The federal prosecutor who helped oversee the Justice Department’s mammoth probe of Capitol rioters has left for the private sector, slamming Donald Trump’s sweeping pardons on the way out.
A longtime assistant U.S. attorney, Greg Rosen served as chief of the DOJ’s Capitol Siege Section, overseeing a team that investigated hundreds of cases connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack carried out by Trump’s supporters.
In an interview, Rosen told CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane that the president’s decision to pardon or commute the sentences of more than 1,500 people involved with the storming of the Capitol “sends a terrible message to the American people.”
“Individuals who were duly—and appropriately—convicted of federal crimes ranging in culpability are immediately let loose without any supervision, without any remorse, without any rehabilitation to civil society," he said.
After Trump took office, the Capitol Siege Section was disbanded. Rosen has taken a job at Rogers Joseph O’Donnell, a private law firm in Washington, D.C.
“Beyond excited for my new adventure,” he wrote on LinkedIn, telling CBS News he “felt like it was time for a change.”
The firm said in a press release that Rosen was joining its practice groups focused on white collar criminal defense and government contracts.
“Rosen was entrusted with supervising more than 1000 prosecutions connected with the January 6, 2021 breach and attack of the U.S. Capitol, the largest federal prosecution in American history,” the release said.
Ed Martin, Trump’s initial pick to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C., was a “Stop the Steal” advocate who spread conspiracy theories about the riot. His nomination was unsuccessful; former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro is Trump’s next pick for the job.
Rosen also slammed the “ridiculous” decision to fire or sideline prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases. “To see those talented prosecutors be marginalized or removed from office is an affront to the independence of the department,” Rosen told CBS.
In one of his most brazen acts since returning to office, Trump issued mass pardons for individuals charged or convicted over the Capitol riot, wiping clean the records of defendants who were charged with offenses ranging from trespassing to assaulting law enforcement, including members of extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
Critics have slammed the move as a dangerous whitewashing of political violence and an attempt to signal to supporters that loyalty will be rewarded. Trump had long cast the defendants as victims of unfair political persecution and pledged on the campaign trail to pardon them if elected.
