--- title: Justice Department Removes News Releases on Jan. 6 Prosecutions From Website description: The DOJ characterized the deleted releases as "partisan propaganda." canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/05/25/doj-jan-6-attack-prosecutions-news-releases-removed/ author: Nandika Chatterjee article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-05-26T03:01:09.884Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-26T03:01:11.240Z article:section: Politics og:title: Justice Department Removes News Releases on Jan. 6 Prosecutions From Website og:description: The DOJ characterized the deleted releases as "partisan propaganda." og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/05/25/doj-jan-6-attack-prosecutions-news-releases-removed/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt887d0a01e90b5276/6a14b96705fb9ddce66d7654/doj-jan-6-attack-prosecutions-news-releases-removed.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: doj-jan-6-attack-prosecutions-news-releases-removed.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Justice Department Removes News Releases on Jan. 6 Prosecutions From Website twitter:description: The DOJ characterized the deleted releases as "partisan propaganda." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt887d0a01e90b5276/6a14b96705fb9ddce66d7654/doj-jan-6-attack-prosecutions-news-releases-removed.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Justice Department Removes News Releases on Jan. 6 Prosecutions From Website: ‘Partisan Propaganda’ > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Nandika Chatterjee](https://time.com/author/nandika-chatterjee/) ## Nandika Chatterjee May 26, 2026 3:01 AM UTC  Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021. Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021. Brent Stirton—Getty Images by [Nandika Chatterjee](https://time.com/author/nandika-chatterjee/) ## Nandika Chatterjee May 26, 2026 3:01 AM UTC The Justice Department has removed hundreds of news releases related to [criminal prosecutions](https://time.com/7260570/cpac-trump-pardon-jan-6/) connected to the [Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol](https://time.com/6192383/donald-trump-knew-jan-6-hearings/) from its website, it confirmed, characterizing the records as “partisan propaganda.” The deletions include press releases documenting criminal charges, guilty pleas, convictions, and sentencing tied to the Jan. 6 attack, which saw supporters of President Donald Trump [storm the Capitol](https://time.com/5953486/january-capitol-attack-investigation/) in an effort to block the certification of his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. After a journalist noted on [X](https://x.com/dojrr47/status/2057989742344454164?s=46) last week that the Justice Department appeared to be “quietly” deleting the releases, the department’s rapid response account publicly confirmed over the weekend that they had been scrubbed from its website—but stated that there was “nothing ‘quiet’ about it.” “We are proud to reverse the DOJ’s weaponization under the Biden administration,” the department wrote. “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.” The post comes days after the Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion [“anti-weaponization” fund](https://time.com/article/2026/05/18/trump-doj-anti-weaponization-fund-irs-lawsuit-settlement/) to compensate people who allege they have been unjustly investigated and prosecuted by the government, as President Donald Trump and his Administration had repeatedly claimed Trump and his allies were during Biden’s presidency, as part of a deal to settle the President’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. **Read more:** [_What to Know About the DOJ’s $1.8B 'Anti-Weaponization Fund' That Could Compensate Trump Allies Investigated Under Biden_](https://time.com/article/2026/05/18/trump-doj-anti-weaponization-fund-irs-lawsuit-settlement/) Top Administration officials have [declined to rule out](https://time.com/article/2026/05/19/vance-defends-1-8-anti-weaponization-fund/) people convicted in connection with Jan. 6 receiving compensation through the fund, prompting criticism from lawmakers in both parties. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, wrote in a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that “the notion of the federal government doling out compensation to rioters” was “absurd and offensive.” Republican [Sen. Thom Tillis](https://time.com/article/2026/05/11/thom-tillis-playbook-trump/), of North Carolina, meanwhile, described the fund as a “payout pot for punks” while speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. Reportedly, among the deleted Justice Department releases were announcements related to seditious conspiracy cases against members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, two far-right extremist groups who had multiple leaders and members convicted for their roles in the attack. Last month, the DOJ asked a federal appeals court to vacate those seditious conspiracy convictions, a request that was granted Thursday. The department moved on Friday to dismiss the cases. Some news releases related to Jan. 6 remained accessible on the DOJ website as of Monday afternoon. These include statements about [Oath Keepers](https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/leader-north-carolina-chapter-oath-keepers-pleads-guilty-seditious-conspiracy-and-obstruction) and [Proud Boys](https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-leader-proud-boys-pleads-guilty-seditious-conspiracy-efforts-stop-transfer-power) leaders pleading guilty to seditious conspiracy, an announcement that [13 people were charged in federal court](https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/thirteen-charged-federal-court-following-riot-united-states-capitol) two days after the riot, then-acting Attorney General [Jeffrey Rosen’s Jan. 7 statement](https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/statement-acting-attorney-general-jeffrey-rosen) describing the breach of the Capitol, and a statement from Attorney General Merrick Garland two years after the attack stressing the [DOJ’s commitment to identifying perpetrators](https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-statement-second-anniversary-january-6-attack-capitol) and pursuing charges. Trump, on his first day back in office in January 2025, pardoned or [commuted the sentences](https://time.com/7260570/cpac-trump-pardon-jan-6/) of more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the Capitol attack, including individuals convicted of assaulting police officers. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/05/25/doj-jan-6-attack-prosecutions-news-releases-removed/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/05/25/doj-jan-6-attack-prosecutions-news-releases-removed/"},"headline":"Justice Department Removes News Releases on Jan. 6 Prosecutions From Website: ‘Partisan Propaganda’","datePublished":"2026-05-26T03:01:09.884Z","dateModified":"2026-05-26T03:01:11.240Z","description":"The DOJ characterized the deleted releases as \"partisan propaganda.\"","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/05/25/doj-jan-6-attack-prosecutions-news-releases-removed/","keywords":["Trump Administration","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt887d0a01e90b5276/6a14b96705fb9ddce66d7654/doj-jan-6-attack-prosecutions-news-releases-removed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nandika Chatterjee","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nandika-chatterjee/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt887d0a01e90b5276/6a14b96705fb9ddce66d7654/doj-jan-6-attack-prosecutions-news-releases-removed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"doj-jan-6-attack-prosecutions-news-releases-removed.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Brent Stirton—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/trump-administration/","name":"Trump Administration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/05/25/doj-jan-6-attack-prosecutions-news-releases-removed/","name":"Justice Department Removes News Releases on Jan. 6 Prosecutions From Website: ‘Partisan Propaganda’"}}]}] ```