The Justice Department has scrubbed hundreds of press releases about 6 January defendants from its official website, including one man facing an active child solicitation charge who stormed the Capitol armed with bear spray.
The department confirmed the deletions on Friday, with its official Rapid Response account on X declaring the move a proud reversal of what it called Biden-era 'weaponisation.' The sweeping purge coincides with the Trump administration's announcement of a £1.42 billion ($1.776 billion) 'Anti-Weaponisation Fund' that could deliver taxpayer-funded payouts to pardoned rioters.
That prospect has drawn fierce bipartisan criticism in Congress and triggered multiple federal lawsuits.
A review by NBC Newsfound the vast majority of press releases pertaining to Jan. 6 defendants had been removed from the DOJ website by Friday evening. The department had maintained a comprehensive database covering roughly 1,600 defendants, along with monthly prosecution updates tied to the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.
The DOJ's own Rapid Response account on X did not distance itself from the deletions.'Nothing "quie"' about it,' it posted. 'We are proud to reverse the DOJ's weaponisation under the Biden administration. We will do everything in our power to make whole those who were persecuted for political purposes. This includes stripping DOJ's website of partisan propaganda.'
Nothing “quiet” about it.We are proud to reverse the DOJ’s weaponization under the Biden administration. We will do everything in our power to make whole those who were persecuted for political purposes. This includes stripping DOJ’s website of partisan propaganda.https://t.co/J9WUtgHfen
Among the deleted records was a press release concerning a Jan. 6 defendant who carried bear spray into the Capitol and had an ongoing child solicitation case at the time the document was removed, according toWashington Post reporter Meryl Kornfield. That profile aligns with Andrew Taake, a Houston man who was pardoned by President Donald Trump in January 2025 and subsequentlyarrested in Texas on a 2016 felony charge of online solicitation of a minor. Taake had been sentenced to six years in federal prison for assaulting Capitol Police officers with bear spray and a whip-like weapon.
The Trump admin is quietly deleting info about the Capitol attack from the DOJ website as it prepares to give funds to J6ers. This week, DOJ deleted a press release about one man with an ongoing child solicitation case who came to the Capitol with bear spray. Before and after:pic.twitter.com/zKm9QSv6cv
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teareconfirmed in a statement that Taake was taken into custody on 6 February 2025, weeks after being released from federal prison in Colorado pursuant to Trump's mass clemency. 'We would like to thank the coordinated efforts of our office's Fugitive Apprehension Section, Leon County Sheriff's Office, and Texas Department of Public Safety for their diligence in getting this suspected child predator back into custody,' Teare said.
On Monday,the Trump administration announced the creation of a $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponisation Fund, formalised as part of a settlement resolving Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund would compensate those who 'suffered weaponisation and lawfare' at the hands of the government.
Source: International Business Times UK
