House Democrats Demand Answers on DOJ’s Firing of Officials
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Gerald Connolly, D-Ma., have written a letter to Acting Attorney General James McHenry expressing “alarm and profound concern” over the Justice Department’s decision to fire more than a dozen officials involved in former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation.
The officials, who worked to prosecute President Trump, were fired without evaluation or negative evaluation of their work, according to Raskin and Connolly. The Democrats argue that the officials were part of an expert, non-political workforce tasked with protecting national security and public safety, and that they were hired and promoted based on their professional merit and excellence.
Raskin and Connolly claim that McHenry removed the officials from their posts “without regard to their demonstrated competencies, their recognized achievements, or their devoted service to the Department,” and that he has likely violated federal laws in doing so. They also accuse McHenry of having “taken aim at law students who applied to, interviewed for, and received offers from the Department based on their demonstrated academic achievements and their commitment to public service.”
The Democrats are demanding that the DOJ provide them with a list of names of officials who have been reassigned or terminated, as well as any communications between the DOJ and the White House since Inauguration Day regarding the content of personal social media accounts of career DOJ employees or applicants. They are demanding the information by February 11 at 5:00 p.m.
The move to fire the officials comes after McHenry transmitted a letter to each official notifying them of their termination, a Justice Department official told Fox News Digital. The names of the individuals were not immediately released.