Dinesh D’Souza was sentenced yesterday to eight months in a “community confinement center,” along with a fine, community service and required psychological therapy, for making illegal campaign contributions to a Republican Senate candidate.
Before pleading guilty and expressing remorse, D’Souza plead not guilty in order to “get his story out there” and claim that President Obama was unfairly targeting him for prosecution.
Despite finally admitting that he broke the law, D’Souza still claims that he is the victim of a government hit job. “I didn’t want the government to to [sic] be successful in shutting me up,” he told WorldNetDaily, arguing that the government wanted him “immobilized as a public critic.”
D’Souza went on to claim that criminal investigations into GOP governors Rick Perry, Chris Christie and Scott Walker are also “politically” motivated: “somebody is trying to put them away.”
In other words, D’Souza isn’t sorry and still believes he’s the victim of an Obama administration conspiracy against him.
“I am contrite for what I did, and I tried to express that,” he said. “But I also tried at the same time not to allow the case to deter me from making public criticism of the Obama administration.”
“I didn’t want the government to to [sic] be successful in shutting me up,” he said. “I wanted to continue to speak out candidly and uninhibitedly. I did that.”
He acknowledged the judge at times saw his stance as inconsistent with a contrite attitude. “I don’t think it is inconsistent,” he told WND. “I think it’s quite possible to say, (a) I’m contrite for exceeding the campaign finance laws and for breaking the law, and (b) the Obama administration has been doing a lot of bad stuff, and I’m going to call them on it.”
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He pointed out his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, is a Democrat and was reluctant at first to believe there was any political motive behind the prosecution.
“As the case proceeded, however, he became more and more befuddled by the governments’ conduct,” D’Souza said of his lawyer. “When he saw the government’s sentencing brief, it persuaded him that something was very fishy here.”
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WND asked D’Souza if he saw the sentence as a defeat for the Obama administration. “Well, given the disproportion between what they sought and what I got, it’s hard to see the government as being pleased with this verdict,” he replied. “I imagine that they are not happy with it.
“I would have felt very bad if I would have been somehow effectively immobilized as a public critic,” he said. “That hasn’t happened, and it’s not going to happen, and I feel very good about that.”
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“I was hoping that the justice system would come through for me, despite what the administration might seek, and it did,” he said.
D’Souza said that if the Obama administration is “successful in being able to immobilize its critics, that sends a shiver of fear throughout the country, and it actually undermines the freedom of speech that is essential in democracy.”
He noted that three possible 2016 Republican presidential candidates have found themselves under indictment or facing charges, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
“So, quite apart from the merits of each case, it’s a very strange situation when three leading Republicans who could be in the presidential running next time around – somebody is trying to put them away,” he said. “And that somebody happens to disagree with them politically.”
