How Trump Already Upended the Justice Department’s Ongoing Efforts to Arrest and Prosecute January 6 Rioters

President-elect Donald Trump has not yet been sworn in, but his imminent return has already upended hundreds of pending prosecutions against his supporters who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 and has disrupted the ongoing effort to arrest more rioters.

Historic effort by Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents to investigate Trump-inspired death assault on the capitol has led to more than 1,570 arrests in nearly all 50 states, making it the largest criminal investigation in United States history. Four years later, new arrests continue to slowly trickle in, 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 knocked down morale within the Justice Department division that handles these cases, and is hampering efforts to secure guilty pleas in some 300 pending cases, as defendants resist negotiations, according to a federal law enforcement official involved in the extensive investigation. .

The official also said investigators have decided to use their limited time and resources to pursue the Jan. 6 fugitives suspected of attacking police, meaning the lower-level rioters who stormed the Capitol but did not contribute to violence will probably never be charged or held accountable. .

Much (if not all) of that work will likely be undone once Trump takes office later this month and fulfills his campaign promise of grant presidential pardons to the Capitol rioters.

“Sometimes it’s like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” the official said.

Plea talks frozen

The vast majority of federal criminal cases are resolved through plea agreements, and that has been true in the Jan. 6 cases. As of last month, about 1,250 of the 1,570 Capitol riot trials had already been tried, and 80% ended with a guilty plea.

For the roughly 300 cases still active and unresolved, Trump’s election victory essentially froze all plea negotiations that were underway, the official said.

“What defense attorney would defend his client right now?” the official said.

An attorney representing many of the Jan. 6 defendants told CNN that the defense strategy has indeed changed. The rioters are excited about the election results, clamoring for pardons and not eager to reach any deal with prosecutors. Instead, they are seeking to delay court proceedings until Trump takes office. Some defendants have even publicly stated attacked in court against judges and prosecutors, invoking Trump’s clemency promise.

Instead of haggling with prosecutors, the defense attorney said many of the Jan. 6 attorneys are spending their time figuring out how to get their clients on an eventual pardon list, if Trump decides to grant clemency on a case-by-case basis, as he did it. He said he will do it.

Prioritize serious crime cases

After the election, the FBI distributed guidance in an internal memo indicating that the investigation would continue but would focus on people suspected of committing serious crimes, especially if they assaulted police officers, the federal law enforcement official told CNN. .

This is consistent with the recent pace of the investigation, which has largely prioritized serious crime cases. In previous phases, prosecutors charged hundreds of Misdemeanor cases only against people who broke into the Capitol but never attacked anyone or broke anything.

As a result of this guidance, many trespass cases will not be prosecuted.

“In a very real and practical way, agents and prosecutors have to consider whether it is the right expenditure of resources, and whether it is ethically sensible, to move forward with a prosecution if there is a good chance that the president will stop it.” said former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who is now a CNN senior law enforcement analyst.

Arrests continue to come slowly, with about a dozen new cases since the election.

Prosecutors recently charged a Texas man who allegedly placed the shutters of a Capitol window, an Alabama man who allegedly tried stab police officers with a flagpole, a North Carolina woman who broken the Senate gallery, and a member from the right-wing group Proud Boys of New York, according to court documents. All face felony charges.

‘Morale took a hit’

It’s difficult to fully grasp the scope of the Jan. 6 federal investigation. Hundreds of federal law enforcement officials have participated in the exhaustive four-year effort. It’s so big that the FBI is still working on leads that came forward days after the attack.

Investigators reviewed thousands of hours of security cameras and body camera footage in hopes of identifying individual rioters. They have obtained thousands of subpoenas and sifted through huge troves of phone metadata, text messages, geolocation information and social media posts. And each case that is charged follows a tedious court calendar.

In a statement Monday commemorating the Jan. 6 attack, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the investigation has been “one of the most complex and resource-intensive investigations” in U.S. history. He also said he was “proud” and “grateful” for the “relentless integrity” of the investigators and “the sacrifices they have made over the past four years.”

This research is “a huge piece of the institution’s work,” McCabe said. So naturally, with Trump poised to negate much of this legacy through pardons, morale has collapsed among some career officials who have been working on these cases, the federal official told CNN.

“Agents and prosecutors will never get rich or famous; it’s not about having a 401(k) at the end of a career,” McCabe said. “It’s about doing justice every day. The reward is the satisfaction of living up to the oath you took, doing something positive for your country, mitigating a threat and upholding the fair application of the rule of law.”

While Trump has said he plans grant pardons on the first dayHe hasn’t said much about whether he also wants to close the Jan. 6 investigation, which experts say would be a gross abuse of power, but is within his authority. Although if he goes that route, he may have to wait until the Senate confirms some of his Justice Department appointees.

“Morale took a hit, but it’s not like we’re going to stop or weaken,” the federal law enforcement official told CNN. “In a marathon you get a cramp. That happens. But that doesn’t mean you give up the race. “You get through it and then you finish strong.”

This story was updated with a statement from Attorney General Merrick Garland.

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