Justice Department fires employees who worked on Donald Trump prosecutions under Jack Smith
The Justice Department under President Donald Trump is firing more than a dozen officials who assisted special counsel Jack Smith in prosecuting Trump before he won the 2024 election, according to a Justice Department spokesperson.
Acting Attorney General James McHenry sent a termination letter to each official, the spokesperson confirmed Monday.
"Acting Attorney General James McHenry made this decision because he did not believe these officials could be trusted to faithfully implement the President’s agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting the President," a separate department official told USA TODAY in a statement.
Ahead of his November election victory, Trump told radio show host Hugh Hewitt that he planned to fire Smith. The special counsel led two prosecutions against Trump that have been dropped in the wake of Trump's election, one alleging Trump unlawfully tried to overturn the 2020 election results and a second alleging he mishandled classified documents after his first presidential term.
Smith resigned earlier this month, ahead of Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration. In a report on the election-interference case that he submitted to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland before stepping down, Smith argued that there was enough evidence to convict Trump.
Several Justice Department officials have also been reassigned in the wake of Trump's return to office in order to help align the department with the administration's priorities, especially on immigration.
Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor and a law professor at the University of Michigan, criticized the firings and their stated rationale on X.
"DOJ supports and defends the Constitution, not the president’s agenda," McQuade wrote.
Trump-appointed prosecutor opens probe into Jan. 6 cases
The acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Ed Martin, has also opened a probe into the Justice Department's decision under the previous administration to bring felony obstruction charges against hundreds of individuals who were allegedly involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. That's according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter, and a report by the Washington Post, which said it saw a copy of an email from Martin.
Martin asked prosecutors in a Monday email to turn over files, documents, emails, and notes related to the cases, according to the reports. He referred to his probe as a "special project" and described the obstruction charges as a failure.
The Supreme Court ruled in June that prosecutors needed to review whether defendants facing the charge – obstructing an official proceeding – had tried to interfere specifically with items used in the Jan. 6 proceedings, such as records, documents, or objects. The proceedings were held as part of the official process for certifying then-Vice President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. A mob of Trump supporters infiltrated the Capitol, delaying the proceedings for hours.
More than 355 defendants faced the charge, according to the Justice Department. However, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland said no Jan. 6 defendant faced only the obstruction charge and even for those who were freed from it in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision, other charges would remain.
On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 defendants who faced Jan. 6-related charges.
(This story had been updated to add additional information.)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump Justice Department fires officials who assisted Jack Smith cases