Politico

Special counsel Jack Smith’s decision to pause his prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump is no reason to do the same for members of the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the Justice Department argued Monday.

Several Jan. 6 defendants have used Smith’s call for a three-week breather — quickly endorsed by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan — as proof that all criminal cases connected to the Jan. 6 attack deserve a similar slowdown.

“To deny this motion, in the face of the Justice Department’s official position [in the Trump case], would run contrary to the interests of justice and likely subject the defendant to criminal convictions for no purpose other than expediency,” argued William Shipley, an attorney for Jan. 6 defendant Stephen Baker, who was set to begin a trial in his case Tuesday.

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