More than a dozen Justice Department officials who worked on the federal criminal investigations into President Donald Trump were fired by the acting attorney general on Monday.
Keeping good on his promise to seek retribution on those who investigated and prosecuted him, several officials who worked with former special counsel Jack Smith were terminated because they can no longer be “trusted.”
“You played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump,” a letter from acting Attorney General James McHenry, obtained by CNN, said.
“The proper functioning of government critically depends on the trust superior officials place in their subordinates. Given your significant role in prosecuting the President, I do not believe that the leadership of the Department can trust you to assist in implementing the President’s agenda faithfully,” the letter said.
Citing Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which gives the president the power to appoint and terminate U.S. attorneys, McHenry terminated the employees “effective immediately”.
The Independent has asked the Department of Justice for comment.
The announcement arrives as the new administration is also launching a “special project” to investigate charges brought against individuals who were prosecuted for their participation in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Smith, who resigned from the DoJ before Trump was inaugurated, brought two federal criminal indictments against Trump.
One, for his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in part by spreading lies about mass voter fraud which incited the attack on the Capitol. Another, for allegedly harboring a trove of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home after leaving office in 2021.
Trump pleaded not guilty in both cases and accused the Justice Department of pursuing the investigations and indictments for political reasons. Over the course of two years, Trump and his lawyers managed to successfully delay each case before they could make it to trial.
The DoJ dropped both cases after Trump was re-elected in November.
Now, Trump’s administration is pursuing retribution against those who assisted in the criminal investigations.
In addition to the firings, interim U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C. Ed Martin has launched an investigation into the federal prosecutors who brought obstruction of justice charges against hundreds of January 6 rioters.
Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the obstruction of justice charge was brought too broadly against rioters. The charge, which carried a maximum sentence of 20 years, was dropped from roughly 330 cases.
In an email to staff on Monday, Martin requested all files, documents, notes, emails and other information related to cases involving the obstruction of justice charge so it could be investigated.
“Obviously, the use was a great failure of our office … and we need to get to the bottom of it,” Martin wrote in the email viewed by The Washington Post.
Trump has long promised to “de-weaponize” the government with a particular emphasis on the Justice Department.
Part of that plan includes implementing loyalists to the top positions – such as attorney general nominee Pam Bondi – and re-assigning career officials to make room for other appointees.
