Blumenthal Slams Federal Judicial Nominee Over Refusal To Acknowledge Jan. 6 Riots Or 2020 Election Outcome

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Joined by a dozen former federal prosecutors, U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse condemned the dismissal of the last remaining individuals held in custody for the riots at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The event was streamed live from the White House grounds before the Senate Judiciary Committee considered the nomination of Anna St. John to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. During her nomination hearing to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, St. John refused to admit that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election or call January 6 an attack on the Capitol.

Blumenthal said the focus should be on justice, not partisanship, politics, or loyalty to a public official. Judges “must be able to speak truth to power,” he said.

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s “Inauguration Day” pardons of nearly 1,600 individuals facing charges for the January 6 attacks, a court hearing was held to re-examine the seditious conspiracy charges against Stewart Rhodes and other leaders of Oath Keepers, the far-right organization credited with spreading misinformation leading up to the insurrection.

Rhodes’ lawyer, James Lee Bright, won the case on the basis that seditious conspiracy is a mere “thought crime” and not worthy of eliciting federal charges.

The pardon was approved by Judge Anna St. John, a presidential nominee serving as district judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Blumenthal expressed disappointment with her refusal to acknowledge “a simple truth that, in fact, the Capitol was attacked on January 6th, 2021.”

“It is not a political controversy to speak the truth,” said Blumenthal. “Otherwise we are all in jeopardy of the kind of baseless lies and loyalties to an autocrat that is a danger to our democracy.”

Federal Judge Amit Mehta, who initially convicted the Oath Keepers for their role in instigating the attacks, was reluctant to dismiss the charges yet reported feeling obligated to abide by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request.

“Today’s epilogue diminishes the gravity of that day, denigrates the work of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who secured these convictions, and excuses criminal acts that caused a centuries-long pillar of our democracy – the peaceful transfer of presidential power – to buckle,” said Mehta. “The court cannot write a different ending.”

Whitehouse expressed dissatisfaction with Acting United States Attorney General Todd Blanche’s handling of the case, arguing that the “anti-weaponization” fund would unlawfully grant payouts to individuals who directly engaged in attacks against law enforcement officers.

“You have to bend the knee to Trump politically in order to get access to jobs where bending the knee to Trump politically ought to be a disqualifying factor, not a qualification,” said Whitehouse.

Former DOJ prosecutors, including Micheal Romano, who played a pivotal role in dealing with the aftermath of the attacks, agreed with the sentiments expressed by Blumenthal and Whitehouse.

“The riot was an attack on our democracy [and] an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power,” said Romano.

Neither the Department of Justice (DOJ) nor the Trump Administration has issued a public statement addressing the recent pardons.