A Justice department prosecutor who was "involved" in the Jan. 6 riots has been accused of presenting an "unhinged" conspiracy theory to a grand jury as he sought indictments against activists who protested Alex Pretti's death, court records show.
Joint Task Force Vanguard co-director Brian W. Lynch, who personally presented the case against 15 ICE protest defendants to the grand jury in Minnesota, was called out in a new filing Wednesday from Isaac Sant's defense attorney Kevin Riach.
At issue is a Lynch slide presented to grand jurors that described a network of left-leaning Minnesota unions, nonprofits, and community groups as co-conspirators, the filing says.
Riach said the "unhinged conspiracy slide" reflected a "broad and irrational investigation" that had sullied the grand jury process.
The conspiracy theory named organizations far beyond the defendants in the case, the filing states.
"With no evidence, the government alleged to the grand jury that the conspiracy in this case extends far beyond the defendants to include the AFL-CIO, the Minneapolis Federation of Educators…Monarca, Veterans for Peace, and the Grease Pit bicycle repair shop, among others," Riach wrote.
A Homeland Security Investigations agent testified that the group Direct Action Minnesota was central to the conspiracy and any ground connected to it had been implicated, defense lawyers contend.
"The government apparently believes — and certainly told the grand jury — that if any individual was connected to both DAMN and any of these entities, the government considers the entities to be conspiring," the filing states.
When asked at the press conference announcing the indictment to identify specific incidents where agents were injured, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen declined, the filing notes.
Riach argued that President Donald Trump's political motivations were driving the prosecution.
"These wild conspiracy allegations are born from the fantasies of political retribution that animate the Trump Administration," Riach wrote.
The Justice Department confirmed to Talking Points Memo that Lynch was among those who rioted on Jan. 6, 2021, but noted he "never entered the capitol, left the grounds after a brief period, and did not commit and was never accused of any violation of law."
Michael Romano, a former deputy chief of the Justice Department's Capitol Siege Section, told TPM he had never heard of anything like a federal prosecutor being present at the march and continuing to be promoted.
Sant intends to file a motion to dismiss for selective prosecution — a legal challenge arguing the government pursued this case for political reasons while letting others go — the filing states, pointing to how the same administration handled Jan. 6.
On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people tied to the January 6 Capitol riot, according to NPR.
His Justice Department then moved to vacate the remaining convictions of those who had been found guilty of conspiracy charges in connection with the attack.
"This is the last of the prosecutions seeking to hold accountable those responsible for the events of January 6," U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta wrote in "reluctantly" dismissing those cases in August, according to the filing.
Defense attorneys noted that three weeks after Judge Mehta closed that chapter, Lynch's task force filed this motion demanding the government turn over its surveillance records.
The indictment Lynch's task force obtained in June drew immediate condemnation in Minneapolis.
"It's designed to target the opponents of this administration based upon their thoughts and their politics," attorney Bruce Nestor said at the June press conference announcing the charges.
