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A judge in Washington D.C. denied on Tuesday federal prosecutors' motion to detain the two men impersonating federal agents because he says he isn't convinced that there are links to Pakistan intelligence. He also claimed that deleting social media posts wasn't proof that the other defendant would tamper with evidence, as federal lawyers argued. I am going to 'deny the government's request that the two defendants be held pending trial,' Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey said during proceedings Tuesday. The decision comes after it was revealed in proceedings earlier Tuesday that Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Sher-Ali, 35, were 'inadvertently...

The two men accused of impersonating federal operatives and gifting Secret Service agents rent-free apartments, smartphones, TVs and other items were ordered to home confinement this week after a federal judge ruled they were not a flight risk. Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Sher-Ali, 35, were released to their families on Wednesday and will remain under house arrest. The two will also be monitored by GPS technology, according to court documents outlining the conditions of their release. Taherzadeh was spotted by photographers entering his father’s home in Sterling, Va. Wednesday afternoon and waved to the cameras, holding a shopping bag...

As noted in Politico describing President Trump’s court appearance yesterday, “Minutes before Trump entered the pin-drop silent room, several federal judges — who have been processing the carnage of Jan. 6, 2021 for more than two years — filed into the public gallery, turning themselves into spectators in a building they typically rule. Chief Judge James Boasberg, who presided over several of the secret grand jury battles that preceded the charges against Trump, was among those marking the moment.”[…] “Boasberg’s presence in the courtroom was a statement in itself. Alongside him was Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who has in her...

WASHINGTON — A Trump supporter who stormed the Capitol wearing a “Make Space Great Again” hat had two guns and 400 rounds of ammunition in his van when he was arrested Thursday near former President Barack Obama’s home, federal authorities said Friday. A federal prosecutor said in court Friday that Taylor Taranto, a 37-year-old man first identified by online sleuths in August 2021, also had a machete in the van he appeared to be living in. Taranto's van has been parked near the D.C. jail in recent weeks and he has appeared at protests in support of other Jan. 6...

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday declined to jail two men accused of impersonating federal agents and supplying Secret Service personnel with gifts, dealing a blow to prosecutors who had argued that the defendants pose a danger and should be detained. "There's been no showing that national security information has been compromised," U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey said. Harvey ordered both men to remain in home confinement, subject to GPS monitoring, with their parents and that they surrender their passports and stay away from airports and embassies. Harvey agreed to stay his order until Wednesday morning...