According to an official announcement, the Trump administration has fired over a dozen Justice Department officials prosecuting lawsuits against former President Donald Trump.
Acting Attorney General James McHenry, a Trump appointee, defended the firings by claiming that the attorneys could not be trusted to carry out the president’s agenda, given their key involvement in taking legal action against Trump.
In a termination letter obtained by Reuters, McHenry used Trump’s constitutional authority as president to justify the decision.
The affected attorneys previously worked for Special Counsel Jack Smith, who headed two federal prosecutions against Trump before dropping both after Trump’s election victory in November. Smith resigned from the Justice Department earlier this month.
The move coincided with an internal inquiry launched by Ed Martin, the Trump-appointed top federal prosecutor in Washington, concerning the use of felony obstruction charges against those engaged in the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
This reconsideration comes after a Supreme Court decision last year upped the legal threshold for such allegations, which resulted in their dismissal in other cases.
This is a big shake-up within the Justice Department, as Trump continues to seek payback against individuals who persecuted him and his associates while he was out of office.
Trump has often criticized the Justice Department, accusing it of bias and alleging that the cases against him were politically motivated.
The dismissals follow the reassignment of up to 20 senior career Justice Department officials, including top ethics and public corruption officials.
Corey Amundson, the former chief of the public corruption unit, resigned on Monday, claiming restructuring.
These revelations come while Pam Bondi, Trump’s candidate for attorney general, awaits Senate approval, which is anticipated for Wednesday.
The terminated attorneys had worked on Smith’s cases, which included allegations against Trump for allegedly storing confidential data and seeking to influence with election certification in 2020.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all allegations, claiming that the prosecutions were examples of legal system “weaponization.” Smith abandoned the cases following Trump’s election victory, citing a policy against pursuing a sitting president.
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