A new court filing submitted by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News co-host and close ally of President Donald Trump, and her team issued a rare rebuke of a Jan. 6 attacker in a new court filing.
Flagged by CBS News reporter Scott MacFarlane, the filing involved New York Police Department officer Thomas Webster, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol. The Justice Department wrote in a 2022 statement that Webster was accused of "assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon and related charges for his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol..."
When President Donald Trump entered office on Jan. 20, 2025, his first act was to issue a blanket pardon for all of those who were involved in the attacks, whether convicted, sentenced, or not. It meant that Webster was allowed to go free.
Since then, Webster submitted a filing requesting a "writ of coram nobis," which is a petition for the court to admit an error and correct the "errors of law in its own judgment," according to Cornell Law School.
"It is a common law tradition that allows the court to correct its judgment and administer justice should facts that would have changed the judgment but were outside the record and unknown to the court at the time of judgment surface," the explainer continues.
The filing from Pirro's team opposes Webster's demand, despite the administration's position that Webster and other defendants did nothing wrong on Jan. 6.
"First, Webster failed to plead any adverse consequence stemming from his convictions and likely could not satisfy this burden based upon his specific claims. He therefore lacks standing to sue. Second, Webster failed to provide any valid reason for not raising his claims sooner—despite having the opportunity and ability to so— than in the present petition. And third, Webster’s constitutional claims establish no fundamental error warranting extraordinary coram nobis relief. The Court should deny the petition," the filing begins.
But what MacFarlane pointed out was page four of the 38-page filing.
"Webster 'recognized that the bicycle racks were meant to keep people back. But he tried to get past them nonetheless,'" the filing continues. "Webster confronted the 'overwhelmed' [Metropolitan Police Officer Noah] Rathbun, hurling insults and telling the officer to 'take [his] s--t off,' which both Webster and Officer Rathbun acknowledged were fighting words. ... Officer Rathbun then pushed Webster away from the bike rack 'to create some distance between he and the perimeter.'"
"Webster did not stop though," the filing notes. "He snatched at and pushed the bike rack towards Officer Rathbun. Webster pushed the rack into Officer Rathbun a second time, which concerned Officer Rathbun 'that that portion of the perimeter would have been compromised[.]' Webster’s actions prompted Officer Rathbun to 'incidentally' contact Webster’s face with an open hand that Officer Rathbun was 'taught' to use in crowd control situations."
When Pirro was nominated and sworn into the office, The Bulwark posted a commentary from Thomas Joscelyn and Norm Eisen that recalled, "Pirro has defended Trump's sweeping pardon of the January 6 defendants and convicts, claiming they were 'hostages. She has asserted that they were prosecuted by the Department of Justice 'based upon their political beliefs' and dismissed the violence at the U.S. Capitol as a Biden administration 'narrative.'"
