The Biden administration’s war on conservatives, especially Catholics and prolife advocates, was swift and brutal. Now, one of the people targeted has reached a settlement with Trump’s DOJ.
In October 2022, eleven pro-life advocates were arrested after they participated in a pro-life demonstration at the Carafem abortion facility in Mt Juliet, Tennessee, on March 5, 2021.
Among them was Paul Vaughn, whose arrest at his home by FBI agents was criticized for its use of force.
Retired FBI agent Steve Gray decried the FBI’s actions as excessive compared to his own experience with arrests involving gang and organized crime, where less force was used.
Screen images from a cellphone video taken by his wife show FBI agents at the front door of their home after they arrested him at gunpoint in front of his family before they walked off, refusing to answer questions while one agent comes around from behind the house.
Vaughn told Fox News that seven of his eleven children, ranging from 18 months old to 18 years old, were home at the time of his arrest, adding that three of his children were “basically held at gunpoint” by an agent in the yard during the encounter.
Video was posted by Town Hall’s Mia Cathell, “One of the pro-life leaders targeted by Biden’s DOJ sent me footage of the early morning FBI raid on his family home. Paul Vaughn was placed in handcuffs by armed FBI agents in front of his children just before school drop-off. Watch as his wife pleads for answers mid-arrest:”
🚨 One of the pro-life leaders targeted by Biden’s DOJ sent me footage of the early morning FBI raid on his family home. Paul Vaughn was placed in handcuffs by armed FBI agents in front of his children just before school drop-off. Watch as his wife pleads for answers mid-arrest: https://t.co/lUP6tJOSzW pic.twitter.com/XeYComC6mZ
— Mia Cathell (@MiaCathell) October 7, 2022
The Thomas More Society, which aided Vaughn in his fight, wrote. “On January 30, 2024, Vaughn—a devout Christian husband and father of 11 children—was convicted by a Nashville, Tennessee, federal jury on charges of violating the FACE Act and engaging in a ‘Conspiracy Against Rights.’”
“These charges were brought by the Biden Department of Justice against Vaughn and carried a potential sentence of up to 11 years. Convicted along with Vaughn were five other defendants. Vaughn and five other pro-life advocates were prosecuted by the Biden Department of Justice for their participation in a peaceful life-affirming gathering at a Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, abortion business.”
Vaughn was formally sentenced to three years of supervised release.
Vaughn pursued legal action against the Justice Department over his prosecution. He shared first with Fox News Digital that he recently reached a seven-figure settlement with the government agency.
Vaughn said the settlement has brought much-needed closure to his family after living through a traumatic, multiyear ordeal stemming from the “egregious deeds of the Biden DOJ.”
“Obviously, money doesn’t equate justice, and there’s not a true sense of justice in the settlement, but it is an acknowledgment of wrong, and it is something to help make up for the time lost,” he told Fox News Digital.
Following the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Biden’s DOJ weaponized the FACE Act against prolifers.
The FACE Act prohibits “violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services.”
In 2022, a top DOJ official, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, even told a crowd of leftist supporters earlier that the department was stepping up its enforcement of the FACE Act.
Meanwhile, the same DOJ failed to charge a single person in connection with the nearly 100 attacks on pro-life centers in the same time period.
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