her community service, but you're
going to take eight years of her life away. She's
lost her home, she lost custody of her children for
you know, a small minute. She had a terrible public defender.
Thank god that we formed the Patriot Freedom Project, and
thank god for the people in this country who have
you know, donated and supported us, because because of them,
she was able to get her own lawyer and we
were able to pay for it. So and there's many
stories just like that. That's just one of hundreds, and
I could just go on and on. You know, Jessica Watkins,
she's still languishing behind bars. She should be out. The
fifteen twelve has been overturned by the Supreme Court, and
the rest of her charges. She has already served her time.
But these judges and these prosecutors, they just slow roll everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, why are they there, Cynthia's I mean, that's a
great question. And I know that's a question for the prosecution,
it's the question for these judges if we are at
this point where what they were accused of is no
longer a crime. Why do they continue to sit in
these jails?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, the only thing that I can think
of is because you have a president. Well, I can't
even say you have a president because we both know
that Joe Biden is not running the country and we.
Speaker 1: Being an acting president, as I like to call him,
he's acting somewhat acting the role a president.
Speaker 2: I guess you could say that, I mean, you're you're
very you're very kind to say that. I would say
that the people behind the scenes that are running the country,
like Barack Obama and Susan Rice and people like that,
you know, they they wanted, they tried and they failed.
Obviously we saw that on November fifth. They wanted to
make an example out of these people to you know,
to hurt President Trump. So they're not eager, you know,
until President Trump takes office. They have carte blanche. So
even as President elects, he can't do anything for these
people yet. And there's there's not a lot he can
do at all in terms of, you know, the country,
except prepare, and that is what he's doing. And unfortunately,
these people are the collateral damage and the Democratic Party
and I can't say the entire Democratic Party, because I
do think there's a couple of stragglers, if you will,
who know what's going on is wrong, and these people
are going to be the collateral damage in this and
they just got to hang on until January twenty first.
That's all they got to do, is hang on till
January twenty first, and then we're going to hear President
Trump's message very loud and clear.
Speaker 1: As difficult and long as the days have been so far,
I can imagine somewhat though, that the days are even
longer now, thinking you're so close to freedom for a
lot of these folks, at least, that's where this all
seems to be going, and you've got to wait. You
still have to wait. And in the interim, do you
believe that the current regime is and I think you
touched upon this is doing all it can to punish
the people they can because they can't get at Donald Trump.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I mean they're still they're still proceeding with
these cases. There are still new arrests happening right now,
right the second, and there are people that are still
being sent There are you know, defendants, lawyers that are
filing motions to try to stay these cases knowing that
you know there is going to be the potential for pardons,
you know. I mean I feel confidently, and I you know,
I don't know this for sure. I was not told this,
but I do feel very confidently that on January twentieth,
we're going to hear something, you know, maybe hopefully from
President Trump that says, you know, you will halt any
continuance with these cases and so he can get a
handle on things. So I believe he will do that
because he knows what's happening. I've seen this president with
these families. I've seen this president with these children. It
would warm your heart. I have asked this president to
sit down with these children. And some of these kids
are you know, they're very young, six years old, ten
years old. I mean, I have wonderful video and pictures
of this great president reassuring these children. I'll tell you.
We had an event at trump Edminster, which is you know,
considered President Trump's you know, second home and one of
his favorite ones of all of his properties and beautiful
property up in North Jersey. And we had an event
there in August of twenty twenty three, and we brought
this woman I told you about in Pennsylvania. We brought
her children, and we brought some other children. And this
was the night before President Trump was flying to Georgia
to take the famous smugshot. And we were wrapping up
and we were getting to the end of the night
and here he comes walking in like he had just
gotten off the plane. He was tired. You know, you
could see. You know, I don't know if it's okay
to say the word frustrated, but I mean he was
really in the thick of things. I mean they were
throwing everything out him to see what would stick. And
you know, he's like, you know, he's like a spider
and everything just you know, slides right off of him.
But this man, this president, he didn't care. You know,
nine o'clock at night, he came into the ballroom and
he said, I want to see these children. I have
the best picture of him, you know, turning calling these
kids up to the podium with him. We went into
you know, his office with him, you know, the kids
and I where he literally got down to their level
and hugged them and told them that everything was going
to be okay. Despite knowing that he had to get
on a plane the next day and go to Georgia
to be you know, for them to try to ridicule
him and shame him. He still made the time to
come in and see these families and see these children,
and to see our guests, knowing that they were there
to support not only January sixth, but him. I think
that we are so close, you know. And yes, the
days will seem longer, but I got to tell you
I have I have so much hope in my heart.
I feel very good about what is to come for
these for these defendants and their families.
Speaker 3: They allow IRS agents to go after you even though
they don't pay their taxes. Who watched All Wall Street
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Speaker 1: Be informed.
Speaker 3: Check out the Watchdot on Wall Street podcast with Chris
Markowski on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Our guest today is Cynthia Hughes, founder and director of
Patriot Freedom Project. Cynthia founded the Patriot Freedom Project to
support January sixth defendants and their families. You have endured
some dark days, no doubt about it. I'm thinking back
and thinking about the show trial that went on with
the January sixth Committee, all of the political theater that
was going on. We've learned a lot since then, but
take me back to that time, because not only did
you have the people in power in Washington, DC going
around claiming that we have insurrectionists trying to burn down
the government and take over the government, and all of
these sorts of allegations that were thrown out there, but
you have what I like to describe as an accomplice media,
corporate media, all in on the narrative. I mean, everything
was stacked not only against you folks, the people who
we've been talking about languishing in jails and prisons and
awaiting their day in court yet, but also stacked against
the president, the former president, who could indeed offer some pardons,
offer freedom. And this must have been a very very
difficult time for you and your cause.
Speaker 2: You know it has been, and I can't say it's
gotten you know, easier. In fact, I think it gets
a little bit harder, you know, especially you know, in
the beginning of this, you really didn't know what you were.
We didn't know what was going to be. You know,
when I got the phone call about him, and it
was a weekend, and then we had a holiday on
that Monday, and I didn't get to speak to him,
and we were kind of in the heart of COVID
still and you know, he got released by a magistrate
judge here in New Jersey. I mean she was like,
we're not keeping this kid in jail. I mean, he's
got no criminal history, he wasn't charged by a violent crime.
You cannot keep this kid in jail. But d C
didn't care. And before Tim could be released, you know,
into my into my care, they filed an emergency motion
to you know, to hold him. And and I knew,
I knew then that we were we were, we were
facing something very, very very sinister. And I don't say
this because he's my family. I say this because it's
really the truth. And if people really looked at Tim's case,
they would they would just their drove a job. He's
probably one of the most egregious cases we've seen yet.
He was smeared in the media. You know, he was
smeared by a very very evil, black hearted, angry, mean,
horrible woman who was the prosecutor. You know, we had
a terrible public defender, a public pretender as I like
to call them, in the beginning, who you know, wanted
Tim so badly to denounce President Trump, which Tim, Tim
would have stayed in prison for fifty years if he
had to, He would have been in there for the
rest of his life before he was going to, you know,
for President Trump under the bus. He was never going
to do that, and he was never going to admit
to something that he didn't do. He truly didn't do
anything wrong. And there's a lot of cases just like Tim.
Tim's out here now after enduring three years in prison,
you know, jail and then prison, you know, solitary confinement.
I mean it was rough in the beginning, very very rough.
You didn't know what was going to happen. It was
very very hard to hear the stories that were coming
out of the DC jail where Tim was for you know,
over two years. My heartbreaks when I think about those men.
Sometimes I wouldn't hear from Tim for days, and I
need call, and I'd say, you know where you've been,
you know, and he would say, I'm not married and
I don't have children. These men need to be on
the phone with their wives and you know, and their children.
I mean, there's so much to unpack and so much
damage and so much heartache. I don't know if anybody
will ever that's caught up in this is ever going
to truly one hundred percent, you know, be whole again.
I mean, yes, you're going to get on with your life.
I just spoke to Ken Harrison a short time ago
before I got on the call with you. I mean,
what they did to him is is really despicable. I mean,
he really literally didn't do anything wrong. Kenny, wife Angel.
You know, they're good people. They don't bother nobody, They
mind their business, you know. And he's now getting back
to work, and you know, he's fortunate enough to be
able to go back to his job after you know,
not being after being in prison for almost four years.
But that's not the case for a lot of people.
A lot of people, you know, they they don't want
to leave the house. They can't find a job, they
have no money, you know, some don't have family. We
have another guy who's in jails, but he got SAIDs
to fourteen years. Unfortunately, in the past he had some
trouble and he has a little bit of a rap sheet.
He got fourteen years. He doesn't now support. He's got
two elderly parents who may not be alive if he
gets if he doesn't get some kind of pardon or commutation.
There's so many avenues. You have children that don't have
health insurance anymore because dad lost their job. You know,
children that are not only separated from their fathers, but
also separated from their mothers in one capacity or another.
Like for example, you have Kelly Megs. Kelly Megs, you know,
is considered an oathkeeper. He got sentenced to twelve years
in prison, and his wife got sentenced to like four
years in prison. She just got out of prison. Now,
while they don't have babies at home, they still have children.
And how profoundly impacted are they these two kids having
to you know, hold the ford down until mom and
dad are home again. I could go on and on
about the destruction to the lives of these people, and
I don't know how we get past that and we
make people whole again. I just don't know how we're
going to do that. It's these are going to be
deep rooted scars that are going to live with these
people for a very very long time. And you know
what's more heartbreaking or as equally as heartbreaking. You know,
you think about the people, let's say, in twenty twenty two,
going into twenty twenty three, the people that knew that
they could possibly be getting arrested, that have watched or
did watch the entire year of twenty twenty one and
hearing the horror stories from these families of what was
happening to their loved ones, like in the different jails,
because it wasn't just the DC jail that was the worst,
but there were other jails that were not treating these
people fairly. And you think about those people and how
terrified they have been, and how terrified they must have been,
you know, waiting for the shoot to drop right, and
you think of the ones that couldn't They couldn't handle
it thinking about it like Jordan Meachum. You know, little
Jordy Meacham is only you know, in his early twenties,
and he couldn't bear the thought of going to jail,
and he ended his life. There's so much to talk
about here, and we have to get beyond talking about,
you know, why January sixth happened. That is important, but
there's so many other compartments to this and they need
to be told. These stories need to be told.
Speaker 1: Well, you talk about the Haroldsons of the world, and
your your nephew, who you know, is like a son
to you. I know you've talked about that on many occasions.
Before we get to the accountability aspect, and I mean
the accountability for the people who wrought these conditions, this
phony narrative in many cases h and the injustice that
these folks have endured. Let's talk about Ken Harrelson. You
talk about an individual who really did nothing that would
warrant jail time. But there we were Tim Hale again.
Let's talk about what they were accused of and what
the record actually shows.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, Tim, Tim was charged with you know,
the famous obstruction of an official preceding charge. So was
Ken Harrison in so was Thomas Caldwell. We can't we
you know, we got to bring up Thomas Caldwell. Tom
Tom Caldwell was on the uh, you know, he was
one of Ken Harrelson's co defendants. Tom didn't even go
in the building. Tom's seventy years old today. He didn't
even go in the building. He was at the Capitol
with his wife. They prayed, they they sang, they walked around,
they took pictures. They tried to hail this man as
the leader of the heathkeepers. He didn't even know the oathkeepers.
Speaker 1: Because they got and they all got they all got
caught up in this this rigged charge, this massage charge
that goes back to you know, goes back twenty years
following the whole Enron situation. Right, that's that's the one
that they were And then the Supreme Court said, absolutely not,
this is a this is an abuse and misuse of
this charge involving you know, corporate crimes, not crimes against
INDI visuals who are protesting at the Capitol.
Speaker 2: That's right, That's that's absolutely correct. You know, and there's people,
you know, I don't know even know if this was
sound right. I mean, we were fortunate that's all that
Tim was charged with. And even for that charge, they
wanted to give Tim eight years in prison. We had
a terrible public defender and Tim, I'll never forget the
day he called me and he said, listen, I'm not
moving forward with this guy. I'm going to go pro se,
you know, unless we can find another lawyer. And fortunately
I was able to. You know, Tim had multiple things
going on. He was dealing with the criminal stuff, and
he was also dealing with the military. You know, they
were trying to separate from him, which they ultimately did,
and hopefully that's going to get rectified for Tim in
twenty twenty five. You know, they like nothing, twelve years
he spent, you know, in the army reserves, like it
was nothing. They just took that away from him and
threw it out the window and said, you don't matter, Tim,
Tim was. Tim did nothing wrong that day, truly, and
many like him didn't do anything wrong. And they have
been charged with things like obstruction of an official proceeding
and conspiracy. And you know, some people were charged with
assaults who didn't even commit a sault. We have many
people that were charged with assaults simply because they were
standing near that very large metal Trump sign where famously
Ray EPs was you know, telling people, you know, to
breach the Capitol and to do bad things. But there's
people that have been charged with assault simply for touching
that sign. It's sick. It's a sickness what this administration,
divided administration. You know, they think we're stupid people. They
think that people that don't support them, didn't vote for him,
are stupid. We watched what happened in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: Or garbage yes yet maybe yeah? Or deplorable yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, or no class and no no smarts and no intelligence,
like Mark Cuban has called, you know, Trump supporting women,
but you know you saw again, I go back to
twenty twenty and the whole George Floyd you know stuff.
I mean those were actual riots that went on for
days and weeks and I believe the entire summer into
the fall. Look what went on, you know, just in
Philadelphia alone. I mean Philadelphia. I'm being funny, we call
it Philadelphia. I don't live far from there, and you
can't go to Philadelphia. It's just not safe. It's it's
it's I don't know, I don't know how you get
the Democratic Party to understand that they can't turn a
blind eye to actual crime and then say people who
went to hear President Trump speak and protest what they
felt was a fraudulent election for four maybe five and
they called it a day. You know, are actual terrorists,
I mean people have not only you know, been egregiously charged,
but they've had terroristic enhancements applied to their cases which
gave them more time behind bars. That was the case
for Matthew Purna. We all know what happens to that.
I'm very very close with, you know, the Perna family,
with Matt's aunt Jerry. That kid, you know, he turned
himself in, He took a plea deal. He was ready
and willing to you know, do his six months and
in prison. But Mark Garland said that wasn't good enough.
Christopher Ray said that wasn't good enough. Matthew Graves, they said,
they said that wasn't good enough. We want a supersedu
his indictment. We want to hit him with a terrorist enhancement.
And the kid went from facing six months to facing
six years. He's a non violent person. He didn't do
anything that day. He saw a flag on a brand,
he threw a flag. He didn't throw it in the capitol,
he didn't throw it at police. He picked it up.
He threw it whatever he should get six years in
prison with no criminal history. This is a kid who
flew around the world educating young children, you know, in
countries that don't have what we have here. It's and
now he's not here because he took his life after
they decided they wanted to give him six years because
six months wasn't good enough. That family has been obliterated.
We will never ever be able to give anything back
to that family. And not only has that family lost Matt,
but now they have lost Matt's father. Matt's father recently
died this past summer.
Speaker 1: You know, it's just one one horrible, sad story after another.
And as you mentioned, how do you make these people whole?
You can't possibly do that. So that's the question, Cynthia.
How hopeful are you? I know you're hopeful with the
incoming administration that life is about to change finally for
the positive, for the good for so many of these people.
But what about the account of ability two people like
Merret Garland, the DC prosecutors, the judges of course, who
you know incorrectly applied these charges to begin with and
treated so many of these people so badly along the way.
How hopeful, how confident? Are you that they will ever
face accountability for what they have done.
Speaker 2: Well, I wish I could say I was hopeful for that,
but I'm not. I'm going to be very truthful, I'm not.
You know, President Trump wants a unity in this country.
President Trump wants people to come together and make this country,
you know, the great and beautiful country we know it is,
and to get it, you know, make it stronger. I
don't know if President Trump is going to focus on,
you know, keep starring the pot if you will, right,
I think that there needs to be an investigation. I
do feel confident that there will be. I think that
we will see an actual, truthful, factual January sixth Committee.
I do think we will see that. I think that
I've heard some chatter about that, and I think that
if we see that there was serious wrongdoing on the
part of people like Merrick Arland or Nancy Pelosi, which
is who I feel is the real culprit, Liz Cheney,
you know, you know, Oudam Shift, people like that that
really took part in trying to cover up and trying
to distort what the truth was and hide facts. I
think if we see proof in that, I think there
will be accountability. I don't think the President will turn
a blind eye to that. But I also don't think
the president is going to come into office and focus
on you know, revenge, if you will, the way everybody thinks.
I think he's going to come into off a sudden
he's going to say, look, for four years, these people's
lives have been massacred and obliterated, and that is where
our focus has to be. You know, in twenty twenty,
there was a group of people who were arrested after
do you remember when President Trump, you know, he did
the walk with that joker Millie over to the church
I can't think of the name of the church right now,
and he held up the Bible, yep. And so after
that happened, there was you know, being right out in
front of the White House and like.
Speaker 1: A real insurrection. Yes actually one might say.
Speaker 2: Yes exactly exactly, and you know, there was a lot
of damage and people actually got hurt, and there were
some people that got arrested ANTIFA people, Black Lives Matter people,
and they were released Dame Day and charges ultimately were
against them. And so this group of people, you know,
they filed a lawsuit against the dj and the DOJ
sett up with them, and we need to see that
happen with January sixth defendants. And you know, we, like
I said earlier, we also have people that have not
been convicted yet because they haven't gone to trial. You know,
we have Will Pope, who you know, is a January
sixth offendant, and he's pro se and he's a very
very good pro se defendant, and he has really given
the DOJ a run for their money. He was supposed
to go to trial on December second, and he was
able to write emotion and you know, you know, convinced
the judge that, you know, his case should be stayed.
You know, he's a non violent, you know defendant. He
was charged with the fifteen twelve, but that has now
been vacated from his case. I mean, the charges against
him should just be they should just be dropped. I mean,
and even though he didn't go to jail, I mean,
he was in jail in the beginning this when he
first got arrested and he was able to make bonds.
He lost his job, his girlfriend left him. You know,
he wasn't able to see his brother, who was his
co defendant. There's so many avenues where these families have
been so impacted and so affected these defendants. I don't
I don't know. There's so many ways to try to
rectify the situation. It won't be one hundred percent of
that's you know, that's the problem. We have to file lawsuits.
We need to see some you know, civil lawyers step
up to the you know, to the to the table
now and you know work with us. You know, I
say very proudly. There there are other organizations who have
popped up over the course of these four years, but
I will tell you about Beatriar Freedom Project. We have
raised over five million dollars and we have had three
as we are in our third audit right now. All
of our our financials are available on our website. We
have spent these donations hiring lawyers, helping these women stay
in their homes, hiring experts, helping the lawyers file sir
petitions to the Supreme Court, making sure these kids are
not forgotten about it. Christmas we have sent we just
sent out you know, I don't know, fifty turkey dinners.
We have sent out Christmas trees. We make sure these
kids have winter coats. We have paid COPRA payments for
kids who have lost our health insurance kids who don't
have health insurance. We have paid for medical procedures. We
have paid for a tooth to be pulled for a
young child who had a terrible infection. The importance of
this foundation and we're the only foundation that's doing stuff
like that. And I'm not trying to negate the other foundations.
I don't want to poo poo on anybody, but we
are really the only foundation that is doing anything and
doing everything on multiple fronts. I mean, we have even
brought mental health to the table, and we have you know,
gotten very you know, involved with some mental health professionals,
and we have been able to help some of these
families with free counseling. You know, we have been able
to help some people get a job. And this isn't
going to stop. This doesn't stop just because somebody gets
out of jail. This continues. The real work starts then,
you know, putting the pieces back together, trying to find
a job. Some kids have had to move from the
only home that they ever knew. Some children witnessed violent
raids on their home. Some children had flash banks thrown
through their bedroom window. Some houses who had flashbanks thrown
through their window, their living room caught on fire, they're
bathroom caught on fire. These things are not they're not
spoken about. But I'll tell you. We have a docusaries out.
It's called due Process Denied, and we have free parts
out and it's not getting any of the attention that
it needs to. And you can see these families for yourself,
see these children for yourself, and here with your own ears,
the heartache that they're living with. We have a book
out and we talk about at least I don't know
twenty or so families in the book who have gone through,
you know, very violent raids on their home where children
have had to witness their fathers taken out of their
beds in their underwear in the heart of winter. We
have a video up on our Rumple channel that shows
live raids footage from an actual raid on two different
defendants on their homes. This is what we need to
be talking about. Now. We have another holiday season here
where you have close to you know, you have over
three hundred people that are behind bars, that are separated
from their families for the fourth year in a row.
And while the pardon talk is very important, we need
to be talking about the separation between children and their parents.
We have to help these kids. It's our duty to
help these children.
Speaker 1: It so many sad stories, so much impact from what,
in so many cases was a perversion of justice, all
in the name of politics. And we've seen it play
out for years now. The good work that your organization
is doing, Patriot Freedom Project, as you said, is leading
the way on so many in so many different areas,
supporting these families as it supports the people who are
caught under the fist of terrible injustices. For those who
want to help, who want to assist the Patriot Freedom Project,
how can they do so, Cynthia.
Speaker 2: You know before I tell you that, I do want
to tell you one more thing about Beatriar Freedom Project.
You know, we are at the moment and I believe
it will stay that way. I could be wrong, but
we are the only Trump endorsed January Foundation, and our
board members come from Trump world. They worked in the
first administration. I mean one of our board members is
the great Ed Martin. He's the president of the Phillishlafleet
Eagle Foundation. He worked on the Trump transition Trump campaign
now on the Trump Transition team. Ed has been on
the front lines of these cases with me, very loving,
you know, helps with these kids, helps with these young boys,
you know, tries to mentor them. We're very very grateful
for Ed and also our other board member Rachel. If
anybody wanted to, and you could see our videos of
the Trump endorsements on our website Patriot Freedomproject dot com,
where President Trump, you know, talks about the good work
that we're doing. We did speak along President Trump at
a Save America rally last year Jerry, Perna and I
and you can find all that at our website, and
if anybody wants to donate, you know, that's where you go.
You go to Patriot Freedomproject dot com. You click the
donate button. It'll show you all the different ways to donate.
Right now, with the holidays coming up, you know, we
try to ask for gift cards. We ask for unwrapped
you know, gifts and inside of Christmas stocking, small gifts,
and we send them out to the families. You know,
we like to give these women a sense of normalcy
if we can, and rather than send all the gifts
to them, you know, they like getting the gift cards
because they can go out and do their own shopping.
This this has been their life for four years. They
have to have some sense of you know, I can
be okay, you know while while I'm waiting, you know,
I got to be okay. I got to show my
children that I got I have it together. And so
we ask for gift cards and we've gotten you know,
we've gotten quite a few. But we can use gift
cards to help these families now with Christmas coming up,
and also you know, people subscribing to a monthly zonation.
It helps us throughout the year to keep these families,
you know, going, and to help these lawyers and hopefully
now you know, we're going to pivot and transition to
you know, getting some civil attorneys involved, and we're going
to start to see some lawsuits against some of those
people in power and you know, and the DJ because
some some heads have to roll for what has happened here.
Somebody made the decision to cause the torment and obliteration
of these families, and and this this government, this fighting
government has to be held accountable for that.
Speaker 1: It's been able help help you for that. I'm sorry, No, no, absolutely,
you're you're right. I mean, it has been a very long,
cold winter for four years for political prisoners in this country,
in one of the darkest chapters of injustice in this country.
Our guest today is Cynthia Hughes, founder and director of
Patriot Freedom Project. We want to thank you once again
for all of your work, Cynthia, and thank you again
for joining us on this edition of The Federalist Radio Hour.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you so much for having me in
allowing me to tell these stories.
Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving to you, Happy Thanksgiving to you, to your family,
and to all of the families impacted by what we've
just talked about. You've been listening to another edition of
the Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, Senior correspondent at
the Federalist. We'll be back soon with more. Until then,
stay lovers of freedom and anxious for the Fray.