The Trump administration has dismissed more than a dozen Justice Department lawyers who were involved in two criminal cases against the former president. The firings followed a decision by Acting Attorney General James McHenry, who concluded that the lawyers could not “be trusted to faithfully implement the president’s agenda” due to their roles in prosecuting Trump.
The lawyers were part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team, which investigated Trump for alleged mishandling of classified documents and his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The dismissals, which took effect on Monday, sparked immediate controversy, with critics arguing that firing prosecutors over their involvement in these cases undermines the rule of law. Former US Attorney Joyce Vance condemned the action, calling it “anti-rule of law” and “anti-democracy.”
The investigations into Trump led to criminal charges, although Trump pleaded not guilty. Both cases were closed after his 2020 election loss, as Justice Department regulations prohibit the prosecution of a sitting president. The exact identities of the fired lawyers remain unclear, but many were experienced career prosecutors with expertise in national security and corruption cases.
The firings follow a major reassignment of some of the justice department’s top officials with expertise in a wide range of fields including national security and public corruption. On Monday, one of them, the chief of the public integrity section, reportedly resigned.
Trump and his team have accused the justice department of pursuing politically motivated cases against him, his associates and Republicans. Trump vowed an immediate overhaul of the department, which he says has been “weaponised” against him, while campaigning for re-election.
His nominee to lead the justice department, Pam Bondi, has echoed Trump’s view that federal prosecutions against him were political persecution, saying the department “had been weaponised for years and years and years”.
Mr Smith has publicly defended his work. In a letter accompanying the final draft of his report into Trump’s actions after the 2020 election, he wrote: “The claim from [Trump] that my decisions as a prosecutor were influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors is, in a word, laughable.”
Also on Monday, Washington DC’s top federal prosecutor announced the launch of an internal review into the charging decisions behind hundreds of Capitol riot cases, according to CBS.
Acting US Attorney Edward Martin, a Trump appointee, ordered prosecutors in his office to turn in documents, emails and other information related to the previous administration’s decision to bring an obstruction charge against more than 200 Capitol attack defendants.
