(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has introduced articles of impeachment against U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, citing his “malicious” prosecution of J6 Capitol Hill protestors at the expense of going after the violent crime running rampant through DC.
Greene introduced the articles Tuesday after making an impassioned speech against Graves, who was testifying at a House Oversight Hearing.
“Mr. Graves, your decision to not prosecute 67 percent of the crimes in DC is criminal in itself. People who were charged with murder were arrested on average 11 times before, because you refuse to keep them in jail,” Greene said. “You’ve maliciously prosecuted more than 1,000 January Sixers and you recently announced you’ll arrest at least 1,000 more.”
Greene was referring to a recent report in the Washington Post, which said last month that Graves’s office chose not to prosecute 67% of those arrested by police officers in cases that would have been tried in D.C. Superior Court—roughly double from 2015, when prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office declined to prosecute 35% of such cases.
As for his “malicious” prosecution of J6 protestors, specific cases cited by Greene included that of Matthew Perna, who faced multiple charges for peacefully walking through the Capitol for about 20 minutes on Jan. 6. Perna committed suicide in February 2022 before his sentencing—two weeks after Graves reportedly was pushing to increase the severity of the man’s sentence.
Another case cited by Greene was the recent arrest of a grandmother who was peacefully inside Capitol Hill for about five minutes on Jan. 6.
And earlier in the hearing, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., criticized Graves for seeking 14 years imprisonment for Oath Keeper Thomas Caldwell, a 68-year-old disabled Navy veteran with no criminal record before he was found guilty of sedition.
“Doesn’t that seem like a death sentence for Mr. Caldwell, who did not commit a crime of violence that day?” Biggs asked.
Graves declined to respond to Biggs, despite the fact that Caldwell has already been found guilty and there’s no jury to influence. Graves said he wouldn’t speak about Caldwell in a “public forum”—even though a federal courtroom is a public forum—because he hasn’t been sentenced yet.
Greene later accused Graves of weaponizing the DOJ against political dissidents.
“The time for weaponizing the DOJ needs to come to an end. Because you refuse to prosecute real criminals who are committing all the crime here in DC … And because of that, I am introducing articles of impeachment on you Mr. Graves,” she said.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
