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Justice Department Reference to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack has been removed from court papers and chastised two federal prosecutors who filed documents seeking a prison sentence at Thursday’s sentencing hearing for an armed rioter arrested near former President Barack Obama’s home.
Prosecutor from the US Attorney’s Office District of Columbia His government equipment was turned off and he was told he was being placed on leave Wednesday morning, shortly after he filed a sentencing memorandum describing the president’s mob. donald trump A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel issues, described his supporters who attacked the Capitol as a “mob of rioters.”
Later on Wednesday, the Justice Department replaced the court filing with an updated version that removed references to the Jan. 6 riot. The new filing also no longer includes reference to the fact that what Trump claimed on social media was Obama’s address on the same day that defendant Taylor Taranto was arrested in the former president’s neighborhood.
It is the latest move by the Justice Department to discipline lawyers linked to the sweeping January 6 prosecution and represents an extraordinary effort by the government to erase the history of the riot that left more than 100 police officers injured.
Trump himself has worked for years to downplay the violence and portray as victims the rioters who attacked the Capitol and sent lawmakers into hiding as they rushed to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory. Since Trump’s blanket pardons on January 6, his administration has fired or demoted several lawyers involved in the largest investigation in Justice Department history.
The Justice Department declined to comment Thursday.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said her office would not comment on personnel decisions, but added: “We will continue to vigorously prosecute those who commit or threaten violence, regardless of the political party of the perpetrator or target.”
Prosecutors are seeking more than two years in prison for Taranto when he is sentenced in federal court on Thursday WashingtonHe was convicted in May of illegally possessing two guns and about 500 rounds of ammunition in the Obama neighborhood in June 2023. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, also convicted Taranto of recording himself making a false threat to bomb a government building in Maryland.
The defense argued at trial that the video showed Taranto was merely joking in an “avant-garde” manner, and that he believed he was a “journalist and, to some extent, a comedian.”
Taranto, a Navy veteran from Pasco, Washington, was separately charged with four misdemeanors related to the Capitol attack before Trump’s blanket pardon order wiped out his case. They were captured on video at the entrance to the Speaker’s Lobby in the House when one rioter, Ashli Babbitt, was shot by an officer as she tried to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door.
Prosecutors handling Taranto’s case were not told why he was being placed on leave, the person familiar with the matter said. Two new prosecutors, including the head of the office’s criminal division, entered the case and presented new details on Wednesday. ABC News first reported that prosecutors Samuel White and Carlos Valdivia have been placed on leave.
People freed from prison under Trump’s pardon in January were captured on camera viciously attacking police as well as leaders of far-right extremist groups accused of plotting a violent plot to prevent a peaceful transfer of power following their 2020 election defeat. Those pardoned include more than 250 people who were convicted on assault charges, some who attacked police with makeshift weapons such as flags, hockey sticks and crutches.
In January, then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Emile Bowe ordered the dismissal of nearly two dozen prosecutors who were appointed to temporary appointments to support the January 6 cases but were moved to permanent roles following Trump’s presidential victory in November.
And in June, the department fired two lawyers who had worked as supervisors overseeing the January 6 prosecution in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia, as well as a line attorney who prosecuted cases arising from the Capitol attack.