The Rebel Again Asks for Donations to a “Legal Defence Fund”

From The Rebel:

Tonight, Rebel reporter Laura Loomer was arrested in New York after interrupting the Broadway production of Julius Caesar, a play by William Shakespeare that had been politically altered to feature the assassination of U.S. President Donald Trump.

…The Rebel has hired a lawyer to work for Laura’s immediate release on free speech grounds — precisely the same argument the theatre uses to justify their play.

To contribute to Laura’s legal defence fund, please click below.

An update adds:

…UPDATE: Laura has been freed from jail. She is facing two charges: trespassing and disorderly conduct. We will fight those charges vigorously in court.

The stunt was obviously pre-arranged – indeed, it appears that Ezra Levant registered a “freelaura.com” url that redirects to The Rebel a few hours ahead of the interruption. The outcome was inevitable; why, then, is the site now asking for donations as a matter of urgency?

The above in effect promises that Loomer will plead not guilty and offer a justification, even though she has not yet taken legal advice. The case, then, is not just about benefiting Loomer, but establishing a point of principle.

Those of us who can remember back several weeks, though, will recall similar rhetoric when Tommy Robinson, the former EDL leader who now works for The Rebelwas arrested while filming for the website in the UK. The Rebel asked for donations, which it promised would be used to “put together a powerful legal argument in defence of Tommy’s free speech and freedom of the press.” And after Robinson’s court appearance, The Rebel declared “victory” and a “court win”, and Robinson made a short statement thanking donors.

However, it emerged a few days later that Robinson’s defence team had not in fact “put together a powerful legal argument in defence of Tommy’s free speech and freedom of the press”. Instead, Robinson had pleaded guilty to contempt of court and thrown himself on the court’s mercy. He was apologetic; he said that he had not been trained in media law; and he asked the court to take account of the fact that his personal safety would be at risk in prison. The judge gave him a suspended sentence.

Footnote

Also present at the interruption in New York was The Rebel‘s Jack Posobiec. Posobiec came to attention in December, when he suggested that the Comet Pizza gunman was a “false flag”designed to censor independent news sources.