Climate cult vandals hit with federal charges for defacing National Gallery of Art exhibit

A pair of climate cult vandals who defaced an exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. last month were taken into custody and are facing federal charges over their stunt, another on a growing list of examples of far-left zanies taking their fearmongering over a looming doomsday scenario to extremes with no regard for the rights or property of others.

On April 27, Timothy Martin of North Carolina and Joanna Smith of New York, both 53 years old, walked into the National Gallery of Art and smeared blood-red paint on the case of the exhibit of French artist Edgar Degas’s “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen,” a roughly 143-year-old priceless work of art that has been on display at the location where it has drawn visitors for years.

After vandalizing the exhibit with the paint that was allegedly smuggled into the building in water bottles, the two then sat down in front of their dirty work with Smith holding up her painted hands for a photo op that was recorded on video by their co-conspirators. The radical left-wing group Declare Emergency took credit for the despicable act, boasting about it on Twitter.

“Around 11 am today two parents who are terrified about their children’s futures (as well as all children) made a statement at the National Gallery in DC. Climate change will cause famine, floods, droughts and destruction unless we act now,” the group wrote on the day of the incident.

On Friday, the two were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and injury to a National Gallery of Art exhibit, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.

According to the press release, “The indictment further alleges that Martin and Smith agreed, along with other currently uncharged co-conspirators, to enter the National Gallery of Art for the purpose of injuring the exhibit. Martin and Smith entered the National Gallery of Art armed with plastic water bottles filled with paint. Martin and Smith handed their phones to other conspirators and waited until patrons cleared the area in front of the Little Dancer.”

“Martin and Smith proceeded to smear paint on the case and base of the exhibit, at times smacking the case with force. Prior to the attack, members of the conspiracy had alerted the Washington Post, and two reporters from the Post recorded and photographed the offense. Additionally, other members of the conspiracy filmed and photographed the offense. Smith and Martin caused approximately $2,400 in damage and the exhibit was removed from public display for ten days so that it could be repaired,” the statement read.

“Each charge carries a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The maximum statutory sentence for federal offenses is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes. The sentencing will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office states.

(Video: YouTube/Declare Emergency)

“Billions of people will starve to death in the coming decades, as elites fill our atmospheric “gas chamber” with fossil fuels for power and profit. Our food systems will break down. Billions will be forced out of their homes and countries. This means war, starvation, slaughter, and rape on a global scale. And the collapse is coming here, too,” the climate group declares on its website.

“The science is clear: the use of fossil fuels must end, immediately, if we hope to survive. Instead of leading the transition, our government gambles our future on unproven technologies and hopeful thinking… while quietly continuing to fund and facilitate the fossil fuel death project. This is genocidal. This is criminal. This is insane,” according to the gospel of Declare Emergency.

“We understand the value and importance of art in our society, and we also know that it and everything we love is at stake if we don’t tackle the climate emergency with the urgency that it deserves,” the group told Fox News Digital. “We have to convey how dire this situation is, in whatever nonviolent way that we can. We need to engage with the climate emergency emotionally, and actions such as this one draw that out in us. They bring us to the emotional state that we need to be in to realize how bad things really are. Only after getting to that place will we find the motivation and the resolve to truly save ourselves.”

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Chris Donaldson

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