The U.S. Department of Justice says it has removed press releases from its website that documented criminal cases tied to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Multiple outlets report that the department is treating the deleted posts as “partisan propaganda” rather than informational material. The removed items include announcements associated with prosecutions and, in some cases, outcomes such as convictions and sentencing, according to reporting that describes the scope of the archived releases.
The action is portrayed by several outlets as part of a broader effort to change how the prosecutions and the events of Jan. 6 are presented publicly. One report also notes the timing relative to President Donald Trump’s return to office and his decision to pardon nearly all Jan. 6 defendants, while other coverage focuses on the website content changes themselves.
Overall, the DOJ acknowledges the deletions, and the reports converge on the core point: it scrubbed online news releases relating to Jan. 6 defendants and characterizes that information as partisan, prompting criticism and scrutiny from observers.
