Trump-appointed judge gives probation to Capitol rioter -- after whining about George Floyd protesters

U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden gave probation Friday to confessed MAGA rioter Danielle Doyle, rejecting the prosecutors' recommendation for home confinement.

McFadden equated Doyle's conduct in breaching the U.S. Capitol to that of "riots and mobs" that conducted anti-racism protests nationally after George Floyd's murder at the hands of police in Minneapolis. The judge used that example to scold prosecutors, as reported by the Associated Press.

"McFadden questioned why federal prosecutors had not brought more cases against those accused in 2020 summertime protests, reading out statistics on riot cases in the nation's capital that were not prosecuted.

"'I think the U.S. attorney would have more credibility if it was even-handed in its concern about riots and mobs in this city,' McFadden said during Danielle Doyle's sentencing for entering the Capitol on Jan. 6 with a throng of other rioters. Prosecutors recommended two months of home confinement for Doyle, who is from Oklahoma.

"As McFadden sentenced Doyle, he said he thought she was 'acting like all those looters and rioters last year. That's because looters and rioters decided the law did not apply to them.'

Despite these concerns, McFadden said Doyle's behavior was not excusable. He called it a 'national embarrassment,' and again likened it to the police brutality protests following the death of George Floyd last year that made 'us all feel less safe."

The Associated Press reporting provided some context.

"The statements by McFadden, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, were a major departure from the other federal judges overseeing insurrection cases so far, despite other Trump appointees on the court assigned to the hundreds of cases. They have generally discussed seriousness of the crime and its unique place in American history - different from other violent free speech protests because it sought to disrupt the peaceful transition of power.

The Associated Press analyzed more than 300 criminal cases stemming from the protests incited by Floyd's murder, showing that many leftist rioters had received substantial sentences, rebutting the argument that pro-Trump defendants were treated more harshly than Black Lives Matter protesters.

The AP also noted this:

"By contrast, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Friday sentenced another rioter, Andrew Ryan Bennett, to three months of home confinement, accepting the request by prosecutors. Bennett was accused of espousing conspiracy theories about the election and used "pugnacious rhetoric" in posting about his plans to be in Washington."

Doyle's arrest had drawn extra attention because she had been a front-office employee of the Oklahoma Thunder NBA franchise over the past decade. She pleaded guilty to "parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol Building."

You can read the FBI statement of facts in her case here.