OPINION:
Douglass Mackey was sentenced Wednesday to seven months in prison, a $15,000 fine and two years’ probation. At a time when prisons are being emptied and violent thugs roam free, Mackey surely must have done something truly bad to merit such punishment. Instead, he was convicted of mocking Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election campaign.
Mackey posted an image on Twitter in advance of the 2016 election that read: “Avoid the line. Vote from home. Text ‘Hillary’ to 59925. Vote for Hillary and be a part of history.” The Biden administration has converted funny social media posts into felonies.
“The defendant and his co-conspirators tried to lure voters into placing their ballots into a fake virtual ballot box, knowing that such votes would not count,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erik Paulsen, Frank Turner Buford and William Gullotta wrote in their memo urging the sentencing judge, Ann M. Donnelly, to send the jokester up the river for six to 12 months.
Only a fool would have fallen for Mackey’s transparent gag, and it’s not clear why anyone would want someone unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy to come near a voting booth.
Twitter quickly removed the tweet in question, and the owner of the 59925 number informed anyone who did text the word “Hillary” that they should “text the real Hillary for America for more details.” That’s where the prank should have ended.
Incredibly, however, Department of Justice lawyers assembled a gaggle of Clinton campaign workers to testify against Mackey, declaring the meme was dangerous disinformation. This evidence was presented to a jury of Clinton voters in Manhattan and, at the initial trial, before a judge appointed by President Bill Clinton.
Federal prosecutors also secured anonymous testimony from an alleged online co-conspirator who claimed Mackey’s sole intent was to turn the election in Donald Trump’s favor. Prosecutors likely took advantage of the anonymous individual’s IRS debt and illegal drug habit to coerce the negative testimony. Mackey has never actually met the mystery witness in person.
He did, however, talk big with him in private messages about how what he was doing was going to swing the election. But locker room boasting proves nothing, and it’s not a crime. Federal prosecutors failed to produce a shred of evidence that Mackey affected a single actual vote in the election. This felony had no victim.
Judge Donnelly, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, was only too happy to give the Biden administration exactly what it wanted, demonstrating beyond question that the legal system is being hijacked by intellectually dishonest partisan actors.
If luring gullible voters with disinformation is really a crime, then arrest Mrs. Clinton for funding the Steele dossier that falsely accused her opponent of being a Russian agent. Arrest the 50 former intelligence officials who signed the mendacious letter claiming the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. Opinion polls show those hoaxes had a measurable impact on the electoral result.
If Mackey’s conviction stands on appeal, it will have a chilling effect on free speech. There will be no telling when one evening’s flippant remark will be followed by an FBI raid at dawn. Once Republicans have their House in order, they must use all means at their disposal to curb a Justice Department that has declared open season on conservatives.
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