The Justice Department is firing “over a dozen” officials who were part of former special counsel Jack Smith’s teams that prosecuted President Donald Trump, officials confirmed to ABC News Monday.
Acting Attorney General James McHenry transmitted letters to the officials informing them of their termination, officials said, that said given their part in the prosecutions they couldn’t be trusted in “faithfully implementing the president’s agenda.”
It’s not immediately clear the exact number of officials who were fired on Monday, but the move was largely expected after President Trump’s threats leading up to the 2024 election stating he planned to fire Smith “on day one.”
Smith resigned prior to Trump taking office and submitted his final report to former Attorney General Merrick Garland. Garland released Vol. 1 of Smith’s final report detailing Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, but he was blocked by District Judge Aileen Cannon from sharing with Congress the second volume of Trump’s report detailing his investigation of Trump’s mishandling of classified documents after leaving his first administration.
Separately, an official confirmed to ABC News that the top career official in the Justice Department, Bradley Weinsheimer, was recently informed he was being reassigned out of his role. Weinsheimer was a longtime career public official and gained notoriety last year in exchanges with President Joe Biden’s attorneys as they sought to prevent Special Counsel Robert Hur from releasing portions of his final report that detailed Biden’s diminished capacities.
“You played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump,” the email from Acting Attorney General McHenry said to the officials fired Monday. “The proper functioning of the 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.”
While several career officials who played prominent roles in Smith’s prosecutions departed prior to Trump taking office — including former top DOJ national security official Jay Bratt — several other career attorneys who were on Smith’s team chose to remain and return to roles in DOJ’s national security and criminal divisions.
Among those officials were longtime career trial attorneys Molly Gaston, J.P. Cooney, Mary Dohrmann and Anne McNamara, all of whom were informed of their terminations Monday, an official confirmed to ABC News.
It’s likely the firings result in court challenges given extensive civil service protections afforded to longtime career officials.
Mark Zaid, a prominent national security attorney who has represented federal officials and whistleblowers, said on ‘X’ Monday his firm is willing to represent pro bono any officials terminated for their roles in Smith’s investigation.
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