Exclusive: Kash Patel has raised funds for some of the most violent Jan. 6th insurrectionists-- and lied about it.

He has falsely claimed that he thought the recipients were non-violent.

By Murray Waas

Kash Patel, President Trump’s nominee to serve as the Director of the FBI, raised tens of thousands of dollars for individuals convicted for their role in the January 6^th insurrection at the Capitol.

At least seven recipients of the funds were convicted of acts of violence, including several who were convicted of such acts against police officers, according to interviews, public records, and media reports.

Patel has repeatedly denied that any of the funds he raised were provided to insurrectionists convicted of violent crimes.

On March 21, 2023, for example, Patel told the Gateway Pundit that any “net profits” from his fundraising would go “to financially assist as many Jan. 6 families as we can, and all families of nonviolent offenders will be considered.”

But one person who played an integral role in the fundraising efforts told me that there was no prohibition of providing funds to violent offenders.

“People were more likely to be funded if you had a certain lawyer,” said this person.

A second person involved in the fundraising effort recalled that there was absolutely “no vetting of any kind” of fund recipients to determine if they were convicted of violent crimes.

That many of the January 6^th rioters who received funds from Patel’s non-profit were violent felons was first reported by the Bulwark. It has not been previously reported that Patel lied to the public while denying this was the case— knowing this was almost certainly not true because no vetting of those who received such funds took place.

As first reported by Thomas Joscelyn and Norman Eisen in the Bulwark:

Earlier this month, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office identified six members of the “J6 Prison Choir” in its final report on the 2020 election interference case against Trump... All six of the January 6th convicts listed in footnote 139 of Smith’s report have pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers on January 6th and were sentenced to prison. They are: Julian Khater (sentenced to 80 months in prison), Ryan Nichols (63 months), Jorden Mink (51 months), Ronald Sandlin (63 months), Barton Shively (18 months), and James McGrew (78 months).

Shively, for example, was found to have assaulted two police officers, striking one on his “hand, and head and shoulder areas.” after he “unlawfully entered the grounds.

McGrew assaulted several police officers, including having “launched” an improvised projectile-- a “wooden handrail with metal brackets attached”-- in the direction of a group of officers. According to the Justice Department, McGrew “positioned the handrail over his head and launched it into [a Capitol] tunnel, throwing the end with the metal brackets towards the law enforcement officers. The handrail appeared to hit the shield or visor of an officer.”

Julian Khater pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eighty years in prison. Khater and a second rioter assaulted United States Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, who died the following day, after suffering two strokes. His remains were later laid in honor in the Capitol Rotunda.

More to come soon…