The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday said that it had fired more than a dozen employees who worked on criminal prosecutions of US President Donald Trump, moving rapidly to pursue retribution against lawyers involved in the investigations and signaling an early willingness to take action favorable to the president’s personal interests.
The announcement came on the same day that Trump signed a series of executive orders to remove diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from the military, reinstate thousands of troops who were kicked out for refusing COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic, and take aim at transgender troops.
The DOJ terminations targeting career prosecutors who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s team is the latest sign of upheaval inside the department and is consistent with the administration’s determination to purge the government of workers it perceives as disloyal to the president.
Photo: AFP
The norm-shattering move, which follows the reassignment of multiple senior career officials across divisions, was made even though rank-and-file prosecutors by tradition remain with the department across presidential administrations and are not punished by virtue of their involvement in sensitive investigations. The firings are effective immediately.
“Today, Acting Attorney General James McHenry terminated the employment of a number of DOJ officials who played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump,” a statement from a justice department official said. “In light of their actions, the Acting Attorney General does not trust these officials to assist in faithfully implementing the President’s agenda. This action is consistent with the mission of ending the weaponization of government.”
It was not immediately clear which prosecutors were affected by the order, or how many who worked on the investigations into Trump remained with the department as Trump took office last week.
Meanwhile, one of the executive orders signed by Trump said that expressing a “gender identity” different from an individual’s sex at birth did not meet military standards.
While the order banned the use of “invented” pronouns in the military, it did not answer basic questions including whether transgender soldiers currently serving in the military would be allowed to stay and, if not, how they would be removed.
Trump’s plans have been heavily criticized by advocacy groups, which said that his actions would be illegal.
“President Trump has made clear that a key priority for his administration is driving transgender people back into the closet and out of public life altogether,” American Civil Liberties Union attorney Joshua Block said.
While transgender rights advocates said there are as many as 15,000 transgender service members, officials said the number is in the low thousands.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has promised to bring major changes to the Pentagon and he has made eliminating DEI from the military a top priority.
While speaking with reporters outside the Pentagon, Hegseth referred to Fort Moore and Fort Liberty by their previous names, Fort Benning and Fort Bragg. The names honoring Confederate officers were changed under former US president Joe Biden as part of an effort to re-examine US history and the Confederate legacy.
“I’m thinking about the guys and gals in Guam, Germany, Fort Benning and Fort Bragg,” Hegseth said.
Trump also signed an executive order that “mandated a process to develop an ‘American Iron Dome.’”
The short-range Iron Dome air defense system was built by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems with US backing, and was built to intercept rockets fired by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza towards Israel.
However, that system is designed for short-range threats, making it ill-suited to defending against intercontinental missiles that are the main danger to the US.
Any such effort would take years to implement in the United States.
Additional reporting by AFP
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