President Donald Trump's federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., refused to answer questions from reporters on why the Justice Department whitewashed a sentencing memo for a violent Jan. 6 rioter who was charged for an incident in which he livestreamed himself near former President Barack Obama's house with a stash of illegal guns and ammunition.
Tyler Taranto, during his heavily armed stream in 2023, also made a fake bomb threat against a government building. He separately received a pardon for his involvement in the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"US Atty Jeanine Pirro was just asked about the scrubbing of sentencing memo (of Jan 6 references) in Taylor Taranto case. Why did it happen? She wouldn't answer directly... and said the 'papers speak for themselves,'" stated CBS News' Scott MacFarlane on Thursday.
Additionally, Pirro, a former far-right Fox News personality who has pushed election conspiracy theories, would not comment on why a pair of prosecutors who worked on the memo were placed on leave.
The redoing of the sentencing memo, which argued Taranto receive 27 months in prison, raised alarm bells among legal experts, as not only did the new version remove all references to him being a January 6 rioter, it also removed references to the fact that Trump posted the location of Obama's home on Truth Social shortly before Taranto's threatening stunt.
On Thursday, a judge sentenced Taranto to 21 months, which works out to "time served," as well as three years' supervised release.
