Tormentor of J6ers Resigns Ahead of Trump Inauguration
Matthew Graves, appointed by Joe Biden in 2021 to lead the most powerful U.S. Attorney's office in the nation, steps down but not before leaving behind a legacy of human wreckage.
Two weeks after the U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia in November 2021, Matthew Graves indicted longtime Trump confidante Steve Bannon on contempt of Congress charges.
The move represented how Graves would conduct himself in office. As the nation’s capital descended into a deadly and dangerous crime wave, Graves, also responsible for prosecuting local violent crime, devoted most of his resources to doing Joe Biden’s political dirty work: rounding up, charging, and imprisoning Americans who protested the 2020 election on January 6, 2021.
Graves today announced he will resign effective January 16, 2025. In a lengthy press release, his office bragged about Graves’ success in managing what the Department of Justice calls the “Capitol Siege” probe into the events of January 6:
On January 6, 2021, a violent mob of several thousand individuals stormed the Capitol and the United States briefly lost control of the grounds around the Capitol and much of the Capitol, itself. More than 140 law enforcement officers were injured during the siege of the Capitol, making it the largest single-day mass assault of law enforcement officers in our nation’s history. These events triggered the largest investigation in DOJ history. To date, roughly 1,600 people have been charged in connection with the attack with almost 1,100 having already been sentenced for their conduct. There have been over 170 contested trials with the United States prevailing in more than 99% of them. These convictions include the first seditious conspiracy convictions since the trials stemming from the first bombing of the World Trade Center in the 1990s. Because politically motivated violence and destruction rip at the fabric of our society, Mr. Graves made federally prosecuting such crimes a priority.
Equally as destructive to the “fabric of our society” are politically motivated prosecutions that destroy innocent lives while destroying public trust in the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency. It will take decades to repair the institutional damage caused by Graves and his superiors, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, in their vengeful pursuit of Donald Trump and his supporters.
In fact, Graves reckless handling of J6 matters forced higher courts to rein in his abuses. Last June, the Supreme Court overturned how Graves applied 18 USC 1512(c)(2), a post Enron obstruction statute, in at least 300 J6 cases. And the D.C. appellate court twice reversed excessive sentences sought by Graves: unlawful “split” sentence of prison and probation for low level misdemeanants and a separate sentencing enhancement for (now) unlawful obstruction convictions.
Even more unforgiveable is the fact at least three J6 defendants—Matthew Perna, Mark Aungst, and Nord Meacham—committed suicide on Graves’ watch.
While at the same time Graves accelerated the pace of charges against Americans even for nonviolent, harmless participation in the Capitol protest, he refused to partner with Special Counsel David Weiss in 2022 to bring tax charges against Hunter Biden. Graves and his wife, Fatima Goss Graves, have close ties to the Biden White House. Graves worked at the same law firm with Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris’ husband, before Biden took office; Fatima Goss Graves, who runs a radical leftwing nonprofit in Washington, has visited the Biden White House at least 40 times since her husband became U.S. Attorney.
After Donald Trump’s decisive victory last month, Graves continued to charge J6ers despite Trump’s promise of pardons. His prosecutors are attempting to hasten jury trials and sentencing hearings before January 20.
The tables soon may turn on Graves and perhaps his line prosecutors, who reportedly are lawyering up over fears they will face investigation for their role in the J6 prosecution. But even if Graves ultimately faces legal consequences, the human damage he inflicted can never be undone.
That will require a higher sort of justice.
Two things need to happen. One - all legal cases against citizens accused of crime against the government must be tried outside of DC as there is no way to get a fair trial. Two - sinister people like Matthew Graves need to have criminal charges filed against them and we need some of them to serve time. Without both of these things, the abuse of government official power for politics will never stop, and the people will have no way to protest it.
Yes, you are correct, a higher level of justice is needed. Graves reeks of evil. The demonic in a suit. One can only hope that there are severe consequences for his immoral actions within the next year. We can hope the Trump administration does not grow weak in the pursuit of justice. As you have chronicled, Graves is one of the leaders in the effort to destroy our liberty and our Republic.