Prosecutors who worked on Trump criminal investigation fired

January 28, 2025 journo

The Trump Justice Department says it has fired more than a dozen employees who worked on criminal investigations into President Donald Trump.

The abrupt action targeting career prosecutors who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s team is the latest sign of upheaval inside the Justice Department and reflects the administration’s determination to purge the government of workers it perceives as disloyal to the president.

The norm-shattering move, which follows the reassignment of multiple senior career officials across divisions, was made even though rank-and-file prosecutors by tradition remain with the department across presidential administrations and are not punished by virtue of their involvement in sensitive investigations.

The firings are effective immediately.

“Today, Acting Attorney General James McHenry terminated the employment of a number of DOJ officials who played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump,” said a statement from a Justice Department official.

“In light of their actions, the Acting Attorney General does not trust these officials to assist in faithfully implementing the President’s agenda.

“This action is consistent with the mission of ending the weaponisation of government.”

It was not immediately clear which prosecutors were affected by the order, or how many who worked on the investigations into Mr Trump remained with the department.

It was also not immediately known how many of the fired prosecutors intended to challenge the terminations by arguing that the department had ignored civil service protections afforded to federal employees.

Mr Smith himself resigned from the department this month after submitting a two-volume report on the twin investigations into Mr Trump’s efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election and his hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

At least one other key member of the team, Jay Bratt, also retired from the department this month after serving as a lead prosecutor in the classified documents case.

Merick Garland, a man with soft grey hair, speaks in front of a sign with the seal of the Department of Justice on it — Mr Trump has long been critical of attorney-general Merrick Garland’s Justice Department. (AP: Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Mr Trump has long sought to exert control over a Justice Department that investigated him both during his first term as well as during the last four years under former attorney-general Merrick Garland.

He has repeatedly said he expects loyalty from a law enforcement community trained to put facts, evidence and the law ahead of politics.

Mr Trump’s pick for attorney-general, Pam Bondi, said at her confirmation hearing this month that she would not play politics but did not rule out the potential for investigations into Mr Trump adversaries like Mr Smith.

Both the election interference case and the classified documents prosecution were withdrawn by Mr Smith’s team following Mr Trump’s presidential win in November, in keeping with longstanding Justice Department policy.

The firings were first reported by Fox News.