The DOJ placed two prosecutors on leave today, hours after they referred to Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as "a mob of rioters" in a sentencing memo, said four people familiar with the matter.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Samuel White and Carlos Valdivia were placed on administrative leave and locked out of their government devices, one day before their scheduled appearance in federal court for Taylor Taranto's sentencing. Taranto was convicted on gun charges after driving to former President Obama’s D.C. neighborhood in June 2023, shortly after then-former President Trump posted what he asserted was Obama’s address online. ABC News first reported the moves.
Taranto had previously been charged for his role in the 2021 assault on the Capitol and was pardoned in January on Trump's return to the White House. He was one of nearly 1,600 people pardoned but remained incarcerated on the 2023 gun charges.
Trump and his allies have sought to play down the January 6 violence, decrying the prosecutions as a "national injustice."
White and Valdivia had asked U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in D.C. to impose a sentence of 27 months for Taranto.
They were not provided an official reason for their removal, which was carried out by the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, three of the people said. A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment and Reuters could not immediately reach the two attorneys for comment. Read more from Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward.
