A pair of prosecutors have been suspended by the Justice Department after they submitted a sentencing memo containing politically charged language that appeared to blame President Trump for a threat against former president Barack Obama.
The two prosecutors, Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White, submitted the statements in a case against an erratic man, Taylor Taranto, who received a federal pardon from Trump for his involvement in the events at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021.
Despite the pardon, Taranto is facing prison after he was separately convicted for making threats outside the Washington D.C. home of Obama in June 2023.
The sentencing memo filed by Valdivia and White sought 27 months in prison for Taranto and lumped him in with "thousands of people comprising a mob of rioters" who participated in the events of January 6th.
Most of the people who entered the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, were charged with non-violent misdemeanor offenses, although many were accused of crimes like assault.
Taranto, who was charged with misdemeanor crimes, allegedly entered the Capitol and scuffled with police before being forced outside, where he clashed with other protesters using a cane.
The sentencing memo noted that Taranto returned to his home in Washington State afterwards, "where he promoted conspiracy theories about the events of January 6, 2021.”
The prosecutors also tied Taranto's threatening actions outside Obama's home in June 2023 to Trump having "published on social media platforms the purported address of former President Obama" earlier that day.
Taranto was arrested after a short foot chase in Obama's Kalorama neighborhood, where Taranto tried to evade Secret Service and livestreamed himself making statements about searching for "tunnels" and "entrance points."
The police found hundreds of rounds of ammunition and two guns in his van.
Shortly after the sentencing memo against Taranto was filed, Valdivia and White were locked out of their government devices.
The memo was signed by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, a close Trump ally.
Trump pardoned nearly all January 6th defendants on the first day of his second presidential term, casting them as victims of overzealous and politically motivated prosecution under the Biden administration, which also sought to jail Trump as he campaigned for the White House in 2024.
Biden-era "weaponization" is continuing to fall under scrutiny as Senate Republicans uncover a sweeping FBI "fishing expedition" led by Trump prosecutor Jack Smith, who sought subpoenas against scores of Republicans, some of whom had their phone records collected.
