House candidate has donated $3M to news org sympathetic to cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal

Scott Wallace, a liberal millionaire candidate running for Congress in Pennsylvania, has been a member of a controversial private club in South Africa that used to discriminate against Jewish and black people and invited controversial speakers, including former head of the Apartheid chemical and biological warfare program. (the Scott Wallace campaign)

A Democrat running for Congress in Pennsylvania donated nearly $3 million to "Democracy Now!," a progressive media organization that gave platform at least 20 times to Mumia Abu-Jamal, a convicted Philadelphia cop-killer and former member of the Black Panthers.

Scott Wallace, grandson of a former vice president who’s now running for a U.S. House seat in Pennsylvania's 1st Congressional District, has used the Wallace Global Fund to funnel millions of dollars to “Democracy Now!”

Public records show that Wallace’s fund has consistently given grants to the news organization since 2003 and up until 2016. In some years, the fund gave up to $350,000 to the progressive outlet.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., speaks during the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force news conference on the release of the 2018 legislative agenda for the 115th Congress on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018. (CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

But “Democracy Now!” – an organization that gives the voice to the most radical left-wingers in the country – has effectively used the donated money to conduct multiple interviews and featured commentary from Abu-Jamal, who once said on air that the night he killed the officer was when the movement for “justice” began.

Abu-Jamal was convicted in 1982 for the brutal murder of Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner. He shot Faulkner in the back after the officer pulled over Abu-Jamal’s brother for driving on the wrong side of the street. The former Black Panther then shot the officer four more times, including in his face.

Abu-Jamal was initially sentenced to death over the killing, but following a years-long appeal process, the sentence was commuted in 2011 to life imprisonment without parole.

Mumia Abu-Jamal (Associated Press)

Since 1996, “Democracy Now!” began airing Abu-Jamal’s commentary following the success of books in which he decried the judicial system as racist and suggested it’s beholden by political interests.

In 2013, Abu-Jamal was interviewed by the program funded by Wallace and asked what he would say to the widow of the police officer he’s convicted of murdering. He responded saying “the struggle for justice and freedom” started on the night of the murder of Faulkner and urged his widow to join the movement.

Despite the troubling appearances, Wallace continued the financial support for the outlet and appeared on the program twice since 2014. Fox News could not find a disclaimer in the broadcasts that notifies the viewers of Wallace’s contributions.

Scott Wallace, shown with his wife, Christy, is running for Congress in Pennsylvania. (SCOTT WALLACE CAMPAIGN)

Zoe Wilson-Meyer, communications director for Wallace’s campaign, didn’t deny the funding of the media organization, but didn’t answer the questions whether the candidate expresses regret over the funding, considering Faulkner was a police officer in Philadelphia.

"This baseless and absurd smear is what is wrong with Washington and why Pennsylvanians want change,” she wrote in an email.

“If you want to talk donations, maybe Brian Fitzpatrick can explain why he’s taken thousands of dollars directly from Adam Kidan, a convicted felon connected to a gangland-style murder,” she continued. “The fact is that Scott Wallace won't take a dime from corporate PACs, while Fitzpatrick is beholden to Trump, Washington special interests and, apparently, criminals."

The Wallace campaign is referring to an unsolicited $5,400 donation by Kidan, a convicted felon who was sentenced to six years in prison and went on to serve 43 months, which has already been re-donated to two local charities.

Fitzpatrick’s campaign manager Dave Johnston told Fox News that as soon as the campaign became aware of the donation from Kidan, they contributed the figure to the Bucks County Opportunity Council and Bucks County Down Syndrome Interest Group, both of which received $2,700 each.