Washington (AP) – Michael Romano spent more than 17 years at the Ministry of Justice, finally becoming supervisor of the team who would pursue more than 1,500 accused The attack on the American capital.
As he looked at the biggest investigation in the history of the department being wiping with a pen – on the first day of President Donald Trump at the White House – Romano knew he had to leave.
“I knew on January 20, when the pardons were announced, that I had to find my way,” said Romano in an interview with the Associated Press Weeks after his resignation from the Ministry of Justice. “It would be untenable for me to stay, given the pardons and given the false stories that were distributed around January 6.”
Now Romano says he fears Trump's decision to forgive even the most violent rioters – that his own vice -president said once “Obviously” should not be pardoned – could embrace right -wing extremists and encourage future political violence.
“The way the pardons were received by the defendants of January 6 and by other right -wing extremists, if I understand correctly, is to recognize that if you support the president and if you commit the violence in support of the president, he could isolate you from the consequences, so that he was protecting you from the criminal justice system,” said Romano. “And what could encourage people to commit these kinds of acts.”
Romano is one of the dozens of lawyers from the Ministry of Justice who resigned, pushed or dismissed in the weeks following Trump's new management and began to make radical changes to align the Application Agency for the Republican President Act that the Ministry continued.
Trump's return to the White House inaugurated a vertiginous change for many to the Ministry of Justice, but perhaps few have felt it more than the lawyers who have spent years working on the most important serious attack against the Capitol since the 1812 war.
As deputy chief of the headquarters section of Capitol, now, who continued on January 6, 2021, Riot, Romano had a close view of evidence, in particular heartbreaking videos and judicial testimonies detailing the violence which took place when the pro-Trump crowd stormed the Capitol while the legislators counted to certify the former president Joe Biden of 2020.
Romano joined the Ministry of Justice in 2007, all right out of the law faculty and worked in the Washington section which took care of public corruption cases on January 6, 2021. He recalled that the riot was taking place on television and quickly decided that he wanted to help what he described as a “crime of historical amplifications”.
Trump's parades have cemented the president's campaign for years to Rewrite the history of the January 6 attack.
While binding to return to the White House, Trump several times minimized the violence that has made more than 100 injured police officers and praised the rioters as patriots and hostages who, according to him, were unjustly persecuted by the Ministry of Justice for their political convictions. Only two accused of Capitol riot were acquitted from all the accusations, which Trump supporters cited as proof that the Washington juries cannot be just and impartial. Some defendants of January 6 are now Considering running for your functions.
The scope of the hours of Trump's leniency after the inauguration surprised a lot, since the president had suggested in the previous weeks that instead of general pairs, he would examine the defendants of January 6 on a case -by -case basis. Trump's proclamation described the accusation as “a serious national injustice” and said that the forgives would begin “a process of national reconciliation”.
Trump's pardons led to the release of the prison of leaders of extremely right extremist groups found guilty orchestrate violent plots To stop the peaceful transfer of power as well as rioters found guilty of brutal attacks against the police – many of which have been captured on the camera and broadcast on live television. Trump defended his pardons, saying that the sentences pronounced for actions that day were “ridiculous and excessive” and that “these are people who really love our country”.
Romano said the idea that the defendants of January 6 were not treated fairly in the justice system or not the regular procedure to which they were entitled is “simply not true”. In many cases, he said that the prosecutors had overwhelming evidence because the defendants “turned crimes with pride”.
“They had the full protection of the rights guaranteed to them by the American judicial system and the Constitution,” said Romano. “It was my experience by dealing with these cases and seeing the way in which the rioters and some of their lawyers behaved in court, that their opinion was that they should be treated as heroes and not at all prosecuted.”
Despite the pardons, Romano said he was still thinking that the work of the Capitol's headquarters was important because he left a “historic file” of what happened on January 6 which cannot be changed.
“Given the efforts of laundering the history of this day, in the light of efforts so that people lie that day for their own advantage, what is happening, it is important that people really understand the truth about what happened on January 6,” he said.
