NRA Spokeswoman Dana Loesch Says FBI Treating Donald Trump Unfairly, Just Like It Did To Al Capone
Dana Loesch is tired of seeing the FBI treat Donald Trump unfairly — just like they did to Al Capone.
On Friday, the NRA spokeswoman tried to defend Trump by invoking one of the most notorious gangsters in American history, the Chicago gang boss who was ultimately taken down for tax evasion. This came after Trump himself used Capone as an example to defend former campaign manager Paul Manafort, NY Magazine noted, and Loesch apparently liked the comparison.
In an appearance this week, Loesch said that the FBI was unfair it how it targeted Al Capone.
“They’re trying to Al Capone the president,” she said. “I mean, you remember. Capone didn’t go down for murder. Elliot Ness didn’t put him in for murder. He went in for tax fraud. Prosecutors didn’t care how he went down as long as he went down.”
Historians remember Capone as a ruthless gang leader who seized control of illegal operations across Chicago through a campaign of violence and murder. He orchestrated the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, where seven rival gang members were gunned down and was responsible for a string of violence to keep control of the alcohol flow during Prohibition.
As NY Magazine noted, Loesch’s argument appeared to be centered on the idea that prosecutors chose to charge Capone with tax evasion rather than his more serious and violence crimes.
“Here she is relying on the well-known legal principle of Anglo-American jurisprudence,” the report noted. “You can’t charge Al Capone with tax evasion, and you can’t charge Donald Trump with campaign finance violations. A person can only be charged with their worst crime. And now Trump is prepared to join Al Capone as one of history’s most sympathetic victims of prosecutorial misconduct.”
Dana Loesch: Democrats are “trying to Al Capone the president” https://t.co/sYIExbJ1ZF pic.twitter.com/fmnymUiv4A
— Media Matters (@mmfa) August 24, 2018
The strange defense came amid a difficult week for Donald Trump, with former campaign manager Paul Manafort being found guilty on eight counts of financial fraud and former personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts of his own, including campaign finance violations for payments to two women who claimed they had sex with Trump.
This is not the first time that Dana Loesch has garnered controversy for some public statements, especially toward the media and the NRA’s perceived enemies. She has frequently sparred with survivors of the Parkland school shooting and earlier this year, audio emerged showing Loesch appearing to wish death upon journalists, saying they should be “curb stomped.”
