By : Lloyd Mahachi
United States President Donald Trump’s administration has taken a drastic step firing more than a dozen justice department lawyers who worked on two criminal cases against him.
The firing took place after acting Attorney General James McHenry concluded that they could not “be trusted to faithfully implement the president’s agenda because of their pivotal role in prosecuting the president”.
The lawyers were part of the former special counsel led by Jack Smith which investigated Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and his attempt to overturn the 2020 election defeat.
Mr Smith was appointed as special counsel in the year 2022 to oversee the two justice department cases into Trump. The president had vowed to fire him “within two seconds” of his return to office, but he quit before the inauguration.
Both cases resulted in criminal charges against President Trump, who pleaded not guilty.But the cases were closed following his November election victory. Prosecutors wrote that justice department’s regulations do not allow the prosecution of a sitting president.
Many of those who worked on Mr Smith’s teams were career corruption and national security prosecutors who had worked across various administrations and were appointed to the cases.
They reportedly received a letter on Monday which said their role in investigating and prosecuting the president made them not eligible to work in the department.
“The firing of prosecutors because of cases they were assigned to work on is not acceptable,” former US Attorney Joyce Vance said. “It’s against the rule of law and anti-democracy.”
These firings follow a major reassignment of some of the justice department’s top officials with expertise in a wide range of fields including national security and public corruption.
Trump and his team accused the justice department of pursuing politically motivated cases against him, his associates and Republicans. Trump vowed an immediate change of the department, which he says has been “weaponised” against him, while campaigning for re-election.
His nominee to lead the justice department, Pam Bondi, has echoed Trump’s view that federal prosecutions against him were political persecution, saying the department “had been weaponised for many years.
Mr Smith publicly defended his work. In a letter accompanying the final draft of his report into Trump’s actions after the 2020 election, he wrote: “The claim from Trump that my decisions as a prosecutor were influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors”
In addition , Washington DC’s top federal prosecutor announced the launch of an internal review into the charging decisions behind hundreds of Capitol riot cases.
The acting US Attorney Edward Martin appointed by Trump, ordered prosecutors in his office to turn in documents, emails and other information related to the previous administrations.
Editor : Josephine Mahachi
