Overview

• Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui excoriated the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, saying it brought cases that did not belong in federal court and kept people jailed unnecessarily.
• Pirro’s office dismissed the federal felony case against Edward Alexander Dana after a grand jury refused to indict and refiled misdemeanor charges in D.C. Superior Court.
• Faruqui apologized to Dana, ordered prosecutors to explain their handling of the case, and said the office has “no credibility left” after a run of failed charging decisions.
• At least seven grand jury refusals to indict have been recorded in recent weeks during the administration’s policing surge in the District, an outcome prosecutors and experts say is exceedingly rare.
• Court documents in Smartmatic’s defamation suit reveal Fox executives called Pirro “insane,” a “reckless maniac,” and said they did not trust her to be responsible, adding to scrutiny of her leadership of the office.