The Government Tried to Get Me and Failed': Conservative Author Dinesh D'Souza Reacts to His Sentencing

Glenn Beck spoke with conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza Wednesday, the day after D'Souza was sentenced to eight months in a community confinement center, five years' probation with one day of community service a week, and ordered to pay $30,000 for breaking campaign finance law during the 2012 election.

"A friend of his, Wendy Long, was running for U.S. Senate in New York and he arranged for $20,000 in donations. He paid the donors back, which allowed Dinesh to exceed the $5,000 limit for individual donors," Beck said. "How did the government even know this?"

"This was a great puzzle, because the Obama administration is insisting they aren't targeting me," D'Souza responded. "Some guy from the FBI was quoted in the paper saying this was, quote, a 'routine audit.' But interestingly, it's a routine audit that produced a single offender — me. And yesterday my lawyer stood up and told the judge, 'Your honor, there is not one man in the United States who has done what Dinesh D'Souza did who is sitting in prison. And yet here is the government, watching this guy over the year -- 10 to 16 months, somewhere in that range -- for doing something with no corrupt intent whatsoever.'"

Filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza attends the premiere of Lionsgate Films' "America," at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live on June 30, 2014 in Los Angeles. (Credit Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images)

D'Souza summarized: "The government tried to send me to prison and a federal judge, a Democratic appointee, looked them in the eye and basically said 'no.'"

D'Souza said his "understanding of the character of [President Barack Obama]" makes it hard for him to believe he was treated like "any other guy."

"[He's] a very dysfunctional guy with a very dysfunctional family," D'Souza said. "He has family members that have each other followed. They spread rumors and try to undermine each other. ... This is a very bizarre situation and Obama is a petty, vindictive guy. After I made '2016' he launched a raging attack against me on his personal website, barackobama.com. I don't have to speculate he doesn't like me. I know that."

D'Souza said he deserves a penalty for breaking the law, and all he wanted was "the same penalty as any other guy in my situation, who is not a public critic of the Obama administration."

"The people praying for me, supporting me, that worked, because what I got was a penalty for proportion to what I did," D'Souza said. "The Obama administration, the government tried to get me and failed."

After D'Souza hung up, Beck reflected on the conversation, saying he respects that D'Souza admits he broke the law and deserves to pay the price. But Beck still believes the government targeted D'Souza, and searched for a way to punish him.

"This is something we've talked about," Beck told his audience. "If you're doing something wrong, they will find out. And it doesn't have to be intentional. It doesn't have to be anything that big. They will take the smallest thing and they will twist it and make it look horrible."

"You know what I'm thinking?" Beck continued. "This is the first real political prisoner that I have seen this president make ... besides those who are journalists. You know? And in a way, Dinesh is a journalist. Now, this is a little dicey because it's not like he's Martin Luther King, who is just speaking out. He did something wrong. But this is a political prisoner, make no mistake."

"He was only prosecuted, they only found this stuff, because they were going through everything to stop him," Beck concluded. "It's really sick."

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