Feds Tried to Destroy Conservative Icon's Son in Outrageous Way

Federal prosecutors sought a nearly 12-year prison sentence for Leo Brent Bozell IV, son of conservative media personality Brent Bozell III, for his role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol breach.

In a sentencing memorandum to the District of Columbia federal court earlier this month, Biden Justice Department prosecutors invoked a terrorism sentencing enhancement, arguing for a 140-month incarceration for the 44-year-old Bozell.

Although Bozell was not convicted of terrorism, he was found guilty in a non-jury trial last September of obstructing an official proceeding, destruction of government property, civil disorder, and assaulting an officer, along with several misdemeanors, according to a DOJ news release.

Prosecutors stated Bozell breached temporary barriers outside the Capitol and joined others in pushing through a police line. He then broke two windows of the Capitol and entered the building, eventually reaching then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.

In their memorandum, prosecutors argued that Bozell’s actions on January 6 met the definition of terrorism as they were intended to intimidate government officials, resulted in property damage, and posed potential serious bodily harm.

Judge John Bates, who presided over the case, found the DOJ’s recommendation “untethered to the circumstances of this case,” according to The New York Times.

“As part of his ruling, Judge Bates determined that Mr. Bozell’s conduct on Jan. 6 technically fit the description needed to apply a so-called terrorism enhancement to his sentence. But the judge decided not to use that enhancement in coming up with the final penalty, saying that branding Mr. Bozell a domestic terrorist was excessively harsh,” the Times reported.

On Friday, Bates sentenced Bozell to 45 months (just under four years) in prison and ordered him to pay $4,729 in damages.

Bozell’s father, L. Brent Bozell III, founder of the Media Research Center, responded to his son’s sentencing with a statement on X, calling it a “travesty.”

The elder Bozell highlighted the disparity between his son's punishment and the penalties for participants in the antifa and Black Lives Matter riots of 2020.

“Police stations were torched, and dozens of officers were injured as all manner of projectiles, from rocks to Molotov cocktails, were hurled at them. Dozens of people died. The damage was estimated at over $1.2 billion — the highest in history. And yet there was no outrage from the Justice Department,” he said.

KGW-TV in Oregon reported in August 2020 that around 140 officers were injured while protecting the Portland federal courthouse from rioters.

In April 2021, Politico questioned how leniency toward those arrested during the 2020 riots might affect the January 6 defendants' cases. The Portland rioters, who engaged in violent acts such as throwing fireworks and using high-intensity lasers against officers, were often offered deferred prosecution with no criminal record if they stayed out of trouble during a probationary period and completed community service, according to Politico.

In contrast, the DOJ noted at the end of its news release about Bozell that over 1,400 individuals have been charged with crimes related to January 6, and the “investigation remains ongoing.”

The elder Bozell emphasized that the Justice Department tried but failed to pin a terrorism enhancement charge on his son, equating him to Osama bin Laden despite his most serious previous offense being a traffic violation.

The DOJ also tried to force Bozell to plead guilty to the charge of obstruction, which his father called unconstitutional and expected to be overturned by the Supreme Court. The Court is set to rule on whether the obstruction statute, intended to address document destruction, applies to actions on January 6.

Bozell concluded that his son was subjected to a “political prosecution” due to the harsh sentencing.

“In Biden’s America, justice has no home if you are on the right,” Bozell said.

“Leo Brent Bozell IV carries his father’s name, and his father is a known conservative leader who is supporting President Trump in 2024,” he added.

“The criminal investigation into this corrupt Justice Department is long overdue,” Bozell contended.