After pleading guilty to storming the U.S. Capitol less than two months ago, Texas resident Daniel Goodwyn appeared on recently (and fortunately) fired Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show to promote a website where supporters could donate money to Goodwyn and the other fools, er I mean rioters. Whom the website describes as “political prisoners.”

Now the Associated Press reports that the Justice Department wants Goodwyn to give up more than $25,000 he raised. This is part of a growing effort by the government to stop rioters from being able to personally profit from participating in attacks such as the deadly riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

In a review of court records, the AP found prosecutors in the more than 1,000 criminal cases stemming from that terrible day are increasingly asking judges to impose fines along with prison sentences to offset donations from those who support the Capitol rioters.

Scores of defendants have begun online fundraising appeals for help with legal fees. Prosecutors acknowledge there’s nothing wrong with asking for help in paying attorney fees, but this has led the Justice Department to question, in some instances, where the money really is going because many of the defendants who have been charged have government-funded legal representation. So if the defendants are getting free legal help, why the need for the money for “legal representation”. Or is “legal representation” a new “patriotic” way of saying “pay my bills and hey, maybe buy me some toys as well”. You cannot benefit from your crime.

GiveSendGo, which bills itself as “The #1 Free Christian Fundraising Site,” seems to be where most of these fundraising efforts are occurring. It’s turned into a haven for January 6 defendants who are prohibited from using mainstream crowdfunding sights such as GoFundMe, for raising money. Being typical Donald Trump sycophants, the rioters proclaim innocence and paint themselves as victims of government oppression, even though they’re busily cutting deals to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors, per the AP.

It’s kind of disgusting that so many people in the U.S. still view these people as patriots and continue to believe Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election from Donald Trump, even though that’s been proven completely false time and again. But the coffers for these rioters are filling up, so it’s understandable that the DOJ is looking into this. And Trump himself has pledged to pardon rioters if he is elected again.

Even though this riot resulted in the deaths of several innocent people.

One of the more disgusting instances of rioters receiving money that they don’t deserve includes the case of Markus Maly, of Virginia. He is scheduled to be sentenced next month for assaulting police at the Capitol. He’s raised over $16,000 from an online campaign that describes him as a “January 6 P.O.W.” Prosecutors have asked for a $16,000 fine, adding that Maly has a public defender and owes no legal fees.

Frankly, this is sickening.

“He should not be able to use his own notoriety gained in the commission of his crimes to ‘capitalize’ on his participation in the Capitol breach in this way,” one prosecutor wrote in court documents.

The AP notes that prosecutors have sought more than $390,000 in fines against at least 21 of the defendants since the beginning of the year. The amounts per person range from $450 to more than $71,000.

Judges have levied at least $124,127 in fines against 33 of the rioters this year. During the previous two years, judges ordered more than 100 riot defendants to pay more than $240,000 in fines, collectively.

In other cases, judges have ordered hundreds of convicted rioters to pay more than $524,000 in restitution to the government to pay for the more than $2.8 million in damage caused at the Capitol and for other January 6-related expenses.

The fact that these people are trying to profit from their crimes is awful. None of them deserves to do so. Not in the least. But one of the more shocking instances of this has to be the case involving Nathaniel DeGrave.

A judge sentenced him earlier this month to more than three years in prison and has ordered him to pay a $25,000 fine. Prosecutors note the Nevada resident “incredibly” raised more than $120,000 in GiveSendGo fundraising campaigns, where he was referred to as “Beijing Biden’s political prisoner” in “America’s Gitmo,” which is, of course, a reference to the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

How ridiculous.

“He did this despite seeking to cooperate with the government and admitting he and his co-conspirators were guilty since at least November 2021,” wrote one prosecutor.

There’s just no way those who participated in the Capitol attack should be able to profit from this. The proceeds should go to the family members of those who died defending the Capitol. Not the ones who thought they were defending a selfishly self-absorbed and mentally ill man who really wanted to become a dictator and couldn’t care less about the peons below him.

I’m just thoroughly and utterly disgusted by the rioters trying to profit off the tragedy of others.