'Unthinkable': Judge slams Jeanine Pirro's office for attempt to detain DC attorney

A magistrate judge blasted prosecutors working for Jeanine Pirro, United States attorney for the District of Columbia, for seeking to detain a lawyer and West Point graduate.

In a Thursday hearing, Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui said that the government had "close to zero" chance of proving that Paul Anthony Bryant was a danger to the community, according to WUSA.

"This is perhaps one of the weakest requests for detention I have seen and something that, prior to two weeks ago, would have been unthinkable in this courthouse," the judge told Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Bove.

Bryant was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly assaulting Ohio and Delaware National Guardsmen on patrol in D.C. Charging documents said that he "threw his left shoulder" into one of the guardsmen. He initially expected to spend the weekend in jail because the court system was backlogged by a surge of arrests from President Donald Trump's takeover of policing in D.C.

Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey asked Faruqui to hold a Thursday hearing in response to a motion from the Federal Public Defender's Office.

"He was concerned about detaining someone in a case that appears to be very weak," Faruqui noted.

The judge observed that Trump put federal prosecutors "in an impossible position" by granting pardons to Jan. 6 defendants.

"To charge people for what seems to be lesser conduct and then say they're so dangerous they have to be locked up," he said.

Faruqui ordered Bryant to return for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 10.