Treasonous Trump hasn’t been sworn in yet, but his impending return has already upended hundreds of prosecutions against his Jan. 6 flying monkeys, and has disrupted the ongoing effort to arrest more rioters — er, “patriots.” Via CNN:
The historic effort by Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents to investigate the deadly Trump-inspired storming of the Capitol has led to more than 1,570 arrests in nearly all 50 states, making it the largest criminal probe in American history. New arrests are slowly still trickling in, four years later, including recent cases against a member of the Proud Boys and a rioter who tried to stab police with a flagpole.
But the political reality has already tanked morale inside the Justice Department division that handles these cases — and is hampering efforts to secure guilty pleas in about 300 pending cases, as defendants balk at negotiations, according to a federal law enforcement official involved in the sprawling investigation.
The official also said investigators have decided to use their limited time and resources to go after January 6 fugitives suspected of attacking police, meaning lower-level rioters who breached the Capitol but didn’t contribute to the violence will likely never be charged or held accountable.
[…] “Sometimes, it feels like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” the official said.
Meanwhile, some of the defendants are trying to get permission to go to the Toxic Yam’s inauguration. Via Law & Crime:
A Jan. 6 rioter who enlisted the help of his Mormon lawmaker “friends” to try and get permission to attend Donald Trump‘s inauguration has been denied, along with a man from Maine who is accused of wielding a hockey stick and a bullhorn during the 2021 attack and a Mississippi defendant who allegedly harassed cops with a flagpole.
Russell Taylor, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to obstruction of an official proceeding — a charge that the Supreme Court ruled in June was wrongly applied to Jan. 6 defendants — had his request shot down on Friday by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee. Taylor, a California resident with ties to Utah, is on probation for storming the U.S. Capitol with a knife, bear spray, hatchet and other weapons.
Maine resident Christopher Belliveau, who has pleaded not guilty to his Jan. 6 charges, was denied Thursday by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee. Thomas Eugene Tatum, also known as Tommy Tatum, of Mississippi, had his request struck down Saturday by U.S. District Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, as he faces charges for felony civil disorder by obstructing, impeding, or interfering with law enforcement officers engaged in official duties, as well as other misdemeanors.
