Trump’s Justice Department scrubs its website of news releases about Jan. 6 defendants
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is acknowledging that it has removed news releases about related criminal cases from its website. January 6, 2021, rebellionHe described information about the prosecutions as “partisan propaganda.”
The purge of newsletters documenting criminal charges, convictions and sentences is the Trump administration’s latest step to dramatically rewrite the history of the attack on the Capitol, when hundreds of supporters of Republican President Donald Trump stormed the building in an attempt to stop congressional certification of his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump on his first day back in office in January 2025has pardoned, commuted prison sentences or promised to drop the cases of more than 1,500 people accused of crimes during the Capitol attack, including those convicted of attacking officers with makeshift weapons such as flagpoles, hockey sticks and crutches.
On Monday, Ministry of Justice announced the establishment of a $1.776 billion fund It was intended to compensate Trump allies who felt they were unfairly investigated and prosecuted. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche The failure to rule out that rioters convicted of violence would be eligible for payments sparked bipartisan outrage in Congress.
On Friday, after a journalist observed on social media platform
“We are proud to reverse the disarmament of the Department of Justice under the Biden administration. We will do everything we can to make whole those who have been oppressed for political purposes,” the post said. “This includes purging the DOJ website of partisan propaganda.”
Among the posts removed from the site were: seditious conspiracy cases against members of the far-right groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. The Justice Department asked the federal appeals court to vacate these seditious conspiracy convictions in an unopposed motion last month, and the request was granted Thursday. The department moved to dismiss the lawsuits against group members on Friday.
