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Politico
Politico
National
Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein

Chief judge in D.C. says Jan. 6 defendants should get credit for talking to Congress

Judge Beryl A. Howell listens during a ceremony on April 13, 2018 at the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
UPDATED: 18 FEB 2022 11:58 AM EST

A prominent federal judge on Friday urged the Justice Department to incentivize Jan. 6 defendants to cooperate with congressional investigators, saying Capitol riot participants should be credited with lighter sentences for aiding any branch of government in getting to the bottom of the attack on the Capitol.

Judge Beryl Howell, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., pressed prosecutors to think beyond parochial interests and aid a government-wide effort to unearth the causes of the Jan. 6 insurrection — in part by encouraging those defendants to talk to the House select committee probing former President Donald Trump’s role in the attack.

“I think that that kind of cooperation is helpful to this country and is helpful to making amends for what occurred on Jan. 6,” Howell said, “to the extent that that House select committee is able to be successful.”

Howell’s remarks came after a public defender representing one Jan. 6 defendant said it would be a mistake if DOJ declined to give credit to defendants who express remorse and accept responsibility for their crimes by talking to Congress.

“That doesn’t seem like a wise position for the United States to take,” said defense attorney Eugene Ohm, whose client Robert Schornak was sentenced Friday for breaching the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The exchange between Howell and Ohm came after a Justice Department prosecutor suggested Schornak’s extensive cooperation with the select committee, detailed in recent court filings, should not result in a more lenient sentence.

Schornak, who pleaded guilty in November to breaching the Capitol — where he stole an American flag and posed for selfies with fellow rioters — testified to the Jan. 6 select committee twice in January, answering “dozens of questions,” according to Ohm.

His testimony was so helpful that the panel asked him to return for a more formal transcribed interview, which lasted nearly two hours, Ohm said ina recent court filing. During the interview, Schornak told lawmakers that he came to Washington because of Trump’s call for supporters to support his effort to pressure Congress to overturn the election.

“My mindset was, at that point, the President had asked me for two things. My vote and to be at the rally,” Schornak told the committee. “At that time, I had to go.”

At his sentencing hearing Friday, Howell pressed prosecutors to say whether Schornak should get a lighter sentence because of his cooperation with congressional investigators. Howell haspreviously suggestedthat defendants who talk to the select committee should benefit from that during sentencing, but the Justice Department has never articulated a policy on that question.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Anita Eve, who has said Schornak has been unremorseful and deserves one of the harshest sentences issued yet to misdemeanor defendants, said it should have little to no bearing on his ultimate sentence.

“I don’t think it’s something that should be given great weight,” Eve said. “We are not treating that in the same way that someone would be treated if they cooperated in a federal investigation.”

“I know that there are individuals … involved with the legislative investigation of the Jan. 6 event,” Eve continued. “But there’s no intersection between what we’re doing and what they’re doing. We’re acting completely independently.”

Howell pressed further, asking Eve whether her position on congressional cooperation was the official position of the Justice Department.

“The position that the U.S. attorney’s office indicates at sentencing is that any such cooperation with the House select committee should not be considered as a factor?” Howell asked. “I just want to understand what the position is.”

Eve said she was not representing the department’s official position and that she wasn’t sure what DOJ’s position is on that issue.

Although DOJ had sought a four- to six-month jail sentence for Schornak, Howell imposed a sentence of 30 days of intermittent confinement, two months of home detention and 36 months of probation.

Ohm argued during the hearing that Schornak fell prey to disinformation about the election results, some promulgated by Trump and some proliferating on social media. He said Schornak was “duped” to become “part of an insurrection.”

Howell urged Ohm to explain for the benefit of Eve’s superiors why cooperation with the House panel should prompt leniency for Jan. 6 defendants and the defense lawyer gladly took her up on the invitation.

“The government’s role in here is not just to win a case. The government’s role here is to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t ever happen to this country again,” Ohm said, who faulted the Justice Department’s stance as short-sighted.

“Unfortunately if you look at the newspapers, a lot of people still don’t understand what the heck happened on Jan. 6 and how we got to this point,” Ohm added. “It‘s important to rehabilitate people. It’s also important to rehabilitate this country.”

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