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Two federal prosecutors were suddenly put on leave. Right after that, the Department of Justice erased every mention of January 6 and Donald Trump from a key court document. The memo originally talked about how Trump had shared Barack Obama’s home address online, which later led a dangerous man to show up near Obama’s house with weapons. The changes make it look like someone inside the system is trying to hide the truth and influence what the court sees.
The man at the center of this story is Taylor Taranto. He was one of the people involved in the January 6 riot at the Capitol. Later, he was caught near Obama’s house in Washington, D.C., in June 2023. He had two illegal guns, a machete, and hundreds of bullets. He was also found guilty of spreading false information after posting a video saying he was on a “one-way mission” to blow up a facility in Maryland. He was clearly a threat to public safety.
When police arrested him, they found all those weapons in his van. Court records even show he said he wanted to get a “shot” and a “good angle on a shot.” It’s chilling to read that. What’s worse is how the Justice Department seems to have backed off instead of standing firm.
The prosecutors handling his case, Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White, did their jobs properly. They filed a detailed report asking for a 27-month prison sentence. They explained that this punishment was fair and necessary because of Taranto’s violent behaviour, his lack of remorse, and the danger he posed. They made it clear that his actions were tied to the January 6 riot and that he had been influenced by extremist beliefs.
Their report didn’t sugarcoat anything. It said plainly that thousands of rioters attacked the Capitol while Congress was meeting to certify the 2020 election results. It also described how Taranto joined those rioters and later kept pushing conspiracy theories about that day.
The prosecutors even highlighted how Taranto’s actions were directly connected to a post by Donald Trump. On the same day Trump shared what he claimed was Obama’s home address online, Taranto went to that exact neighbourhood. He even reposted Trump’s message and added, “We got these losers surrounded.” Because of him, an entire neighbourhood had to be evacuated while law enforcement rushed to deal with his false bomb threat.
This was a clear and well-documented connection between dangerous political rhetoric and violent behaviour. But after Valdivia and White filed their report, both were suddenly suspended. Within hours, another version of the report appeared, one that completely removed all mentions of January 6, Trump, and Obama.
The new version looked like it had been cleaned up to protect powerful people. It left out the context, the motives, and the influence that led to Taranto’s crimes. The first report told the full story of a man shaped by violent political movements. The new one turned it into a simple case about illegal guns.
It feels like the justice system was pressured into changing its own story. The people who were honest got silenced. And the truth about how political words can inspire real-world violence seems to have been buried to protect those in power.