Two Jan. 6 Prosecutors Placed on Leave

The Justice Department placed two D.C. federal prosecutors, Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White, on administrative leave and locked them out of government devices after they filed a sentencing memorandum in the Taylor Taranto case describing Jan. 6, 2021 as “thousands of people comprising a mob of rioters” and seeking a 27‑month sentence. Taranto was pardoned earlier this year by President Trump for certain Jan. 6–related charges but was later convicted in a bench trial on separate firearms, ammunition and threat-related offenses after being arrested armed near former President Barack Obama’s Washington, D.C., residence while livestreaming. Hours after the filing, the Justice Department withdrew the original sentencing memo as "entered in error," and a shorter version omitting the Jan. 6 language and a Trump social‑media post was subsequently filed listing different prosecutors and naming U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro. DOJ has declined to comment on personnel decisions and has not specified which portions of the original memo prompted the suspensions. The action has drawn scrutiny amid broader personnel changes in the U.S. attorney’s office and raised concerns about political influence on Jan. 6–related prosecutions.