WASHINGTON — A federal judge appointed to the bench by President Donald Trump heaped praise Thursday on two federal prosecutors who were placed on administrative leave after they described those who stormed the Capitol in 2021 as a "mob of rioters."

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said at a sentencing hearing that the prosecutors, Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White, were among the best attorneys who have appeared before him.

“In my view, both Mr. Valdivia and Mr. White did a truly excellent job in this case,” Nichols said at the hearing for Taylor Taranto, a Jan. 6 defendant who was also convicted on gun and other charges stemming from an incident in 2023.

Valdivia and White had filed a sentencing memo Tuesday that noted Taranto's involvement in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 202

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