Department of Justice Fires Officials Involved in Trump Prosecutions
The Department of Justice has fired officials involved in the now-terminated federal criminal prosecutions of President Donald Trump. The move comes a week after Trump was sworn in for a second, non-consecutive term in the White House.
Acting Attorney General James McHenry terminated the employment of a number of DOJ officials who played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump. The officials were fired due to their actions, with McHenry stating that he does not trust them to assist in faithfully implementing the President’s agenda.
The number and names of the fired officials were not disclosed by the department, but NBC reported that career prosecutors Molly Gaston, J.P. Cooney, Anne McNamara, and Mary Dohrmann were among those terminated.
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance criticized the move, stating that firing prosecutors because of cases they were assigned to work on is “unacceptable” and “anti-rule of law.” Fox News reported that McHenry had fired more than a dozen officials who worked on the prosecutions.
The fired officials were involved in the prosecutions led by former special counsel Jack Smith, who filed criminal charges against Trump in two separate cases. The cases were dismissed due to a department policy that bars federal prosecutions of sitting presidents.
Trump was accused of crimes related to his attempt to reverse his loss to former President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, as well as his retention of classified government documents after he left the White House in January 2021, and his efforts to prevent government officials from recovering those records from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.
