The Jan. 6 ‘podium guy’ is back, Burgum’s addiction story and a harsh review of the Enhanced Games
by Alex Swoyer · The Washington Times“Podium Guy,” who was infamously photographed carrying then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern through the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, has asked the Department of Justice to pay him $5 million.
Adam Johnson met Wednesday with DOJ personnel to file his official claim from President Trump’s Anti-Weaponization Fund, which has been established to compensate victims of the Biden administration’s legal activities.
Mr. Johnson, who pleaded guilty to entering a restricted building and earned a 75-day sentence in 2021, told “Seen, Heard & Whispered” that he spent $250,000 on his legal defense and accrued far more than that in damage to his reputation.
He says he needs to be made whole.
“The harm is not just towards me. It is generational harm, and it will also follow my kids and grandkids,” Mr. Johnson said.
The fund was established by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as part of a deal with Mr. Trump to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the unauthorized release of his tax returns.
Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill have blasted the fund as ill-conceived. The notion that those who battled police at the Capitol has also irked lawmakers.
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Mr. Johnson argued in court that he was singled out for punishment by the DOJ because he was photographed taking Mrs. Pelosi’s lectern. His case would have been handled less aggressively if he’d taken any other property, his lawyer argued.
Mr. Johnson said the Anti-Weaponization Fund gives those like him a way to fight back.
“It sets kind of the mood of, ‘Don’t be afraid to show up and say I was wrongfully prosecuted.’ Continue to speak out. We have an opportunity to gain some of our lives back after this,” he said.
Mr. Johnson, who is running for a seat on the Manatee County Commission in Florida, detailed his legal battle in his book, “Taking a Stand.”
For Kathryn Burgum, addiction recovery is personal
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Kathryn Burgum is the White House’s senior adviser for addiction recovery — and for her, it’s a searingly personal issue.
Ms. Burgum, wife of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, has been recovering from alcohol addiction for 24 years.
She told a group of women hosted by CPAC’s Women Warriors Summit that she first blacked out from drinking in high school. She turned to alcohol at the time after being overwhelmed by abuse at home and pressure to be perfect in school.
“I just couldn’t stop so that started me on a 20-year struggle with addiction, and I tried to get sober in many different ways,” she recalled, adding that she relapsed every few years and even become suicidal.
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While Mr. Burgum was governor of North Dakota, Ms. Burgum led his Office of Recovery Reinvented, which sought to erase the stigma around getting help. She has now brought that to the national level, co-chairing the White House’s Great American Recovery Commission.
She tells her own story as part of that.
“Sometimes it helps to understand somebody else’s struggle,” Ms. Burgum said.
Lara Trump rips Enhanced Games
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Donald Trump Jr. may have been an investor in the Enhanced Games, but that didn’t stop sister-in-law Lara Trump from labeling the pharmaceutically-assisted athletic competition a disappointment after just one world record was broken.
“If anyone watched, I am kind of sorry because I don’t feel it was what it was cracked up to be,” she said during an episode on her podcast, “The Right View.”
Forty-two athletes gathered in Las Vegas this month to compete free from restrictions on performance-enhancing drugs. The point was to showcase what science could do to boost human achievement.
Organizers had hoped for some records to be surpassed, but only one contender, Greek athlete Kristian Gkolomeev, actually pulled it off in competition.
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He swam the 50-meter freestyle race in 20.81 seconds, better than the official 20.88-second record set by Australian Cameron McEvoy earlier this year. He collected a $1 million bonus for that.
Don Jr.’s venture fund, 1789 Capitol, is an investor in the event, as is billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel, a major backer of President Trump.
• Seen, Heard & Whispered is a weekly column taking you inside the conversations happening in Washington’s power corridors, the moves being made and the whispers that explain what’s really going on in the nation’s capital. Email tips to whispered@washingtontimes.com. Click here to receive this in your inbox every Friday morning.
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