A Minnesota nonprofit that was boosted by multiple celebrities and more than a dozen campaign staffers for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden has bailed out defendants charged with murder, kidnapping and sexual assault, according to a new report.
At least 13 Biden campaign staffers boasted on social media in late May that they contributed to the Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF), a bail-paying nonprofit that saw a $35 million fundraising windfall during the George Floyd protests, Reuters reported at the time.
Now, a report by FOX 9 says the nonprofit has helped few protesters in comparison to the defendants charged with violent crimes.
The MFF paid $100,000 to bail out Darnika Floyd, who was charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of a friend, according to documents reviewed by FOX 9. It paid $350,000 to bail out Christopher Boswell, a twice-convicted rapist who was charged with sexual assault and kidnapping, the report said.
The group paid $75,000 to bail out Jaleel Stallings, who was accused of shooting at police during the May riots, according to the report. And it paid $3,000 to bail out Donovan Boone, who was charged with invading the home of his ex-girlfriend and choking her, the report said.
Greg Lewin, the interim executive director of the MFF, told FOX 9 that the group’s mission isn’t about the crime but targeting the cash bail system.
“I often don’t even look at a charge when I bail someone out,” he said. “I will see it after I pay the bill because it is not the point. The point is the system we are fighting.”
While the fundraising windfall was a direct response to protesters getting arrested across the country after the death of George Floyd, Mr. Levin said the money only helped “probably a dozen” cases in terms of direct bail actions.
Mr. Biden has said he opposes the cash-bail system but declined in May to say whether his staffers contributing to the fund was a coordinated effort. He has not commented publicly on FOX 9’s report.
Tim Murtaugh, director of communications for President Trump’s reelection campaign, said it’s another example of Mr. Biden being taken over by the “radical left.”
“As vice president, Joe Biden oversaw cuts to police funding and now as a candidate he says he wants to redirect funding away from police,” Mr. Murtaugh said in a statement to Fox News. “His staff mocked police as worse than ‘pigs,’ called for defunding the police, and now we know his campaign helped bail out violent criminals, rapists and would-be cop killers. Biden is incapable of bringing our country together because he has been taken over by the radical left. He is actively putting Americans’ lives at risk by making our streets more dangerous, cops’ jobs more difficult, and families less safe.”