On January 20, 2017, the day Trump was inaugurated, Washington D.C. police “kettled” 230 protesters (photo below) and hauled them off to jail. Four years later, D.C. settled related lawsuits for $1.6 million (see story here).
Initially, an assistant U.S. attorney brought felony rioting charges against all 230 protesters, although most would eventually have charges dropped or be acquitted. That prosecutor is now in hot water for rigging evidence and lying to courts.
She partnered with Project Veritas, a discredited rightwing “sting” group (details here). Their operative attended and secretly recorded protest planning meetings. These videos were edited to remove exculpatory segments showing that nonviolent protests were planned and used in court to create a false narrative that the protesters knew the protests would be violent.
In furtherance of her scheme to frame the nonviolent protesters, she also (1) failed to comply with discovery requests, (2) concealed that the videos came from Project Veritas, (3) denied the video copies provided to defense attorneys and used in court had been edited, (4) elicited perjured testimony from the lead detective, and (5) lied repeatedly in court.
On July 15, 2024, she was charged with multiple ethics violations (read story here, and see 46-page disciplinary complaint here).
I won’t speculate what her motive was, i.e. whether she was motivated by politics, overzealous, or trying to advance her career by racking up felony convictions. But if these ethics charges stick, her career probably is over.
Police and protesters face off on Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C., during President Trump’s inauguration. More than 200 people were arrested and charged with rioting.