MTG Wants to Impeach D.C. DA for Not Letting Jan. 6 Rioters Skate
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) says she will introduce articles of impeachment against D.C. District Attorney Matthew Graves, accusing him of “maliciously prosecuting at least 1000 people from Jan. 6,” and not “real criminals.”
“The time for weaponizing the Department of Justice needs to come to an end,” Greene said during a Wednesday House Oversight Committee hearing on rising crime rates within the nation’s capital.
“Because you refuse to prosecute real criminals — that are violating all the crimes here in Washington, D.C. — and you want to talk about D.C. residents, they are victims of your abuse of power. And because of that, I am introducing articles of impeachment on you, Mr. Graves.”
Under Graves’ leadership, in 2022 the D.C. superior court declined to prosecute 67 percent of cases that would have been tried before the court. Graves says that while the number of declined cases has increased, violent felonies are still being prosecuted. Graves told The Washington Post that part of the reason cases were being dismissed was the lack of accreditation for D.C.’s crime lab, and increased scrutiny of arrests now that the use of bodycam footage is widely enforced.
While Republicans in the hearing lambasted Graves, Democrats took the opportunity to point out the disorder within the Republican caucus.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) called out Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) when she raised the issue of sexual assault. “I am so excited that my colleagues across the aisle care about sexual abuse considering that the front runner [for the Republican presidential nomination] has just been found liable of sexual abuse,” Crockett said, referring to a New York jury’s ruling that former President Trump was financially liable for sexual battery against author E. Jean Carroll.
“This may mean that finally, some folk will back off from supporting him because we don’t support sexual abusers in this chamber,” Crockett quipped.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) pointed out that while lawmakers were “here talking about crime,” Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is “walking around the Capitol voting,” while facing 13 criminal counts of fraud in New York.
Democrats also questioned the sincerity of Greene and her GOP colleagues’ concern about crime in the district when they so vehemently defended rioters who stormed the Capitol and attacked law enforcement officials on Jan. 6.
Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) told the committee that it was “odd” to hear Republicans “talk so much this week about ‘backing the blue’ when they also defend so many of the January 6th defendants who violently attacked the Capitol.”
“It’s particularly rich hearing accusations from my Republican colleagues that anyone is ‘soft on crime’ considering the fact that a number of them have been to the D.C. jail to defend those violent criminals,” Goldman said.