DOJ scrubs memo before Taranto sentencing

The Justice Department suspended two prosecutors and replaced a sentencing memo that had referenced Donald Trump and January 6 in the case of Taylor Taranto, alarming current and former career attorneys who called the revisions “Orwellian” and a whitewashing. Taranto, a pardoned January 6 rioter, was convicted of gun crimes after being arrested near Barack Obama’s home in 2023; Judge Carl Nichols sentenced him to 21 months and praised the sidelined prosecutors. DOJ declined to discuss personnel moves, saying it pursues threats regardless of politics.