Trump-appointed judge rejects Capitol attacker's comparisons between Jan. 6 and Portland riots

Alleged Capitol attacker Garret Miller was arrested in March 2021 after numerous tips to the FBI with screen captures of his social media accounts where he posted photos and videos inside the U.S. Capitol. He also argued with people who falsely claimed that it was Antifa that was behind Jan. 6.

"Nah we stormed it," he replied. In fact, when Miller was arrested he was wearing a shirt saying "I was there, Washington, D.C. January 6, 2021).

But as part of his defense to the Justice Department charges, Miller claimed that he is simply the "victim of selective prosecution." He claimed that the Capitol attack was the same thing as the Portland protests. In that case, the DOJ didn't arrest Portland, Oregon. He demanded that there be a hearing where he could discover evidence that would prove this.

U.S. District Court Judge Carl John Nichols, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2019, didn't buy the plea from Miller.

"To get discovery on his claim, Miller must offer 'some evidence' tending to show both a discriminatory effect and discriminatory intent," said Nichols. "If the standard sounds familiar to the one for proving a selective-prosecution claim, it should. The Supreme Court has adopted this 'correspondingly rigorous' standard to guard against costly resource allocation and the disclosure of sensitive information."

"Miller has failed to point to any Portland case that is similar to this one and in which the government made a substantially different prosecutorial decision," the ruling also said. "The circumstances between the riots in Portland and the uprising in the Nation’s capital differ in kind and degree, and the Portland cases (and the government’s prosecutorial decisions) are therefore not sufficiently similar to this case to support Miller’s request for discovery."

Judge Nichols denied the motion.

Miller is also the Trump supporter who threatened to assassinate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), saying on social media that "next time" he would "bring the guns." He then tweeted to Ocasio-Cortez that he and others at the Capitol on Jan. 6 "acted with honor and we where (sic) not armed' and that they were 'gentle' with police.

When Ocasio-Cortez tweeted "impeach," Miller allegedly replied, "assassinate AOC." The Congresswoman then mocked him for incriminating himself.

Miller's trial should move forward after this ruling.

Read the full decision from Judge Nichols here.