A speaker at ex-President Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rally on Saturday painted her nephew, an alleged Nazi sympathizer named Timothy Hale-Cusanelli who was convicted over his participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, as a victim of political oppression.
Cynthia Hughes, who founded a support group for Jan. 6 defendants known as the “Patriot Freedom Project,” lamented in her speech that Hale-Cusanelli was “languishing behind the walls of a D.C. jail” and claimed that he and his fellow Jan. 6 insurrectionists were being denied due process.
Hughes described how Hale-Cusanelli had “served his country” as a former Army reservist (he was fired after Jan. 6) and was “dressed in a suit and tie” when he went to the Capitol.
However, Hughes failed to mention that her nephew, who was found guilty of obstruction in May, openly espoused neo-Nazi views, according to evidence provided by prosecutors and accounts from Hale-Cusanelli’s own (now former) coworkers.
Instances of Hale-Cusanelli allegedly aligning himself with Nazism include telling coworkers that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “should have finished the job,” going to work with a Hitler mustache and repeatedly making anti-Semitic comments.
Prosecutors also presented photos of Hale-Cusanelli showing off a Hitler-inspired look:
Hughes’ shout-out to her alleged neo-Nazi nephew at Trump’s rally comes as Republicans shriek over President Joe Biden’s speech in which he warned that the ex-president and his GOP loyalists are pro-authoritarianism and threats to democracy.
