US prosecutors suspended after calling January 6 defendants ‘mob of rioters,’ sources say

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department placed two prosecutors on leave on Wednesday, 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 on Thursday for Taylor Taranto’s sentencing.

Taranto was convicted on gun charges after driving to former President Barack Obama’s Washington neighborhood in June 2023, shortly after then-former President Donald 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 Washington, 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 Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment and Reuters could not immediately reach the two attorneys for comment.

The decision to place them on leave marks the latest in a string of personnel actions targeting Justice Department employees who worked on criminal or civil cases disfavored by Trump and his supporters. More than 200 prosecutors, agents and other personnel have been fired, some of whom worked on two criminal cases against Trump or on cases related to the attack on the Capitol.

Taranto was convicted on gun charges after having “perpetrated a hoax” on June 28, 2023, in which he falsely claimed he would cause a car bomb to drive into the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The next day, after Trump posted Obama’s purported address on social media, Taranto reposted it and began live-streaming himself as he drove into Obama’s neighborhood in Washington, D.C. In the video, he said he was searching for “tunnels” to access private residences. Eventually he parked and walked into a restricted area protected by the U.S. Secret Service where he stated: “Gotta get the shot, stop at nothing to get the shot.”

In a search of his van, law enforcement found two firearms, a stabilizing brace and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Jonathan Hornok, who was previously hand-picked by former Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin to serve as the office’s criminal chief, has since made an appearance in the case alongside a second prosecutor, according to court filings.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)