EXCLUSIVE — The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee requested documents from leftist groups on Tuesday about their District of Columbia jury nullification trainings as part of a new investigation.
Free DC and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams may be undermining the Constitution’s requirement for impartial juries by advocating subversive tactics against federal prosecutions, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the committee chairman, told the organizations in two letters obtained by the Washington Examiner. The inquiries came in direct response to a Washington Examiner story exposing how the groups host in-person activist trainings that teach prospective jurors how to avoid showing their left-wing biases during selection and, ultimately, derail cases with “not guilty” verdicts regardless of facts.
“These shocking reports underscore the necessity of congressional oversight to protect against an assault targeting constitutional rights and processes,” the committee wrote. “Jury nullification training courses undermine the rule of law, the safety of D.C.’s residents, and erode public trust in the justice system and our Constitution’s guarantee of an impartial jury.”
Free DC and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment. Harriet’s Wildest Dreams is a prison abolition group founded in 2021 by former Black Lives Matter movement leaders, while Free DC emerged last year as a street-protest group opposing President Donald Trump’s second presidency.
“You have this superpower, and that superpower is you are able to nullify that godd*** jury,” Harriet’s Wildest Dreams co-founder and convicted thief Qiana Johnson told attendees of an August training. This strategy is what Trump-nominated U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro “is absolutely afraid of,” she said.
“We want to be on the jury,” another trainer said at the event. “We want to answer ‘no.’ We want to be neutral. We want to be unbiased — as much as we can present ourselves in that way.”
Republicans hit back
Comer alleged that the juror guidance tells activists to falsely present themselves as unbiased and conceal information that attorneys and judges would use to evaluate their impartiality.
The committee is seeking internal communications, advertisements, presentations, recordings, attendee lists, training materials, information about outside advisers, and documents concerning funding for the events. It requested records covering Jan. 1, 2025, through the present, with an Oct. 27 deadline. The requests are not legally binding unless the committee escalates with subpoenas later.
The investigation also comes after a jury deadlocked in the bribery trial of former D.C. Councilman Trayon White in September, resulting in a mistrial. Harriet’s Wildest Dreams celebrated the outcome on Instagram, writing, “This is why jury service matters. Jurors hold power. You can disagree. You can remain deadlocked. You do not have to abandon what you believe just to reach a verdict.”
Nee Nee Taylor, the executive director of Harriet’s Wildest Dreams and organizing director of Free DC, attended nearly every day of White’s trial in support of the former councilman. Afterward, she discussed jury nullification with local media.
Johnson claimed at the August training that the groups’ efforts may have helped produce the acquittal of defendant Sean Dunn, who was charged with misdemeanor assault after allegedly throwing a sandwich at a federal law enforcement officer. Leftists nicknamed him the “sandwich guy” and made him a symbol of anti-Trump resistance.
“I want to take a little bit of credit, maybe about 40-50% of the credit for the sandwich guy,” Johnson told attendees, saying she suspected a juror on the case had joined a training.
INSIDE THE LEFTIST NETWORK WORKING TO SABOTAGE TRUMP’S DC PROSECUTIONS
A constitutional law expert previously told the Washington Examiner that attending a jury nullification workshop would not automatically disqualify someone from jury service. A prospective juror could cross a legal line, however, by lying or deliberately withholding relevant information during the selection process.
“It is clear that the position of Free DC and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams is that potential jurors should not make decisions impartially based on applying the law as instructed to the facts presented before them in the case, but based on their subjective, personal beliefs and activist agendas,” Comer told Free DC.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
