WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction crews working on a new helipad at the White House have taken apart the massive granite seal that would serve as the new landing spot for Marine One, signaling potential delays in the project.

Photos captured by The Associated Press on Wednesday show construction workers using a jackhammer on the helipad, which no longer carries the dark gray trim of a presidential seal that was visible last week. It was unclear why the seal was being removed.

The White House said it’s continuing to make improvements as part of efforts to best match the needs of the building and its grounds. Trump has said the helipad is needed because new helicopters in the fleet used for Marine One are so powerful they rip out the South Lawn grass.

“For years, the White House has desperately needed a proper helipad on White House grounds that will allow the president to land safely and also protect the beautiful South Lawn grass from the fierce exhaust fumes of the incredible Marine One,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said on Wednesday. “Thanks to President Trump, the White House has never looked better, and it will only continue to get better under his leadership.”

The helipad is part of a long list of renovations that Trump has undertaken in his second term. His projects include a 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) ballroom; a Rose Garden paved over with stone; a new marbled interior in the Palm Room, a lobby-like room that leads out to the West Colonnade and Rose Garden; and an Oval Office that continues to add gilded decorations.

Trump described the helipad at length during an Oval Office appearance last month, saying it would be made of carved granite and calling it a “beautiful thing.” The president also said Sikorsky Aircraft, a subsidiary of defense contracting giant Lockheed Martin, would be paying for the project, which he estimated would cost up to $6 million. Lockheed referred comment on the helipad construction to the White House.

The new helicopters used for Marine One are manufactured by Sikorsky and made their debut under then-President Joe Biden in 2024. But their use has been limited because their exhaust vents aim heat downward, posing a risk to the South Lawn grass.

Trump has said that using granite rather than concrete for the helipad was his suggestion. He has also noted that the landing pad could be used for other White House events, such as press conferences.

The removal of the seal was first reported by The Washington Post.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeanine Pirro this week found out there’s a tradeoff between loyalty to President Donald Trump and being loyal to reality.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia — a fierce defender and decades-long friend — openly refuted Trump’s claims of vandalism regarding one of his treasured D.C. construction projects, admitting in court filings that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was due to shoddy workmanship.

The moment comes as Trump is struggling to convince Americans to believe what he’s telling them on the economy, his agenda and his war on Iran ahead of pivotal midterm elections in the fall — and reveals the inherent challenges for his team in delivering hard truths he doesn’t want to hear. Trump has historically engaged in exaggeration, but this was a moment in which he wanted a U.S. citizen, Olympic canoeist David Hearn, to be indicted, tried and possibly imprisoned for the act of touching a chunk of sealant in the already damaged pool.

The White House said that Trump was not aware ahead of time that Pirro’s office would drop the charges.

Trump says he told Pirro he was “not happy” about her decision, saying a video backed him up even though it’s not clear from the footage shot at a distance that any property destruction occurred. “Well I just think she was totally wrong,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday night. “And everybody saw the vandalism.”

By publicly rebuking Pirro, Trump sent a message to other administration officials that he is not to be contradicted, regardless of what the facts show.

“He just blows it up like a keg of dynamite — it’s a form of intimidating employees to be in group-think,” said Rice University professor Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian. “’If you work for me, you triple down.’ Never disagree with the boss, even in a small fractional way.”

Trump has faced withering criticism for launching a war with Iran without fully laying out the rationale for the public or considering that country’s ability to withstand intense bombing. Trump snubbed a housing bil l to address the affordability problems that voters say are their biggest concern, letting it become law without his signature.

Some Republican lawmakers have suggested that Trump is being sheltered from facts or chalk up his choices to poor staff work. During Trump’s second term, Republican senators including Ted Cruz of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have said publicly the president was receiving “bad advice,” a subtle critique of the president that shifts blame onto the aides who are supposed to be providing him with credible information.

The latest blow-up “reflects a president who is struggling to shape the narrative as his national approval ratings remain extremely low,” said Julian Zelizer, a political history professor at Princeton University. “The more controversy that he faces — over Iran, the Epstein files, inflation and more — the less control he has and the stronger the chances that he will be forced to confront reality.”

The president continues to dwell on the 2020 election that he falsely claims to have won. He likes to boast that America is booming with an unverifiable $19.2 trillion in investments from foreign countries, even as economic growth has been meager over the prior three months. He posted a Jesus-like picture of himself on social media and said after a backlash that he thought it depicted him as a medical doctor.

The White House did not respond to questions about how aides brief the president and whether officials feel comfortable providing information that could contradict his public statements.

Until now, Pirro, a former Westchester County judge and TV show host, has largely been faithful to Trump’s wishes. Her office sent a subpoena in January to the Federal Reserve regarding the congressional testimony by the central bank’s then-chair, Jerome Powell, about a $2.5 billion renovation of its headquarters.

Pirro defended her decision to threaten Powell, who said the threat of a criminal indictment was really a pretext to pressure the Fed into slashing its benchmark interest rates in accordance with Trump’s wishes.

“This office makes decisions based on the merits, nothing more and nothing less,” Pirro posted on X. “We agree with the chairman of the Federal Reserve that no one is above the law, and that is why we expect his full cooperation.”

Her actions temporarily slowed efforts in the Senate to confirm Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair. The Justice Department dropped the probe in April, roughly a month after a government prosecutor said in a closed-door court hearing that the government hadn’t found any evidence of a crime.

On the reflecting pool, Pirro pursued the investigation despite what defense lawyers say was abundant evidence from the outset that the damage at the pool was the result of preexisting problems that had nothing to do with Hearn. A new court filing from Hearn’s team disputes the Justice Department’s contention that it only recently learned its case was flawed and urges a judge to not only dismiss it but to foreclose the possibility of ever resurrecting it.

“From day one, the case against Mr. Hearn was motivated by political considerations and devoid of adequate factual support,” defense lawyers wrote. “Those political pressures have not dissipated in the mere four weeks since the government saw fit to obtain the indictment.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to discuss internal Justice Department conversations related to the case.

He deflected on the question of whether or not he supported the decision, acknowledging on one hand that Trump has “every right to be extraordinarily frustrated with damage done to our national monuments in this city and elsewhere” while simultaneously praising Pirro for what he asserted was “an unprecedented effort” to improve safety in the nation’s capital.

“When you look at the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s body of work over the past year and a half and where we are in this city compared to where we were, they are doing a phenomenal job,” Blanche said. “Now does that mean that every case goes exactly the way that President Trump wants or I want or U.S. Attorney Pirro wants? Of course not, it doesn’t.”

What makes the reflecting pool incident different was that the administration contradicted claims of property damage made repeatedly by the president.

On Friday, the government moved to dismiss the criminal case and said that any damage to the pool was caused by the bungled work of the contractor and “the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.”

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has supported Trump’s claims that vandals damaged the pool. That suggests that the conflict around this issue could continue to simmer.

While Trump and many of his supporters are able to exist within their own information bubble, the administration had basically declared in court that the president was wrong. That was different from a judicial ruling or news report fact-checking him, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a professor of communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

“It’s difficult to discredit that by saying these are anti-Trump forces,” she said.

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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington and Darlene Superville in Rancho Palos Verdes, California contributed to this report.

SCARBOROUGH, Maine (AP) — A federal appeals court signaled that it might not allow a lawsuit brought by fishing industry businesses and trade groups against a California aquarium to proceed because of the case’s potential impact on free speech.

The New England-based plaintiffs sued the Monterey Bay Aquarium for defamation after the aquarium’s Seafood Watch conservation program placed American and Canadian lobster on its do-not-eat “red list” in 2022. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is deciding whether the lawsuit can go forward.

One of the appellate judges, Judge Seth Aframe, said during oral arguments on July 26 that it doesn’t strike him as a defamation claim and that he finds the case troubling “from a First Amendment perspective.”

“The more you broaden the class of people that fall within this, the more it feels like everybody can sue,” Aframe said.

Seafood Watch placed lobster on its list of seafood to avoid because of the threat posed to rare whales, such as the North Atlantic right whale, by potential entanglement in fishing gear.

The lobster fishing industry, based mostly in Maine, has pushed back, saying the claim inaccurately portrays it as a threat to whales and constitutes defamation that has caused economic harm. It claims that the whales face greater threats from other fishing industries, including the Canadian snow crab fishery.

Conservation groups have long made the case that lobster and crab fisheries are both dangerous to the whales, and government agencies have acknowledged that entanglement in fishing gear is a critical threat to the giant animals.

The industry is sticking to that claim despite the judges’ comments during oral arguments, Kevin Lipson, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said Wednesday.

“Monterey Bay Aquarium in their Seafood Watch report didn’t disclose any of the countervailing evidence. In fact, they hid that evidence,” Lipson said.

Seafood Watch is one of the most cited sustainability reports about seafood, and many restaurants and stores use it to inform which products to carry. Some major retailers, including Whole Foods, announced they were pulling Gulf of Maine lobster after the red listing.

A representative for Monterey Bay Aquarium declined to comment Wednesday. During oral arguments, Amy Saharia, an attorney for the aquarium, said that Seafood Watch didn’t single out any of the plaintiffs with a direct reference.

The case has lingered because of ongoing legal machinations. A lower level federal court ruled last year that the lawsuit could proceed after the aquarium had requested it be tossed.

Maine fishermen caught more than 78 million pounds (35 million kilograms) of lobster last year — a down year by the industry’s recent standards. The crustaceans were worth more than $460 million at the docks and are a key piece of the economy and culture in the state.

CEDAR CREST, N.M. (AP) — The state of New Mexico sued the Department of Justice and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday, saying the federal government blocked the state’s ability to investigate the sex crimes of financier Jeffrey Epstein at a ranch there.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., said the Justice Department and Blanche stonewalled New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s criminal investigation into Epstein and others, taking steps that “actively harms victims and undermines the public interest.”

The lawsuit, which seeks judicial intervention to force the federal government to turn over relevant materials to New Mexico’s investigators, was filed on the same day that New Mexico is releasing a report showing its preliminary findings from an ongoing probe into Epstein and his ranch.

Torrez and his senior prosecutors “have faced sustained resistance” to the kind of information-sharing that had occurred in the past between state and federal investigators, the lawsuit said.

A message seeking comment from the Justice Department on Wednesday was not immediately returned.

The lawsuit said the Justice Department insisted that information requests be formal and rejected them after they were made.

As a result, the lawsuit added, the Justice Department and Blanche were hiding information about Epstein and his co-conspirators when New Mexico is one of the few jurisdictions that may still be able to hold Epstein’s associates accountable or “provide some sense of justice to survivors.”

At a news conference, Torrez said his office has made 10 separate requests for key information and has been ignored or denied.

“We have heard repeatedly they will cooperate and what our team has experienced is anything but cooperation,” Torrez said in a video conference call with reporters.

“Todd Blanche today with a stroke of a pen could grant us the access that he claimed,” Torrez said. “Instead they have decided to stonewall, to obstruct and to frankly conceal for whatever reason.”

Epstein took his own life in a federal jail in New York City in August 2019 after he was denied bail on sex trafficking charges lodged against him when he was arrested a month earlier.

His former girlfriend and close associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after she was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking charges at a trial in Manhattan, where some of the witness testimony alleged that Epstein and Maxwell had sexually abused women at the New Mexico ranch.

Epstein purchased his sprawling estate in Stanley, New Mexico, a sparsely populated ranching community about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Santa Fe, in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King and built a hilltop mansion with a private airstrip and helipad.

The property was sold by Epstein’s estate in 2023 to the family of Don Huffines, a Republican who was recently appointed state comptroller in Texas. In a February social media post on X, Huffines said the property has been renamed San Rafael Ranch after a saint associated with healing and that his family plans to operate a Christian retreat there.

In December, the Justice Department started releasing investigative records pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Complaints quickly arose about shoddy redactions and too many sealed materials from accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the transparency act. Records that were released, including photographs, interview transcripts, call logs, court records and other documents, were either already public or heavily blacked out, and many lacked necessary context.

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AP writer Larry Neumeister in New York and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California man who was arrested at President Donald Trump’s Los Angeles-area golf course while pretending to be part of the security detail preparing for Trump’s visit is due in court Wednesday on a federal weapons charge.

Jeanine John Taele, 38, was arrested Sunday at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, two days before Trump visited for a fundraising dinner.

Taele was first seen on the property Friday, walking throughout the course wearing an earpiece and taking photos and videos of federal agents’ activities as they conducted a security assessment, according to a federal criminal complaint.

Taele drove away but then returned to the course Sunday. He approached federal agents and said he was employed by the State Department and was there for a security detail. Taele said he had a loaded weapon in his vehicle and was arrested after it was searched, according to federal officials. Authorities also found a 16-round magazine with ammunition in his pocket.

Taele was scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon, pending his transfer from state to federal custody, said a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office. He already appeared in court on state weapons charges.

Taele is charged federally with possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle that was found at this home, authorities said. The complaint alleges the firearm is an illegally modified AR-style rifle with a barrel that was cut down to 10 inches (25 centimeters) from 14 inches (35 centimeters).

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said a search of his pickup truck in the club parking lot turned up a loaded 9mm pistol, binoculars and a badge that read “security protection agent,” according to federal prosecutors.

Law enforcement searched his home in the nearby city of Downey on Monday and found a rifle and other firearms, magazines and ammunition, body armor and notebooks with “concerning statements,” federal authorities said. No details about the statements were released.

“Mr. Taele’s troubling behavior at the President’s public golf course merely days before the President was expected to arrive raised serious red flags for law enforcement,” Patrick Grandy, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said in a statement. “There is no room for error, particularly in light of previous attempts on President Trump’s life.”

In brief remarks about Taele’s arrest to Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said “only consequential presidents” are targeted, “and I am definitely consequential,” which he said brought him “a little solace.”

Taele was a corporal in the U.S. Marines who was deployed to Iraq in 2008 and Afghanistan in 2010 and worked as a warehouse clerk, according to the U.S. Marine Corps. He earned numerous commendations, including an award for good conduct, during his service from 2008 to 2016.

The Los Angeles County public defender’s office, which is representing Taele in the state criminal case, did not immediately return an email seeking comment Wednesday. Family members could not immediately be reached for comment.

Last year a jury found a man guilty of trying to assassinate Trump at the president’s Florida country club. And while a candidate in 2024, Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by a shooter on a roof at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Iran Says It Will Delay Hormuz Deal With Oman Over President Trump’s Threats  

By The Media Line Staff  

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that talks with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz were advancing and predicted the strategic waterway would reopen soon, even as Iranian state media reported that Tehran would postpone any agreement with Oman while the president continued issuing military threats.  

Speaking to Fox News, President Trump said US and Iranian officials held an “all-day negotiation” on Tuesday and described the discussions as productive. He also warned that Iran would face severe consequences if negotiations failed.  

“The Strait of Hormuz will open very soon,” the president said. Otherwise, Iran “will be hit very hard. They called me and asked very politely, ‘Please, can we talk?'” He added, “We are having very good discussions with the Iranians, we will know where we stand within 48 hours.”  

Earlier Tuesday, Axios, citing two regional sources and a US official, reported that the United States, Iran and Oman were close to reaching an interim agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with Washington hoping to announce the deal later that day.  

The proposal under discussion would create a renewable 60-day arrangement between Oman and Iran covering the Strait of Hormuz, the regional sources said. They added that US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi participated in recent negotiations.   

Araghchi reportedly granted preliminary approval but still needed authorization from Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and the Supreme National Security Council. A US official and one regional source said that the approval process was completed Tuesday.  

Behnam Saidi, secretary of Iran’s parliamentary National Security Committee, dismissed US proposals, saying, “The Americans have proven time and again that they cannot be trusted. US President Donald Trump has an unstable personality. The US and Israel have violated various clauses of the ceasefire agreement.”  

He added, “Any step taken by the Americans will be met with a counter-step by Iran, with much greater force.” 

By Andrew Hay

Aug 5 (Reuters) – New Mexico sued the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday for access to unredacted files on Jeffrey Epstein, alleging the federal agency was stonewalling the state’s investigation into the late sex offender by refusing to provide the documents.

The lawsuit escalates a politically charged dispute over the U.S. agency’s Epstein files, an issue that has dogged the Trump administration. The state probe could have international consequences if it can identify and prosecute figures alleged to have sexually abused girls and women at Epstein’s New Mexico ranch.

The Democratic-run state reopened its Epstein investigation in February and requested unredacted U.S. DOJ files to identify visitors and staff at Zorro Ranch who allegedly took part in crimes, or witnessed them.

The U.S. Department of Justice has said it provided some files but was prevented from supplying other material due to privacy protections.

“Federal inaction does not merely stall the investigation; it prolongs and compounds the suffering of survivors,” the New Mexico lawsuit argued, requesting that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia compel U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to release the requested files. 

In response to the lawsuit, the U.S. DOJ said that under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and protective court orders, it was neither required nor permitted to disclose victim-identifying information.  

“New Mexico has provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures,” a spokesperson said in a statement .

Over five months into the state investigation, New Mexico Attorney Raul Torrez has yet to announce any results.

In a call with reporters, Torrez said the state was devoting a “substantial” amount of resources to the probe, but declined to give further information.

“We haven’t charged someone because we need to see those files before we charge someone,” Torrez said.

New Mexico authorities claim that the U.S. DOJ reneged on a 2019 deal under which the state agreed to halt its Epstein probe and hand over evidence to the federal agency in return for continued information sharing on alleged survivors and crimes.  

Torrez said in March that the state investigation faced considerable obstacles, including the decades lapsed since Epstein’s alleged crimes, the disappearance of evidence after the ranch was sold in 2023 and possible jurisdictional issues surrounding any potential prosecutions.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; editing by David Gaffen)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating why a plane was allowed to take off as President Donald Trump’s helicopter was approaching Reagan National Airport Tuesday afternoon in what appears to be a violation of safety procedures put in place after last year’s midair collision near that busy Washington D.C. airport.

The incident occurred as Marine One left the White House for Andrews Air Force Base with the president aboard for the first leg of a West Coast trip. A commercial jet took off at the same time. The FAA decided after 67 people died on Jan. 29, 2025 when an airliner collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter that all takeoffs and landings at Reagan would be halted anytime a helicopter passes by the airport.

The airplane that took off Tuesday was climbing above Marine One as the helicopter approached, so the two aircraft were not on a collision course.

The FAA said in a statement that “there was a momentary loss of separation after which the aircraft continued to move away from one another.”

“The air traffic controller was in contact with both the commercial pilot and Marine One pilot during the loss of separation,” the FAA said.

The White House emphasized that President Trump was not in danger during the incident.

“Marine One flights are piloted by some of the best aviators in the world, and at no point was the President in harm’s way,” said White House spokesman, Kush Desai.

And the Marine Corps defended the actions of their helicopter pilots.

“There were no ‘close calls’ with the routine Marine One movement,” Tuesday, said Marine Corps spokesman, Capt. Jacob Sugg in an email. “Washington National Tower did not delay the helicopter crew, ask them to hold, or otherwise alter their flight profile. To the contrary, the ATC team approved the requested route and provided timely and appropriate traffic information.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported the incident.

The airspace near the White House and Reagan is heavily congested with military and commercial aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration took steps to ensure that helicopters and airplanes would no longer share the same airspace around Reagan National Airport shortly after the investigation into last year’s midair collision began. The rules also prohibit air traffic controllers from relying on visual separation and require all military aircraft to broadcast their locations.

The main group of family members of the victims of last year’s crash questioned why the government hasn’t done more to prevent collisions in the crowded airspace around Reagan in a post on X Wednesday morning. The family members have been urging Congress to reach a compromise and pass the package of aviation safety reforms that the NTSB recommended after the midair collision.

The NTSB said Wednesday morning that it is still gathering information about Tuesday’s incident involving Marine One and hasn’t yet decided whether to investigate.

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Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska.

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration said a military helicopter carrying President Donald Trump on Tuesday was briefly too close to a passenger jet departing Reagan Washington National Airport but said the U.S. president was not in danger.

The incident raises serious questions about why the passenger airplane was allowed to depart while Marine One was nearby, a time when commercial traffic is typically halted. Following a January 2025 crash between a military helicopter and a commercial jet that killed 67 people, the FAA barred mixed helicopter and jet traffic around the airport.

“Based on our preliminary safety review, there was momentary loss of separation after which the aircraft continued to move away from one another,” the FAA said on Wednesday.

Trump’s Marine One helicopter took off from the White House Tuesday afternoon, but air-traffic controllers had not halted commercial flights at Reagan National as required under a policy set last year following the collision, two sources told Reuters.

FAA rules require aircraft to remain separated by at least 1.5 miles horizontally and 500 feet vertically around airports.

“The air traffic controller was in contact with both the commercial pilot and Marine One pilot during the loss of separation,” the FAA said.

Trump’s helicopter lifted off from the Ellipse near the White House around 2:33 p.m. EDT (1833 GMT), on his way to Joint Base Andrews for a trip to Los Angeles, according to a pool report. 

A source told Reuters that Envoy Air 3742 — a regional E170 jet bound for Pensacola, Florida — departed at 2:34 p.m. and was involved in the incident with Marine One. Envoy is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines, which did not immediately comment.

Both Trump’s helicopter and the jet landed without incident.

Two sources told Reuters the FAA is planning to convene a safety review team into the incident.

Another regional flight — Republic 4700 — was 3 miles (5 km) from Reagan during the incident and was rerouted out of caution, the other source said. The Republic Embraer 175 operating on behalf of American had departed from Raleigh-Durham and looped around the airport before landing at 2:52 p.m., according to FlightAware.

The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, told Reuters Wednesday the agency is considering opening an investigation.

“We’re in the process of collecting additional information. Our air traffic control specialists are reviewing the information they already have and information they’re going to collect to determine whether we investigate,” Homendy said.

The FAA imposed permanent restrictions on helicopter operations around Washington’s Reagan Airport after the January 2025 mid-air collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army helicopter.

In addition to traffic restrictions, the FAA in March also barred the use of visual separation to handle helicopter traffic near major airports.

FAA air traffic control is typically given at least three minutes’ notice before Marine One departs to halt traffic from Reagan.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter and David Gaffen)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge decried efforts to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as he reluctantly dismissed the seditious conspiracy case against members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group at the Trump administration’s request.

The move Tuesday closes the book on the Jan. 6 cases that were wiped out with Republican President Donald Trump’s sweeping pardons and commutations last year, freeing from prison people convicted of violent of assaults on police and other crimes.

The Department of Justice in April acted to vacate the convictions of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and others in the seditious conspiracy case who had their sentences commuted but did not receive pardons. It was a stunning reversal from the Democratic Biden administration, which hailed the guilty verdicts in one of the most serious cases stemming from the Capitol attack.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who oversaw the Oath Keepers’ trials, criticized the department’s move, writing in his ruling that the government “asks to absolve these Defendants of crimes against the United States itself.” But Mehta wrote that he had no choice but to grant the administration’s request.

“This is the last of the prosecutions seeking to hold accountable those responsible for the events of Jan. 6. That book is now closed,” wrote Mehta, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Barack Obama.

“Today’s epilogue diminishes the gravity of that day, denigrates the work of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who secured these convictions, and excuses criminal acts that caused a centuries-long pillar of our democracy — the peaceful transfer of presidential power — to buckle. The court cannot write a different ending,” he wrote.

Juries in the nation’s capital convicted Oath Keepers leaders and members of another group, the Proud Boys, of orchestrating violent plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Trump’s 2020 election loss to Biden. Rhodes was released from prison in January 2025 after Trump commuted the 18-year sentence he received in the case.

Rhodes, who did not enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, has denied any wrongdoing and described himself at his 2023 sentencing as a “political prisoner.” James Lee Bright, an attorney who represented Rhodes at trial, wrote in a text message that he was “disappointed in the tenor” of Mehta’s opinion, adding that it was “not necessary to inject his personal opinions in such a fashion.”

Trump has argued that the Jan. 6 defendants were treated unfairly by the justice system, saying the pardons were intended to end “a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people” and begin “a process of national reconciliation.”

More than 1,200 people across the United States were convicted of Jan. 6 crimes, including roughly 200 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement.

Most of the Jan. 6 defendants were granted “full, complete and unconditional” pardons, while Rhodes and other defendants in the seditious conspiracy cases only had their sentences commuted. Trump also ordered the attorney general to seek the dismissal of roughly 450 cases that were pending before judges stemming from the largest investigation in Justice Department history.