A kinder, gentler judicial system has emerged again in Washington, D.C., now that leftists are facing criminal charges over President Donald Trump’s move to curb crime in the city. The same system that put Paulette Harlow, a frail 77-year-old grandmother, in federal prison for blocking and praying in front of the door of a Washington abortion facility can’t find a thing wrong with a belligerent man whacking a law enforcement officer in the chest with a foot-long Subway sandwich and attempting to flee on foot.
Sean Charles Dunn, the disgraced hoagie hurler, was charged this month with a felony for “assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and employees of the United States.” Video apparently shows him screaming, swearing, disturbing the peace, making physical contact with law enforcement, and creating a public danger — because things often escalate during a chase.
But prosecutors in the Department of Justice (DOJ) could not convince a grand jury in D.C. to indict Dunn. Unable to conceal its snark, The New York Times called it “a remarkable failure by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington and the second time in recent days that a majority of grand jurors refused to vote to indict a person accused of felony assault on a federal agent.”
As The Federalist previously reported, Dunn lost his job over the incident. Incredibly, he was an international affairs specialist at the DOJ, hired in 2022 under former President Joe Biden to serve in the Office of International Affairs, where he worked with “sensitive law enforcement matters that could impact the foreign relations and strategic interests of the United States.”
With the court’s newfound leniency, Dunn got something Jan. 6 defendants didn’t get: a speedy decision about his case, without extra charges piled on to make the threat of a guilty verdict a terrifying prospect.
The court system cooperated when the DOJ flexed its muscles at all the wrong people during former President Joe “Autopen” Biden’s term, but at the same time managed to go light on political pals.
It was the same soft landing in the 2022 criminal case of Michael Sussmann, Hillary Clinton’s former campaign attorney, who was accused of lying to the FBI in relation to the Russian hoax. A Washington jury quickly found him not guilty.
Igor Danchenko, the main source of the Steele dossier used to throw acid on Trump’s first term, faced a serious charge of lying to the FBI. He walked freely out of a D.C.-suburb court in 2022 after a short trial, a jury acquittal, and a gift from Judge Anthony Trenga: case dismissal, even though the Steele dossier was bunk.
Crime will thrive as long as people can assault law enforcement officers on video, be charged, but feel no consequences from the D.C. justice system.
Lady Justice needs to pick up her sword and retake her rightful place in the nation’s capital. Politics will rule the courts as long as she is absent.
Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.
