Two weeks ago, triple-amputee veteran Brian Kolfage was arrested by armed agents from the New York United States Postal Inspection Service. Kolfage, the founder of the wildly popular border wall construction non-profit, We Build the Wall, is accused of receiving payments for his work after initially stating that he would take no salary. The work was surely taxing, especially for a war hero who lost both legs & an arm in Iraq.
Also arrested were former Trump Chief Strategist Steve Bannon who served on the board of WBTW and two other associates who worked with the organization. Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss (A Democrat) of the Southern District of New York brought the charges against Kolfage & Bannon. As the amount Kolfage was paid for his work comes well under the recommended amount that non-profits should pay staff (15% of the total budget) it appears the charges are purely political & meant to intimidate & sideline supporters of President Trump and the border wall.
The Hill reported on Kolfage & Bannon’s arrests:
“Bannon, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea allegedly defrauded donors of the online crowdfunding campaign known as “We Build the Wall,” which raised more than $25 million, the office said. The four defendants are expected to appear in court Thursday afternoon.
“As alleged, the defendants defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretense that all of that money would be spent on construction,” Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said.
They are facing charges including one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
Kolfage allegedly took a total of $350,000 from the organization, passed through a series of bank accounts and nonprofits between January and October of 2019.”
The New York Post also reported that:
“Of course this Purple Heart recipient Brian Kolfage is accused of pocketing $20,000 a month — and a $100,000 up-front payment — from the viral GoFundMe fundraiser “We Build the Wall,” which launched in 2018 and raised $25 million.”
Think about that. Kolfage is alleged to have been paid $350,000 for his work out of a budget of $25 million. That’s 1.4% of the budget. The organization could have spent $3,750,000 on administrative costs and been in line with the recommended 15% of expenditures for salaries. The charges brought against Kolfage are a total abuse of government power & a political hitjob in my opinion.
Fifteen members from the New York United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) showed up on Kolfage’s doorstep to arrest him on August 20, 2020. Why did it take 15 armed agents to arrest a triple-amputee war veteran??? It seems the SDNY seriously wanted to intimidate him.
This is just like when Andrew Weissmann sent 25 FBI agents to arrest Roger Stone on Mueller’s politically motivated charges. Sickening.
According to the Gateway Pundit:
“The USPIS agents looked through his children’s rooms.
On the morning of August 20th at least five cars, all with New York state plates, showed up outside war hero Brian Kolfage’s house. Out came 15 USPIS agents, armed and ready. The agents no doubt thought through their actions on the long drive from New York to Florida. They came prepared with guns, gloves and masks so COVID wouldn’t slow them down.
Three cars slowly came down Kolfage’s street and parked in front of his house. Then suddenly from the other direction, another van pulled into Kolfage’s drive and sped towards his house:
Next another car races down Kolfage’s drive and agents get out. Then a half dozen or so agents exit their cars from the street and march down his driveway towards his house:”
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“The USPIS agents never contacted the US Federal Marshals in Florida until Kolfage was loaded in the car. When they went in the house, the agents looked all over, including in the children’s rooms. All the cars at Kolfage’s place driven by the USPIS agents had New York plates and the USPIS agents mentioned they drove all the way from New York.
The New York agents asked Kolfage about all of his firearms he owned and what types.
A Florida US Marshal was overheard telling the New York USPIS agents at the courthouse:
“Nothing like the state of New York to come down here to Florida and make a political show.”
The Florida Marshals were very upset and told Kolfage:
“I don’t agree with the handling of this one bit, it’s 100% political!”
“Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss came out a short time later and called all the men involved in building the southern border wall fraudsters. These ‘fraudsters’ had claimed all donations for building the wall would be spent on the wall and they had the audacity of paying themselves a small fraction of the proceeds from the donations received for their expenses and work.”
The indictment included no names of the “victims” of Kolfage. And there’s a good reason. Every comment from every single person I have seen who contributed to Kolfage’s We Build the Wall did not care if he was paid for his work, in fact, almost all of them fully expected him to be reimbursed for his labor. Kolfage built an amazing border wall in Sunland Park, New Mexico, and invested in another 3.5-mile wall that was built in Mission, Texas on the Rio Grande River. That’s exactly what the donors wanted. Kolfage was set to begin building two more sections of the border wall when he was arrested, also. His arrest stinks to high heaven.
Kolfage stated this about his arrest & charges:
“I’ve taken direct hits from mortars fighting for my country overseas, now I’m taking mortars from a politically corrupted and weaponized judicial system who has made it their #1 goal to target all Trump associates. With reckless regard for the constitution they have set out on a mission to destroy people’s live’s by intimidation through a weaponized mainstream media platform that regurgitates and tries defendants in the court of public opinion before facts are even known. This is not the type of freedom I raised my right hand to defend, this is totalitarianism to take political prisoners.
They are coming after us for one reason, we embarrassed them, we proved that Americans wanted border security. ‘We the people’ then built the wall and cut off major human smuggling routes. We showed Americans that we can accomplish the “impossible” with a little good old fashioned hard work. Everything we accomplished went against the tainted beliefs of these socialists from NY who are after us. They want the permanent political class to stay in power. And in order to achieve that they need globalism and open borders to keep the power on their side.
When the facts come out over the next few months they are going to have to drop this case; it’s that’s simple, this case is 100% TAINTED by political motivations. That’s why they timed it to the eve of the Republican National Convention, just as Steve Bannon was beginning to advise the Trump Campaign again.”
Please contribute to Airman Kolfage’s fund to cover his legal expenses here: Fundly.com/kolfage
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Jeff Rainforth is a freelance photographer & news editor covering events on the US/Mexico border, and riots & unrest in Democrat-run cities.
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