(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A federal judge overseeing the Biden administration’s prosecution of a Jan. 6 protestor threw a hissy fit on Wednesday after the defense called out his inexplicable haste to sentence a man before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Daniel Moss, an appointee of President Obama, became agitated when appellate attorney Brent Mayr criticized the rush to sentence his client, Brady Knowlton.
Moss pressed Mayr about a previously filed motion, where Mayr questioned why Moss was moving to sentence Knowlton when the prosecution had agreed to postpone the sentencing until February.
“There is a sentence where you say, even though the final bell has rung, meaning that President Trump has been elected president and that he has indicated he is going to issue pardons to at least some of the January 6 defendants, Mr. Brady has retreated, the Court is allowing the government to go over him and get one final punch in before the fight is called,” Moss said, according to court transcripts shared on X by journalist Julie Kelly.
I call this the "Chutkan Doctrine" of DC judicial conduct. Repeatedly claim your courtroom is above politics and elections don't matter but then act in direct contravention to those claims.
Both DOJ and defense agreed, based on scheduling conflicts and a flawed probation report… pic.twitter.com/M8a9DEDfVM
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) December 21, 2024
“That both suggests that I am somehow complicit in the mistreatment of Mr. Knowlton and the government is engaged in mistreatment of Mr. Knowlton, because somehow the public has spoken through the reelection or through the election of President Trump. … And I think that is mistaking law for politics,” Moss added.
Mayr clarified that his previous comments were based on the court’s decision to reject an agreed-upon delay for Knowlton’s sentencing.
Knowlton was found guilty of felony charges for allegedly obstructing the certification of the 2020 election, which the Biden administration considers a felony offense.
Additionally, he was found guilty of entering the U.S. Capitol, which the government has classified as a misdemeanor.
Trump has indicated he may pardon nearly all individuals charged in connection with the events of Jan. 6.
Despite this, Moss expressed his indifference, stating, “I don’t want people delaying it for the purposes of taking advantage of what may happen in the future.”
He elaborated further: “I will tell you, I have never seen more motions for extensions of time than I have over the past two months in the January 6 cases. … And, indeed, a pardon doesn’t mean you didn’t commit the offense. Typically people are pardoned when they have committed offenses.”
Judge Moss, like so many DC judges, weighing in on presidential authority to pardon. STILL MEANS YOU'RE GUILTY!
The defendant here was convicted of a minor trespass. pic.twitter.com/ogRreQHmlL
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) December 21, 2024
So far, President Joe Biden’s DOJ has prosecuted at least 1,572 individuals, including some who merely stepped foot inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
