Prosecutors Placed on Administrative Leave After Description of Jan 6, 2021 Attack

On or about October 29, 2025, the Department of Justice placed two career prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia on administrative leave. Hours earlier, the prosecutors had filed a sentencing memorandum in United States v. Taylor Taranto that described the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol as the work of "thousands of people comprising a mob of rioters." After the prosecutors were placed on leave, the Department filed a replacement sentencing memorandum that removed the references to January 6 and to a related social-media post. The action was reported as part of a series of personnel measures affecting prosecutors in that office who had worked on matters arising from the January 6 attack.