The Department of Justice placed two federal prosecutors on administrative leave after filing a sentencing memorandum that described the January 6 riot as a, well, riot.
The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
Continuing to moonlight as a witness protection program for violent insurrectionists, Pam Bondi’s DOJ came down on Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White of the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office, following a sentencing memo proposing 27 months for January 6 alumnus Taylor Taranto. Outside of his January 6 resume, which earned him a pardon from Trump, Taranto was arrested after bringing “two guns, a machete and hundreds of rounds of ammunition” to Barack Obama’s house — after Donald Trump posted the former president’s address — and posting a picture of himself with the caption “We got these losers surrounded!”
Taranto was found guilty of illegal gun possession and false information stemming from another public claim suggesting he was going to blow up the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
But then Valdivia and White prepared a sentencing memo seeking 27 years and citing Taranto’s participation in the January 6 “mob of rioters” while describing his criminal history. This description has the benefit of being, you know, entirely accurate. It also has the detriment of being entirely not how Donald Trump likes to hear his beloved thugs described.
Savvy readers may be wondering if, given that this is a D.C. prosecution, the memo earned a sign off from boss Jeanine Pirro. As it happens, Pirro did approve the memo meaning she either saw nothing wrong with it or found herself too distracted by the bottled water situation in the office to read it.
Which explains the NBC report that the decision to derail the careers of a couple rank-and-file prosecutors came directly from the White House.
I wonder why the White House is so sensitive about describing January 6 as a riot. I thought it was all an Antifa hoax run by the deep state FBI? It’s just so hard to keep up.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
The post Trump DOJ Has HAD It With Prosecutors Who Think Showing Up At Barack Obama’s House With Guns And A Machete Is Some Kind Of ‘Crime’ appeared first on Above the Law.
The Department of Justice placed two federal prosecutors on administrative leave after filing a sentencing memorandum that described the January 6 riot as a, well, riot.
The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
Continuing to moonlight as a witness protection program for violent insurrectionists, Pam Bondi’s DOJ came down on Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White of the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office, following a sentencing memo proposing 27 months for January 6 alumnus Taylor Taranto. Outside of his January 6 resume, which earned him a pardon from Trump, Taranto was arrested after bringing “two guns, a machete and hundreds of rounds of ammunition” to Barack Obama’s house — after Donald Trump posted the former president’s address — and posting a picture of himself with the caption “We got these losers surrounded!”
Taranto was found guilty of illegal gun possession and false information stemming from another public claim suggesting he was going to blow up the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
But then Valdivia and White prepared a sentencing memo seeking 27 years and citing Taranto’s participation in the January 6 “mob of rioters” while describing his criminal history. This description has the benefit of being, you know, entirely accurate. It also has the detriment of being entirely not how Donald Trump likes to hear his beloved thugs described.
Savvy readers may be wondering if, given that this is a D.C. prosecution, the memo earned a sign off from boss Jeanine Pirro. As it happens, Pirro did approve the memo meaning she either saw nothing wrong with it or found herself too distracted by the bottled water situation in the office to read it.
Which explains the NBC report that the decision to derail the careers of a couple rank-and-file prosecutors came directly from the White House.
I wonder why the White House is so sensitive about describing January 6 as a riot. I thought it was all an Antifa hoax run by the deep state FBI? It’s just so hard to keep up.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
