Federal prosecutor accused of withholding evidence in Trump protest cases

A former federal prosecutor who oversaw more than 200 cases related to protests of former President Trump’s 2017 inauguration has been accused of withholding evidence, according to an attorney disciplinary claim.

Jennifer Kerkhoff Muyskens, formerly of the D.C. district attorney’s office, allegedly attempted to edit or obscure video evidence used against the defendants that otherwise could have been used to clear them of criminal charges, argued the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC).

Muyskens’s cases involved charges of rioting, conspiracy and destruction of property during Trump’s 2017 inauguration, mostly targeting protest group DisruptJ20. A total of 230 people were arrested as part of the protests.

Disciplinary counsel Hamilton Fox claims that Muyskens relied upon video evidence provided by Project Veritas, a conservative activist group infamous for undercover video, to back the prosecutions, knowing the video was misleadingly edited.

Fox also claims Muyskens attempted to hide from the court that Project Veritas was the source of the video evidence by removing references to the group and editing out some clips, which it argued deprived the defendants of a complete legal defense.

Muyskens knew that her “editing of the original videos could hurt the prosecution and help the defense,” the complaint said. Fox also claimed Muyskens’s “statements and omissions to the government … were false and misleading.” 

Muyskens’s charges against more than 100 defendants were eventually dropped after some early trials ended in acquittals.

Fox also claims Muyskens made false claims during investigations into the alleged misconduct, both to the disciplinary office and the Department of Justice.

A D.C. Superior Court judge in November 2018 found that Muyskens intentionally withheld evidence but did not act maliciously, according to the disciplinary office.