Dinesh D'Souza, the right-wing media darling who conservatives had claimed was targeted for prosecution because he is a critic of the Obama administration, has pleaded guilty to charges of campaign finance fraud.

D'Souza, famous for producing an anti-Barack Obama film rife with lies and outlandish claims, was indicted by the FBI in January and accused of violating campaign finance laws by “arranging excessive campaign contributions to a candidate for the U.S. Senate,” and allegedly reimbursing “people who he had directed to contribute $20,000” to the unnamed candidate. On May 20 D'Souza pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws and making false statements. He will be sentenced in September and likely faces imprisonment of ten to 16 months.

Right-wing media figures -- many of whom went to bat for D'Souza's flawed film -- rallied to the filmmaker's defense following his initial indictment, claiming he was being prosecuted for his political beliefs. Fox News host Sean Hannity labeled D'Souza “the latest victim to be targeted by the Obama White House.” Matt Drudge accused Attorney General Eric Holder of “unleashing the dog” on “Obama critics,” and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones responded to the charges, saying, “This is like Nazi Germany ... once they're done with these guys, they're coming after you and I.” Radio host Laura Ingraham characterized the indictment as being “more about stifling political dissent” than any serious allegations of wrongdoing, and Rush Limbaugh described it as an effort to “criminalize” conservatives.

Fox News repeatedly hosted D'Souza, providing a platform for the filmmaker to defend himself against the charges and issue baseless accusations at the Obama administration.

During one such interview in February, Fox host Megyn Kelly said the charges “raised red flags for some because D'Souza, who has pleaded not guilty, is behind the box office hit 2016: Obama's America, a film that is very critical of the president.” D'Souza responded that he couldn't speak about the case specifically, but that he knows “for a fact” that Obama was personally unnerved by his film and said, “I am a public critic of the president, and I do recognize this has made me, to some degree, vulnerable to some forms of counter-attack.”

This right-wing media defense was reportedly part of a deliberate plan by D'Souza. The New York Times reported in April that, in a conversation with one of his alleged straw donors, D'Souza said that if he were charged “he might plead guilty, but would initially plead not guilty because that 'gives him a window of opportunity to get his story out there.'”

Conservative pundits were more than happy to oblige this desire. Now will those who championed D'Souza's virtuousness finally condemn his crimes?

For her part, Ingraham will not. She responded immediately to news of the plea by downplaying the seriousness of the crime and doubling down on her claim that D'Souza was prosecuted for political reasons.