The Justice Department on Friday fired at least three prosecutors involved in US Capitol riot criminal cases, the latest move by the Trump administration targeting attorneys connected to the massive prosecution of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, per two people familiar with the matter. Those dismissed include two attorneys who worked as supervisors overseeing the prosecutions in the US attorney's office in Washington, as well as a line attorney who prosecuted cases stemming from the Capitol attack, the people said.
A letter received by one of the prosecutors and signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi didn't provide a reason for their removal, effective immediately, citing only "Article II of the United States Constitution and the laws of the United States," per a copy seen by the AP. A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment on Friday. The terminations marked another escalation of norm-shattering moves that have raised alarm over the Trump administration's disregard for civil service protections for career lawyers and the erosion of the Justice Department's independence from the White House.
Top leaders at the DOJ have also fired employees who worked on the prosecutions against Trump and demoted a slew of career supervisors in what has been seen as an effort to purge the agency of lawyers seen as insufficiently loyal. During his time as interim US attorney in Washington, Ed Martin demoted several prosecutors involved in the Jan. 6 cases, including the attorney who served as chief of the Capitol Siege Section. Others demoted include two lawyers who helped secure seditious conspiracy convictions against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio.
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In January, then-acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the firings of about two dozen prosecutors hired for temporary assignments to support the Jan. 6 cases but were moved into permanent roles after Trump's presidential win in November. Trump's sweeping pardons of the Jan. 6 rioters have led to worries about actions being taken against attorneys involved in the prosecution of more than 1,500 Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol during certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of all of them on his first day back in the White House, releasing from prison people convicted of seditious conspiracy and violent assaults on cops.
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