Former January 6 defendant now advising justice department’s ‘weaponization working group’

A former FBI agent who allegedly shouted “kill ’em!” at law enforcement during the January 6 insurrection is now advising a “weaponization working group” in the Trump justice department, a sign of the elevated role rioters are playing since they were granted clemency by the president.

Jared L Wise has been named an adviser or counselor to Ed Martin, the advocate for January 6ers who was previously acting as US attorney for Washington DC and is now leading the weaponization working group, the New York Times and ABC News reported on Tuesday. The contours of Wise’s role are not clear.

The move is a further embrace by the Trump administration of those who stormed the US Capitol in 2021 seeking to overturn Trump’s electoral loss and shows how fundamentally the justice department has shifted on January 6 since Trump won last November, tailoring itself to his retribution agenda.

The justice department’s prosecution of Wise was under way when Trump took office in January, so it was one of many cases that were dismissed before a verdict. He had been charged with two felonies and four misdemeanors, and he had pleaded not guilty.

On his first day in office, Trump granted clemency to all who were convicted or charged for their roles in the January 6 riot, including those who faced charges of violent acts.

The justice department, under the Biden administration, had identified Wise in footage inside the US Capitol and engaging with police among a group of protesters outside. Video footage from a Metropolitan police department body camera showed Wise saying to police officers: “You guys are disgusting. I’m former – I’m former law enforcement. You’re disgusting. You are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo. You can’t see it … Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!”

The department’s press release on Wise notes that once violence broke out against law enforcement in front of him, Wise said, “Yeah, fuck them! Yeah, kill ’em!” and then, in the direction of people who were attacking the police line: “Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em!”

Prior to attending the January 6 riot, he was an FBI special agent and supervisory special agent from 2004 to 2017, according to the justice department. He was also an operative for the rightwing media outlet Project Veritas, where he was “assigned to infiltrate teacher unions in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Kentucky”, according to the New York Times.

The justice department’s weaponization working group was set up in February to analyze instances in the prior four years in which “a department’s or agency’s conduct appears to have been designed to achieve political objectives or other improper aims rather than pursuing justice or legitimate governmental objectives”, according to a memo announcing it. This includes the investigations into Trump, prosecutions of January 6 defendants, anti-abortion protests and supposed anti-Catholic bias.

Martin, whose nomination to become the US attorney for DC was withdrawn after it became unclear how he could secure confirmation, is a vocal and frequent advocate for January 6 defendants. Stanley Woodward, who had defended people involved in the insurrection and many others in Trump’s orbit over the years, is now in the No 3 position in the justice department, associate attorney general.