American Oversight Warns DOJ: Erasing January 6 Insurrectionist Records Would Violate Federal Law
We are raising concerns after DOJ deleted press releases on charges against Capitol rioters from website.
In response to news that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has deleted press releases regarding charges against January 6 insurrectionists from its website, American Oversight sent a letter to DOJ warning the agency that permanently erasing these records would violate the Federal Records Act (FRA).
Our letter warns:
“Because the contents removed from DOJ’s site are federal records, American Oversight reminds you of your legal obligations to ensure those materials are preserved pursuant to the Federal Records Act.
[…]
“The FRA’s requirements apply to DOJ’s January 6 news releases regardless of the administration’s view as to the merits of the government actions described in them. Any failure by DOJ to retain these materials pursuant to appropriate retention schedules would constitute a violation of the FRA.”
Since the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, we have launched public records investigations and filed multiple suits to uncover how the Trump administration and others responded to — and, in some cases, enabled — efforts to overturn the 2020 election and undermine the peaceful transfer of power.
Through records obtained from federal, state, and local agencies, we have shed light on the involvement of public officials in efforts surrounding January 6, communication between senior administration officials and organizers of the rally preceding the riot, gaps and delays in the Trump administration’s response to the attack, and broader efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
That work has helped preserve a public record of the attack and the coordinated attempts to subvert the election, even as political efforts to whitewash or rewrite those events — like removing related records from the internet — have intensified.
In the years since January 6, we have documented a troubling normalization of election subversion — from denial of legitimate results to systematic efforts to reshape the machinery of democracy, including politicized election oversight, misuse of voter data, and voter registration purges that risk excluding eligible voters.
That erosion of accountability has persisted even after former Special Counsel Jack Smith testified under oath that his investigation uncovered “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” of President Trump’s unlawful efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
At the same time, the Trump administration has pardoned individuals involved in the January 6 attack — including some who have since gone on to commit additional, at times violent, crimes — raising serious questions about whether consequences are being erased and risks to public safety are being ignored. As accountability for the attack has been distorted and undermined, transparency into how senior officials are handling January 6 and its aftermath has become even more urgent.