On Monday, October 6, 2025, a Hearing Committee for the District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility recommended a three-month suspension of the law license of Jennifer Kerkhoff Muyskens, a former federal prosecutor. The recommendation stems from allegations that Muyskens used deceptively edited videos as evidence in criminal cases against individuals arrested during protests at Republican President Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017.
The case is entitled “In the Matter of Jennifer Kerkhoff Muyskens,” with case number 24-BD-038.
The D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel accused Muyskens of manipulating videos recorded by a conservative activist group. The edits allegedly removed footage that could have potentially exonerated the protesters. The disciplinary counsel argued that these omissions allowed the government to falsely argue that the defendants had planned to riot.
The committee stated that Muyskens’ conduct fell “below the standard of acceptable behavior for a prosecutor.” The disciplinary complaint also alleged that Muyskens made “false and misleading” statements to judges in D.C. Superior Court and defense attorneys regarding the video edits and the government’s acquisition of the videos.
Project Veritas, the conservative activist group that recorded the videos, is known for its undercover recordings. The group infiltrated one of the protest groups and secretly recorded their meetings. These videos were then provided to the D.C. Metropolitan Police, according to the disciplinary complaint. The complaint suggests that the videos were edited in such a way that footage of protesters encouraging non-violence and de-escalation tactics with police was removed.
Muyskens has denied any wrongdoing. In a May filing, she stated that the disciplinary charges led her to resign from her position as a federal prosecutor in Utah and to leave the legal profession altogether. She argued that the evidence presented “failed to even come close to the incendiary hyperbole of ODC’s claims,” and that there was no conspiracy to suppress evidence, no lies, and no intentional misconduct.
The recommendation for suspension will now be reviewed by the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility. The D.C. Court of Appeals will have the final authority on any disciplinary actions taken against lawyers licensed to practice in Washington.
The January 20, 2017, protests in Washington resulted in the arrest of over 200 individuals. The protests involved black-clad activists who smashed store windows, blocked traffic, and engaged in confrontations with police. According to Reuters reporting from December 2017, twenty people entered guilty pleas, while six others were acquitted. Federal prosecutors dropped charges against at least 100 other defendants, according to the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
A copy of the original filing can be found here.
