Overview
- Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White were placed on administrative leave and locked out of government devices hours after filing a sentencing memo that described January 6 as a “mob of rioters.”
- The original memo in Taylor Taranto’s case was withdrawn as “entered in error” and replaced with a version that removed references to January 6 and to President Trump posting a purported address for Barack Obama.
- New DOJ attorneys Jonathan Hornok and Travis Wolf took over the case and appeared in court after the filing was replaced.
- U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols praised Valdivia and White’s work as “commendable,” then sentenced Taranto to 21 months, effectively time served, on 2023 gun and hoax convictions.
- The Justice Department has not provided an official reason for the personnel actions, which reporting frames as part of a wider pattern targeting staff tied to disfavored cases, while prosecutors had originally sought a 27‑month sentence for Taranto, who was pardoned by Trump for his Jan. 6 charges.