Jan. 6 prosecutors describe 'shocking,' 'guttural' week after Trump's pardons
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors in the now-disbanded Capitol Siege Section of the D.C. U.S. attorney's office spent much of the last four years prosecuting cases against Jan. 6 rioters.
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors in the now-disbanded Capitol Siege Section of the D.C. U.S. attorney's office spent much of the last four years prosecuting cases against Jan. 6 rioters. Suddenly, a single signature erased the end results — though not the public record — of that work.
Three prosecutors who worked in the section described the week to NBC News, with one calling it the worst of their professional lives. It started with President Donald Trump’s signing of the pardons. Soon, prosecutors were dismissing the active cases that remained and putting aside evidence they hoped would have led to more charges.
And the week ended, on Friday, with acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin — an advocate for Capitol rioters who appeared with Trump at fundraisers for Jan. 6 defendants — filing a motion to remove remaining conditions imposed on members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, whose ability to visit Washington was still restricted by a judicial order after Trump commuted their sentences.
Ashley Akers, who worked on Jan. 6 cases and left the Justice Department on Friday, called the pardons “shocking” and said she had a “guttural” reaction to having to file motions to dismiss cases when she felt she had evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that showed assaults against law enforcement. Many in the office had developed close relationships with the police officers who were injured on Jan. 6, 2021, which had kept them dedicated to the work.
“It really undermines not only the sacrifices that all these officers made, but the experiences that they went through,” said Akers, who spoke to NBC News after she turned in her computers and left the department. “The public record — which is very clear and borne out in hundreds of trials — has shown that these officers are victims.”
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