WASHINGTON (AP) — Michael Romano spent greater than 17 years on the Justice Division, ultimately changing into a supervisor on the crew that might prosecute greater than 1,500 individuals charged in the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The second he watched the biggest investigation in division historical past get wiped away with the stroke of a pen — on President Donald Trump’s first day again within the White Home — Romano knew he needed to go away.
“I knew on January twentieth, when the pardons have been introduced, that I wanted to search out my manner out,” Romano mentioned in an interview with The Related Press weeks after his resignation from the Justice Division. “It could be untenable for me to remain, given the pardons and given the false narratives that have been being unfold about January 6.”
Now, Romano says he fears Trump’s determination to pardon even essentially the most violent rioters — whom his personal vp as soon as mentioned “obviously” shouldn’t be pardoned — might embolden right-wing extremists and encourage future political violence.
“The best way that the pardons have been obtained by the January sixth defendants and by different right-wing extremists, as I perceive it, is to acknowledge that if you happen to assist the president and if you happen to commit violence in assist of the president, that he would possibly insulate you from the implications, that he would possibly defend you from the legal justice system,” Romano mentioned. “And so which may encourage individuals to commit these form of acts.”
Romano is amongst dozens of Justice Division legal professionals who’ve resigned, been pushed out or fired within the weeks since Trump’s new management has taken over and begun making sweeping adjustments to align the legislation enforcement company with the priorities of the Republican president whom the division as soon as prosecuted.
Trump’s return to the White Home has ushered in a dizzying change for a lot of within the Justice Division, however maybe few have felt it greater than the legal professionals who spent years engaged on the largest-scale severe assault on the Capitol because the warfare of 1812.
As a deputy chief of the now-disbanded Capitol Siege Part that prosecuted the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, Romano had a close-up view of the proof, together with harrowing movies and court docket testimony detailing the violence that unfolded when the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify former President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.
Romano joined the Justice Division in 2007 straight out of legislation college, and was working within the part in Washington that handles public corruption instances on Jan. 6, 2021. He recalled watching the riot unfold on tv, and rapidly deciding he needed to assist with the prosecution of what he described as a “crime of historic proportions.”
Trump’s pardons cemented the president’s yearslong marketing campaign to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack.
Whereas vying to return to the White Home, Trump repeatedly downplayed the violence that left greater than 100 cops injured, and lauded the rioters as patriots and hostages whom he contended have been unfairly persecuted by the Justice Division for his or her political opinions. Solely two Capitol riot defendants have been acquitted of all fees, which Trump supporters cited as proof that Washington juries can’t be honest and neutral. Some Jan. 6 defendants are actually considering running for office.
The scope of Trump’s clemency hours after the inauguration got here as a shock to many, contemplating the president had recommended within the weeks prior that as an alternative of blanket pardons, he would take a look at the Jan. 6 defendants on a case-by-case foundation. Trump’s proclamation described the prosecution as “a grave nationwide injustice” and declared that the pardons would start “a means of nationwide reconciliation.”
Trump’s pardons led to the discharge from jail of the leaders of far-right extremist teams convicted of orchestrating violent plots to cease the peaceable switch of energy in addition to rioters convicted of brutal assaults on police — lots of whose crimes have been captured on digicam and broadcast on dwell TV. Trump has defended his pardons, saying the sentences handed down for actions that day have been “ridiculous and extreme” and that “these are individuals who truly love our nation.”
Romano mentioned the notion that the Jan. 6 defendants weren’t handled pretty by within the justice system or not given the due course of they have been entitled is “merely not true.” In lots of instances, he mentioned prosecutors had overwhelming proof as a result of the defendants “filmed themselves proudly committing crimes.”
“They’d the complete safety of rights assured to them by the American justice system and the Structure,” Romano mentioned. “It was my expertise when coping with these instances and seeing the way in which that the rioters and a few of their attorneys behaved in court docket, that their take was that they need to be handled like heroes and never prosecuted in any respect.”
Regardless of the pardons, Romano mentioned he nonetheless believes that the Capitol Siege Part’s work was essential as a result of it left behind a “historic file” of what occurred on Jan. 6 that can’t be modified.
“In mild of the efforts to whitewash the historical past of that day, in mild of the efforts for individuals to lie about that day for their very own profit, which is what’s occurring, it’s essential that individuals actually perceive the reality about what occurred on January sixth,” he mentioned.
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