Something deeply unsettling is unfolding inside the Department of Justice, and even veteran reporters are stunned. NBC News investigative correspondent Ken Dilanian didn’t mince words after discovering that the DOJ had deleted a key sentencing memo for Taylor Taranto — a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter who showed up near former President Barack Obama’s home in 2023 with guns, ammo, and a machete.
Taranto had livestreamed himself driving through Obama’s neighborhood shortly after Donald Trump posted Obama’s home address on his Truth Social account. During the same stream, Taranto launched a false bomb threat hoax, claiming he was on a “one-way mission” to blow up the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Police later arrested him after finding his van stocked with weapons.
He wasn’t just another name in the Jan. 6 crowd. Taranto was one of roughly 1,500 rioters Trump pardoned for their involvement in the Capitol attack — but that pardon didn’t cover what happened later, especially not his stunt near Obama’s home.
“Investigators said they found two guns, a machete and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in Taranto’s van when he was arrested. Court records say Taranto repeatedly said that he was trying to get a ‘shot’ and that he wanted to get a ‘good angle on a shot,'” wrote Dilanian, breaking down the disturbing details of the case.
The story took a darker turn when prosecutors Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White of the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a detailed sentencing memo Tuesday, explaining that Taranto’s behavior “caused the evacuation of a residential neighborhood and forced law enforcement agents from multiple agencies to respond to his false bomb hoax.”
Their proposed sentence was clear: “A 27-month sentence reflects the gravity of Taranto’s conduct, his lack of remorse, and the need to deter him and others from engaging in similar threatening conduct.”
But by Wednesday, everything changed. Both prosecutors were suddenly placed on leave — and by that evening, the 27-month sentencing memo was gone. Deleted. Vanished from the court docket.
“Please judge for yourself whether this fits the definition of Orwellian,” Dilanian wrote.
And just hours later, a new memo appeared. This replacement version — filed quietly that same night — completely stripped out any mention of Taranto’s role in the Jan. 6 riot or Trump’s posting of Obama’s address. Politico’s Kyle Cheney confirmed the revision, which raised eyebrows even higher about who ordered it and why.
For many, this isn’t just another political controversy — it’s a warning sign. If official court documents can disappear overnight, and prosecutors get sidelined for holding a dangerous man accountable, what does that say about the state of justice in America right now?
Despite Trump’s mass pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, some have continued down darker paths. Edward Kelley, another pardoned rioter, was sentenced to life in prison in July for plotting to assassinate FBI agents.
The Taranto case, and the DOJ’s quiet deletion of his sentencing memo, raises a chilling question — not just about political loyalty, but about whether the rule of law itself is being rewritten in real time.
