Lead prosecutor in Trump inauguration riot cases accused of misconduct

WASHINGTON — A federal prosecutor who led the cases against more than 200 people arrested during protests of former President Donald Trump’s inauguration has been accused of withholding and selectively editing evidence used to charge them.

Last week, the D.C. Bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed administrative charges against Jennifer Kerkhoff Muyskens. Muyskens previously worked as a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, although she now works as an assistant U.S. attorney in Utah, according to federal court records.

Muyskens was the lead prosecutor who oversaw the cases of approximately 230 people charged with rioting during Trump’s inauguration in 2017. Those prosecutions ultimately fell apart, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office dismissing the vast majority of charges after it was determined at trial that Muyskens had failed to disclose videos showing the defendants had expected and planned for a non-violent protest march.

Last week, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed administrative charges against Muyskens alleging she violated multiple rules of professional conduct for attorneys, including by engaging in conduct that involved “reckless or intentional dishonesty, misrepresentations, deceit and fraud.”

In the filing, investigators allege Muyskens did more than fail to disclose videos – they say she intentionally worked with a D.C. Police detective, Greggory Pemberton, to withhold exculpatory footage and to edit what they did provide to defense counsel to hide the fact they had received it from the far-right group Project Veritas. Investigators say Muyskens and Pemberton understood that Project Veritas had a “reputation for editing videos in a misleading way” and that revealing the organization as the source of the footage would “undermine the credibility and reliability” of the videos.

Six defendants who went to trial in November 2017 were acquitted by a jury. In January 2018, the government dismissed cases against more than 100 other defendants. Three other trials with multiple defendants proceeded, with nearly all charges ultimately being dismissed by the Department of Justice.

In November 2018, a D.C. Superior Court judge found Muyskens had “acted intentionally to withhold evidence” but credited her representations that she did not act maliciously. In March 2019, another federal prosecutor brought in to handle litigation regarding the multiple motions from the defense dismissed all remaining cases with prejudice and disclosed that Muyskens had “made material misrepresentations to the court.”

In an emailed response this week, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. said the office “cannot comment on ongoing matters.” D.C. Police also declined to comment. Pemberton, who has been a detective with the department since 2008, now serves as chairman of the D.C. Police Union.

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel’s complaint against Muyskens seeks a hearing and the imposition of “appropriate discipline.” Muyskens’ attorneys requested until Aug. 26 to respond to the complaint.