Legal analyst and MSNBC contributor Joyce Vance sharply criticized the Department of Justice on Thursday, accusing it of falling under political corruption driven by President Donald Trump’s influence.
Her remarks came after reports surfaced that two federal prosecutors were fired for referring to the January 6 Capitol attack as a “riot” in a sentencing memo. The memo also mentioned Trump by name in the case of Taylor Taranto, a Trump supporter arrested outside former President Barack Obama’s Washington, D.C., home after allegedly making threatening remarks.
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In a new essay published on her Substack newsletter, Civil Discourse, Vance described the DOJ’s decision as “utterly appalling” and a sign that the department has been “completely corrupted” by Trump’s efforts to rewrite the history of January 6.
“It completes the corruption of the Justice Department,” Vance wrote. “It’s hard to overstate how serious this is. We’ve now seen revenge prosecutions, like those against former FBI Director Jim Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James… and now we are seeing prosecutors being disciplined for telling the courts the truth—in an era where this administration has increasingly withheld it from the courts.”
Vance argued that the firings were part of a broader attempt by Trump and his allies to reshape public perception of the Capitol attack and those involved. She accused the president of trying to “whitewash history to improve his own position in it.”
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“Donald Trump has rebranded January 6 criminals as patriots and attempted to restore them to the American mainstream,” she wrote. “It’s a story about a new ‘lost cause,’ transforming disloyal criminals into an idealized version of the story. Trump’s Justice Department is aiding and abetting in that Orwellian task.”
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The essay quickly gained traction among legal commentators and political observers who echoed Vance’s warning about the erosion of independence within the Department of Justice. Critics argue that firing prosecutors for factual language sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the department’s credibility.
The Justice Department has not issued a public statement regarding the firings or the internal reasoning behind them. However, the controversy adds to growing concerns about political influence over prosecutorial decisions during Trump’s leadership.
Vance concluded her essay with a warning that the integrity of the nation’s legal system depends on truth-telling, even when it is politically inconvenient. “When prosecutors are punished for speaking truthfully,” she wrote, “it signals a justice system no longer guided by justice itself.”