WASHINGTON (AP) — From jail, Shane Jenkins helped sell T-shirts, tote bags and other merchandise promoting the notion that he and other rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol are political prisoners unjustly held in pretrial detention.
That disturbed the judge who sentenced the Texas man to seven years in prison for storming the Capitol, trying to smash a widow with a metal tomahawk and hurling makeshift weapons at police officers guarding the building on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta assured Jenkins that he wasn’t getting punished for his political beliefs.
“And what bothers me about this notion of being (a) political prisoner is it continues to fuel the lie that somehow an election was stolen, that somehow people who are being charged because of their actions and not their beliefs are the victims. That is false,” the judge told Jenkins.
“Twelve people looked at the same evidence that people who are here today just saw,” Mehta told Jenkins at his sentencing. “And it’s hard for me to believe anybody could come to any other conclusion. It’s all on video.”
A jury convicted Jenkins last year of charges including obstructing an official proceeding, the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress called to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory over Trump.
Prosecutors argued that Jenkins played a pivotal role in the attack. He struck a windowpane six times with the spike end of the tomahawk before another rioter stepped in to break the window.
“Are we going in or not?” he shouted at the crowd.
Destroying the window allowed rioters to enter a conference room, where they made improvised weapons from the broken parts of wooden furniture. Mob members used the furniture pieces to attack police officers guarding an entrance in a tunnel on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace.
Jenkins is profiting off his notoriety much the same as former President Donald Trump.
With less than 10 weeks before the presidential election, Trump had a message for voters in late August: He would be selling more digital trading cards for $99 each.
“Fifty all new stunning digital trading cards — it’s really something,” Trump says in the ad. “These cards show me dancing and even holding some bitcoins.”
Buy 15 or more of the digital cards, he said, and he would mail a single physical trading card. Those came with a special perk: “An authentic piece of my suit that I wore for the presidential debate.” Five of the suit pieces would even be autographed, he promised. Those willing to buy 75 of the cards — at a total cost of $7,425 — were invited to attend a gala dinner at his country club in Florida, he said. “Let’s have fun together,” he said
On Tuesday, he again took to Truth Social for another post: selling a book — $99 without his autograph, $499 with his autograph — of pictures of himself. “A MUST HAVE on U.S. History,” he called it.
In both cases, the money was not going to his campaign but to for-profit ventures he earns millions from promoting. No presidential candidate has ever so closely linked his election with personal for-profit enterprises, selling a staggering array of merchandise that includes signed Bibles where he receives a royalty for hawking them, pricey sneakers, gold necklaces, cryptocurrency cards, pens, books, licensing fees on overseas properties and more.
Like Trump, Jenkins is cashing in.
