DOJ Puts Two Prosecutors on Leave After They File Sentencing Memo Accurately Describing Jan. 6 Capitol Riot

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File

The Department of Justice put two federal prosecutors on administrative leave just hours after they filed a sentencing memo in the case of a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter convicted of new crimes that included a short, accurate description of the Capitol riot.

The case involved Taylor Taranto, a Washington state resident who was convicted in May of illegally carrying two firearms without a license, unlawfully possessing ammunition, and false information and hoaxes connected to threats he made while livestreaming himself.

According to the DOJ, Taranto was livestreaming from his van on June 28, 2023 when he claimed that he had been “working on a detonator,” and said he intended to drive a car bomb into the National Institute of Standards and Technology building, targeting a neutron reactor located there. He drove his van to that location and ran away from it, suggesting an emergency. The next day, he broadcast again from the Kalorama neighborhood in Washington, D.C., where former President Barack Obama now resides.

When Taranto was arrested, officers discovered that the bomb threat was a hoax, but they did find a machete, two firearms, multiple magazines, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Prosecutors said that Taranto had repeatedly mentioned that he wanted to “get a good angle on a shot.”

Taranto, whose sentencing is scheduled for Friday, was also among the hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by President Donald Trump on the first day of his second term — a factual biographical detail that seems to have created problems for the prosecutors assigned to his case.

In the sentencing memorandum filed on Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carlos A. Valdivia and Samuel White wrote that the DOJ was seeking 27 months’ incarceration, followed by 35 months of supervised release, and several hundred dollars in fines.

Included in the memo was a brief, two-sentence factual description of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, Taranto’s participation therein, and promotion of conspiracy theories afterwards:

On January 6, 2021, thousands of people comprising a mob of rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol while a joint session of Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. Taranto was accused of participating in the riot in Washington, D.C., by entering the U.S. Capitol Building. After the riot, Taranto returned to his home in the State of Washington, where he promoted conspiracy theories about the events of January 6, 2021.

This was a “flatly accurate description of the attack on the Capitol,” noted Politico senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney.

The memo also mentioned Taranto’s visit to a Maryland elementary school in an attempt to locate Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who served on the House Select Committee investigating January 6.

Within hours of filing the memo with the court, Valdivia and White were placed on administrative leave, reported Cheney, citing “two people familiar with the move who were granted anonymity to discuss personnel matters.”

According to ABC News Washington Managing Editor Katherine Faulders, Valdivia and White were “locked out of their government devices” and told they were being placed on leave Wednesday morning. The two prosecutors had already been furloughed due to the government shutdown, and were told their administrative leave would begin when the shutdown ended.

The DOJ declined requests for comment from ABC News and Politico, and it is unclear if Valdivia and White were given any specific reason for being put on leave, but the Trump administration has fired or demoted dozens of prosecutors who worked on the Jan. 6 cases.

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