The Trump Administration Dismisses Charges in J20 Inauguration Protests
Ted Scheinman
Prosecutors at the Department of Justice announced on Friday that they were dropping charges against the remaining 38 protesters who were arrested during the J20 protests at the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
The Department of Justice had issued felony charges to over 200 inauguration protesters, only one of whom pleaded guilty, as HuffPost reports. (Twenty protesters have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges.)
In pursuing their case, prosecutors had relied on far-right sources, such as Project Veritas and the Oath Keepers, for portions of their evidence, as Elizabeth King reported for Pacific Standard at the time, and were also accused of burying some recordings, and selectively editing others. Some free-speech advocates were especially concerned that the Department of Justice seemed eager to prosecute street medics.
Prosecutors dropped earlier rounds of charges in the J20 Protests last December and again this past May.
The protesters were defended by an all-volunteer legal team known as the Dead City Legal Posse.
Department of JusticeDonald TrumpFOOTNOTESProtestsJ20Inauguration
Senior Editor Ted Scheinman previously taught courses in satire, poetry, and journalism at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. Before that, he was an editor at the Washington City Paper.
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