The chief trial court judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday questioned federal prosecutors about a misdemeanor offense that has been featured in scores of Jan. 6 plea agreements, which the judge said was “fostering confusion” about the significance of the attack on the Capitol.

U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the District of Columbia asked prosecutors to explain why the U.S. Department of Justice was allowing so many defendants to plead guilty to the misdemeanor offense of “parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.” She said the language of that offense may give the impression that rioters who forcibly breached the building were engaged in a legitimate protest “just in the wrong place.”

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