By Julie Kelly | The American Greatness
Photo: Anna Morgan-Lloyd
The entire investigation is an attempt to prosecute people based on their beliefs. Those who purge their views and admit their wrongthink will be given mercy. Those who don’t will pay dearly.
“My lawyer has given me names of books and movies to help me see what life is
like for others in our country. I’ve learned that even though we live in a
wonderful country things still need to improve. People of all colors should
feel as safe as I do to walk down the street.”
That passage is part book report, part white privilege mea culpa submitted to a
federal court this month by Anna Morgan-Lloyd, one of the more than 500
Americans arrested for her involvement in the events at the U.S. Capitol on
January 6. The 49-year-old grandmother of five from southern Indiana was
charged with four counts of trespassing and disorderly conduct even though she
walked through an open door and was inside the building for about five minutes.
She was ratted out to the FBI by a county worker who saw her January 6 posts on
Facebook.
On Wednesday, Lloyd, who has a clean criminal record, pleaded guilty to one
count of “parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building”—but not
before she consented to undergo a reeducation exercise at the urging of her
court-appointed lawyer. (Like many January 6 defendants, Lloyd does not have
the means to hire a private attorney.)
It’s safe to say Heather Shaner, a D.C.-based criminal defense attorney
representing a handful of January 6 protesters, does not share the political
beliefs of her Capitol clients, which is why she’s forcing them to read books
and watch movies highlighting dark chapters in U.S. history.
In an interview with Huffington Post, Shaner explained her belief that “this is
the most wonderful country in the world, it’s been great for all kinds of
immigrant groups, except for the fact that it was born of genocide of the
Native Americans and the enslavement of people.”
Shaner’s legal captives are learning the hard way what the government will do
when one resists their commands to comply. Not only have their personal lives
been shattered, finances depleted, and reputations destroyed by an abusive
Justice Department investigation, Shaner’s clients must be indoctrinated with
leftist propaganda about America’s alleged systemic racism.
The purge of the populist mindset is underway, courtesy of the fetid Beltway
judicial system and the Joe Biden regime. Judges routinely lecture January 6
defendants about the wrongthink of a “stolen election” while prosecutors openly
mock their political beliefs, including home schooling and gun ownership.
“I have had many political and ethical discussions with Anna Lloyd,” Shaner
wrote in her motion agreeing to the plea and probation for Lloyd. “I tendered a
booklist to her. She has read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Just Mercy, and
Schindler’s List to educate herself about ‘government policy’ toward Native
Americans, African Americans and European Jews. We have discussed the books and
also about the responsibility of an individual when confronting ‘wrong.’”
Shaner also told the court that Lloyd watched the “Burning Tulsa” documentary
on the History Channel as well as “Mudbound,” a story of two families, one
black and one white, living on the same property after World War II.
On the face of it, there’s nothing wrong with watching or reading any of
Shaner’s “booklist.” What is very wrong is a taxpayer-paid attorney—one who is
supposed to fight the government’s charges related to January 6, not play along
with its phony depiction that “white supremacists” attacked the Capitol—using
her authority to reprogram the political views of people she is supposed to be
defending. The presumption of racist beliefs is automatic.
But it all worked. Lloyd changed her opinion on the death penalty; in her
review of Schindler’s List that was submitted to the court, she lamented that
“my Son-In-Law doesn’t believe the Holocaust happened as it did.” She admitted
that she’s “lived a sheltered life and truly haven’t experienced life the way
many have.”
Her attorney and the government seem pleased with Lloyd’s reformation. “Though
she supported the past president in January, she totally accepts President
Biden as the leader of our country,” Shaner wrote to the court. “She has worked
hard to come to terms with what she believed before January 6th, 2021 and what
she has learned since then.”
And although prosecutors condemned her “ill-considered and misguided
commentary” that described January 6 as an “exciting day” and which recalled
that the participants were “patriots” instead of rioters, they nonetheless
agreed to a sentence of three years probation instead of six months in jail—she
spent two nights behind bars after she turned herself in—and a $500 fine. She
also cannot own a firearm while on probation. (Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan
appointee, suggested he was giving her a “break” by agreeing to a plea deal.)
During her sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Lloyd broke down while apologizing
for her actions. “I apologize to the court, to the American people, to my
family,” she told Lamberth. “I was there to support Trump peacefully and am
ashamed that it became a savage display of violence.” She said she’s never
experienced racial negativity but “realizes many people do.” She was not
charged with any racially motivated crime.
The Justice Department pushed back on Shaner’s attempts to reprogram her
clients. “We don’t prosecute people based on their beliefs,” Joshua Rothstein,
the assistant U.S. attorney handling Lloyd’s case, said in court Wednesday.
Ah, if only that were true. Nearly every charging document filed by Joe Biden’s
Justice Department in the Capitol breach probe mentions the defendant’s belief
about the 2020 presidential election as evidence of wrongdoing.
Here’s just one example in a court filing in the case of Jessica Watkins, an
Oath Keeper who has been behind bars since January after the government
successfully argued for her pre-trial detention. “There is no new or material
information that casts the defendant in any less dangerous of a light than when
this Court decided to detain her approximately one month ago,” prosecutors
wrote in March. “The information advanced by the defendant to support her
motion [for release] does nothing to undermine her extremist and violent views
regarding how to address what she believed to be a fraudulent election.”
(Emphasis added.)
The entire January 6 investigation is an attempt to prosecute people based on
their beliefs. Those who purge their views and admit their wrongthink will be
given mercy. Those who don’t will pay dearly.
