Federal Prosecutors Suspended for Not Using MAGA-Approved Verbiage to Describe Jan 6

This is your TPM evening briefing.

Nicole Lafond

Khaya Himmelman

, and

Emine Yücel

Oct 29, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (not in frame) at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on October 26, 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The Latest Whitewashing of Jan. 6

Since President Trump first came back to the White House, he has predictably taken significant steps to white wash the entire episode in 2021, which culminated in a violent mob of his supporters storming the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to halt the Electoral College certification of President Biden’s 2020 victory.

In one of Trump’s first executive actions upon coming back into power, Trump pardoned hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants who had been convicted of various crimes for their role in storming the Capitol. He also dismissed all charges against those who had cases still pending — that included the case against a Washington state man named Taylor Taranto, which I will get into more below.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, of course, filed a motion to dismiss the case against Trump over his role in inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection after Trump won the 2024 election and before he was sworn back into office, gesturing toward a longstanding DOJ policy that prevents the prosecution of a sitting president. In return, Trump’s DOJ has not just dismissed several federal prosecutors who worked on Smith’s Jan. 6 Trump case, it’s also dismissed or reassigned several of the prosecutors who worked on cases against those who were accused of participating in the attack.

Now, it appears, DOJ employees who even use language to accurately describe the events that took place on Jan. 6 — but language that does not, of course, line up with Trump’s white-washed narrative on the attack — are being punished.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the DOJ placed two federal prosecutors on leave just after they filed a document in court in a separate case against the Washington man I mentioned above, Taylor Taranto. Even though Taranto’s Jan. 6-related case was dismissed after Trump’s sweeping clemency action, Taranto later was charged after threatening several politicians — which included him recording himself driving around Washington, D.C., in June 2023, saying he was looking for tunnels to access former President Obama’s home. Per WaPo:

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White were told they were being suspended just hours after they submitted a sentencing recommendation in a case against Taylor Taranto, a Washington state man accused of participating in the Capitol attack who is now facing sentencing for unrelated weapons charges, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

Taranto is expected to be sentenced on Thursday after he was convicted for unlawful possession of firearms and making false threats earlier this year. In a sentencing memo, Valdivia and White reportedly described the Jan. 6 attack as a “riot” that was carried out by a “mob.”

Not long after, they were both suspended from their jobs, WaPo reported.

— Nicole LaFond

Maryland Dem Shuts Down Redistricting Drive

In a letter on Tuesday, Democratic Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson shut down the state’s midcycle redistricting efforts, saying the effort could impact “the resilience and trust in democracy.”

Over the last few months, the Trump administration has been pressuring red states across the nation to approve new congressional maps as a way to predetermine the outcome of the midterm elections and ensure that Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House. So far, Missouri, North Carolina, and Texas have all caved to pressure from the Trump White House and approved gerrymandered maps that are projected to flip seats currently held by Democrats for Republicans in 2026. Louisiana, Ohio, and Indiana are also in the process of approving redrawn maps.

In response to these efforts, some Democrat-led states including California, Virginia, and Illinois, have been pushing through redistricting proposals to try to offset the impact of Trump’s relentless gerrymandering drive.

Maryland Democrats were part of this counter campaign, until Ferguson announced that he will not move forward with a midcycle redistricting push. Although he acknowledged that the redistricting battle is one started and perpetuated by Trump as a way to rig the midterm elections, he emphasized that the effort is simply too “risky” and that it “jeopardizes Maryland’s ability to fight against the radical Trump Administration.”

“Despite deeply shared frustrations about the state of our country, mid-cycle redistricting for Maryland presents a reality where the legal risks are too high, the timeline for action is dangerous, the downside risk to Democrats is catastrophic, and the certainty of our existing map would be undermined,” he wrote.

— Khaya Himmelman

SNAP Benefits Set to Lapse as Shutdown Continues

Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — the nation’s largest food assistance program — is set to lapse for the first time in modern history on Nov. 1.

Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) on Wednesday shut down a Democratic measure, introduced by Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), that would keep the SNAP benefits going past the November deadline. Thune called the effort a “cynical attempt for political cover,” as he yelled back at Luján on the Senate floor, adding that Democrats should just support the GOP CR and reopen the government, instead. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has also introduced a similar bill to protect SNAP benefits. Hawley’s measure will also likely go nowhere.

The push to protect SNAP comes as the Trump administration said last week it would not tap into contingency funds to keep the program going during the government shutdown. Since the shutdown first began earlier this month, the administration has been picking and choosing what programs to fund based on Trump’s own political interests.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pointed the finger at Thune, saying Thune is refusing to bring the measure to the floor because “he knows there’s broad Republican support for it.”

“He’s afraid of Trump. That’s it. He knows better,” Schumer said, per Politico.

Some Democrats are describing the situation as a GOP ploy to continue to blame the shutdown on Democrats.

“This is a hoax being perpetrated by this administration for political reasons to point a finger at Democrats,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, said, according to Punchbowl. “They have $5 [billion] to $6 billion in a contingency fund which says it’s exactly for these kinds of purposes… They are in violation of the law.”

— Emine Yücel