An important part of America’s justice system was being threatened by unequal tactics weaponized by the Justice Department, a federal judge said Friday.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2017, stated a double standard was being used when it came to individuals facing rioting charges connected to the violence on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol, according to the Western Journal.
The judge said authorities were more lenient regarding charges against those connected with the riots that occurred after George Floyd’s death.
A man holds a Black Lives Matter sign as a police car burns during a protest on May 29, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. Demonstrations are being held across the US after George Floyd died in police custody on May 25th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office would have more credibility if it was even-handed in its concern about riots and mobs in the city,” McFadden commented during a sentencing hearing for a January 6 rioter.
He also mentioned that Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) wrote a letter last year to federal officials regarding their refusal to prosecute cases after the riots.
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they storm the US Capitol in Washington D.C on January 6, 2021. – Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the a 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
At the sentencing Friday, Judge McFadden reprimanded defendant Danielle Doyle, who pleaded guilty regarding a misdemeanor for unlawfully protesting at the capital building.
“You were acting like those looters and rioters who attacked our city last year,” he said.
“You participated in a shameful event, a national embarrassment that, like last year’s riots, made us feel less safe and less confident that our country could be governed by democratic values and not mob rule,” he continued.
A protester reacts standing in front of a burning building set on fire during a demonstration in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 29, 2020, over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white policeman kneeled on his neck for several minutes. – Violent protests erupted across the United States late on May 29 over the death of a handcuffed black man in police custody, with murder charges laid against the arresting Minneapolis officer failing to quell seething anger. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Joe Kent, a Republican congressional candidate, decried the erosion of January 6 protester’s rights during a speech at the Justice for January 6 rally in Washington, DC, Breitbart News reported September 19.
Kent said Americans must fight to protect their fellow Americans’ rights, noting that many January 6 protesters were denied their due process because of their involvement in the January 6 riots and protests.
He stated:
We believe in this country, we believe in this flag. We believe in everything that it stands for, and when there is an injustice done to our fellow citizens and their constitutional rights are taken, if we do not speak out against that, we are guilty of standing by and watching those rights erode. Make no mistake what governments overseas they will do over here, and they have already started.
“It’s banana republic stuff when political prisoners are arrested and denied due process,” Kent concluded.