Overview
- Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White were locked out of government devices and told they would be placed on administrative leave hours after filing a sentencing memo in Taylor Taranto’s case, according to multiple outlets.
- The original memo was removed from the docket as “entered in error,” and new prosecutors Jonathan Hornok and Travis Wolf appeared in the case; later Wednesday, different prosecutors filed a revised memo that removed references to Jan. 6 and to Trump posting Barack Obama’s address, MSNBC reported.
- The withdrawn filing recommended a 27-month sentence for Taranto, who was convicted in May of firearms and false-information/hoax charges tied to a 2023 episode near Obama’s Washington neighborhood; sentencing was scheduled for Thursday before Judge Carl Nichols.
- The memo briefly described January 6 as “thousands of people comprising a mob of rioters” and noted Taranto’s promotion of conspiracy theories afterward; it also bore the signature of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
- DOJ and Pirro declined to comment on the personnel action, which comes as reporting documents broader removals and reassignments of department staff who worked on Jan. 6-related matters, including more than 200 personnel actions.