In the ever-evolving landscape of the Department of Justice under the second Trump administration, it seems the number three holds a particular significance.

This past Wednesday, a quiet yet notable shift occurred within the DOJ. Two prosecutors found themselves on administrative leave following the filing of a sentencing memorandum that described the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as an event carried out by “thousands of people comprising a mob of rioters.”

Interestingly, the original memo didn’t linger long. By Wednesday afternoon, it had disappeared from the docket, as shown by the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) website. Later that evening, a revised memo emerged, conspicuously omitting any mention of the January 6 events.

Within mere hours, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White were not only blocked from accessing their government-issued devices but were also informed of their impending administrative leave, according to sources cited by ABC News. The original 14-page legal brief, which they had crafted, was pulled from records without any explanation, as confirmed by court documents.

As of late Wednesday, no official documentation has been filed to clarify the reasoning behind these three removals.

The DOJ, however, quickly filed two appearance notices announcing two new prosecutors on the case. Those newly assigned AUSAs are Travis Wolf, an attorney licensed in New York, and Jonathan R. Hornok, a member of the State Bar of Texas.

Notably, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who leads the district-based office, was also listed as an attorney on the undone memo. Pirro has declined to comment directly on the matter, according to Politico.

Top: The CourtListener archive showing the prior existence of the Taranto sentencing memo (Free Law Project). Bottom: The formal federal public docket showing the removal of the Taranto sentencing memo (PACER).

The case itself concerns Taylor Taranto, 39, a Washington state man and purported drifter pardoned by President Donald Trump for his role in the riot at the national legislative seat of government.

In May, Taranto was found guilty on charges – unrelated to Jan. 6 – following a bench trial in front of U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, a Trump appointee.

Taranto was convicted on charges of illegally carrying firearms without a license, unlawfully possessing ammunition, and false information and hoaxes. That case stemmed from a June 2023 incident where Taranto traveled to Barack Obama”s Washington, D.C., home bearing guns and supplies for an explosive device.

In a sharp break from other attempts by the government to have Jan. 6 defendants benefit from Trump’s mass pardon in non-Jan. 6 cases, the DOJ moved to keep the charges against Taranto intact. Last week, Nichols set the defendant’s sentencing hearing for Oct. 30.

Tuesday’s memo argued in favor of putting Taranto in prison for two years – and mentioned his involvement in the Capitol attack.

“On January 6, 2021, thousands of people comprising a mob of rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol while a joint session of Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election,” the since-deleted memo reads. “Taranto was accused of participating in the riot in Washington, D.C., by entering the U.S. Capitol Building. After the riot, Taranto returned to his home in the State of Washington, where he promoted conspiracy theories about the events of January 6, 2021.”

The now-gone memo contains one additional mention of Jan. 6 – in a passage where Taranto explains that he visited a school in Maryland because of Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland.

The passage reads:

The reason probably we were picking that location was because its, you know, [U.S. Congressman Jamie] Raskin, Raskin, he lives over there and he’s one of the guys that hates January 6 people or more like Trump supporters and it’s kinda like sending a shockwave through him because I did nothing wrong. And he’s probably freaking out, and saying sh*t like, “Well, he’s stalking me!” Like AP there. Even though I didn’t go to his house or anything. I didn’t tell anyone where he is. Because I want him all to myself.

“Taranto’s menacing rhetoric harms public discourse and encourages others to use threats and violence to advance their views or silence their perceived political opponents,” the erstwhile memo goes on. “Accordingly, a substantial term of incarceration is necessary to ‘reflect the seriousness of the offense,’ ‘promote respect for the law,’ and ‘provide just punishment for the offense.’”

Thursday sentencing memo clocks in at 12 pages – a full two pages shorter than the excised Valdivia-White memo.

Gone are the prosecutors’ own mentions of Jan. 6 – while the Raskin reference in that context remains. The DOJ also saw fit to remove a reference to Trump himself in the replacement memo.

The original memo reads, in relevant part:

The next day, on June 29, 2023, then-former President Donald Trump published on a social media platform the purported address of former President Barack Obama. Taranto re-posted the address on the same platform and thereafter started livestreaming from his van on his YouTube channel. Taranto broadcast footage of himself as he drove through the Kalorama neighborhood in Washington, D.C., claiming he was searching for “tunnels” he believed would provide him access to the private residences of certain high-profile individuals, including former President Obama…

The non-verboten memo reads, instead:

The next day, on June 29, 2023, Taranto broadcasted footage of himself as he drove through the Kalorama neighborhood in Washington, D.C., claiming he was searching for “tunnels” he believed would provide him access to the private residences of certain high-profile individuals, including former President Barack Obama.

Law&Crime reached out to the new AUSAs assigned to Taranto’s case for comment and further details on this story, but no responses were immediately forthcoming at the time of publication.

A public archive of the later-altered docket is available here.