A Virginia father who was arrested at a school board meeting when he spoke out about his teenage daughter being sexually assaulted by a transgender student blasted the Justice Department on Monday as “politicized and weaponized” in its handling of his case.
Scott Smith, who was recently pardoned by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, said in a new interview that he doesn’t believe his case was treated fairly by federal prosecutors.
“I really want to win it straight in court on my own merits, but unfortunately, you know because things have happened — our justice system across this country is unfortunately politicized and weaponized to [hilt]and that should terrify every American,” Smith told Fox News Monday night.
Smith also used an interview with Fox News anchor John Roberts to explain what happened leading up to his arrest in June 2021. Fox News
Smith also addressed a recent Wall Street Journal editorial that claimed the newspaper was using his altercation as evidence of some kind of larger right-wing campaign, or “an attempt to fit Mr. Smith into the Democratic Party’s portrayal of conservative government critics as motivated by hate.” “
“It’s all true,” Smith said when presented with the article. “That’s what they do.
“They are using me to silence mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers and others that we started this movement to protect our children to defend our rights, to protect our children and say what we think is right for them.
“And there’s clear evidence that it’s quite effective,” he said, calling the Justice Department’s memo to school boards “deplorable.”
Smith was arrested at a Loudoun County School Board meeting on June 22, 2021, when she spoke about her teenage daughter being sexually assaulted in a school bathroom by a transgender student. He reportedly launched a profanity storm and was convicted of indecent behavior.
But he told “America Reports” he wasn’t actually having a verbal argument with an unsupportive school board member, as originally believed, but rather a “radical parent” who called him a liar and threatened to “destroy” him on social media.
“I have never spoken to the school board. The whole story is really a bit skewed,” Smith said.
Smith was arrested at a Loudoun County School Board meeting on June 22, 2021, after speaking for her daughter.REUTERS
“I was sitting in my little area, and a radical protester came and I heard this scream behind me, and I turned around, and it was my wife and she — I didn’t know my wife was there. He came in behind me,” he said.
“So I went in, tried to explain to this woman what was going on,” he said as he told the woman about her daughter’s assault by a transgender student.
“He looked me dead in the face and said, ‘That’s not true, that’s not what happened. You’re lying.’”
Police tried to defuse the situation, Smith said, but when they left, he again turned to verbally engage the woman.
That’s when, she said, he threatened to “destroy” her on social media.
“I called him a swear word – the next thing I knew, there were arms around me, grabbing me from behind,” Smith recounted.
He said he had never “really fought to clear my name from charges of indecent behavior, I mean, I’m a country boy, I’m sometimes indecent.
“You know, what this is about is my freedom of speech, you know, that shouldn’t have happened that day,” he told lead writer John Roberts.
Governor Glenn Youngkin announced on Fox News Sunday that he has pardoned Smith.@GovernorVA / Twitter
Smith was pardoned by Youngkin on Sunday when the Republican governor told “Fox News Sunday,” “I spoke with Mr. Smith on Friday, and I had the privilege of telling Mr. Smith that I would pardon him, and we did it on Friday. .
“We are correcting the mistake. He should never have been charged here. This is a father standing up for his daughter.”
But Loudon County Democratic Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj, who was eventually removed from the case, slammed the pardon as a “political stunt” and an “unprecedented and unwarranted intrusion into an active legal case.”
He accused Youngkin of making himself “judge and jury” over himself and politically opposed county officials involved in the case.
When asked about the comments on Monday, Smith said Biberaj was “one of the meanest people I’ve ever met.”
“Unfortunately, I had to face him face to face with the prosecution of my daughter’s sexual predator,” he said. “We have to vote him out.”
The teenage suspect who sexually assaulted Smith’s daughter was found guilty of two counts of rape.
The suspect was sentenced to a residential treatment facility and placed on the sex offender registry.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
