DOJ Warned: Firing Of Prosecutors, FBI Agents Involved In Jan. 6 May Trigger Legal Action
HuffPost
A rash of firings at the Justice Department and FBI have prompted concerns over doxxing and worse.
A group of attorneys have put the Justice Department “on notice,” warning that the continued firing of prosecutors or FBI agents could trigger swift legal action. In recent days, Trump appointees have begun terminating or threatening to terminate people who lawfully investigated Jan. 6 or President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home when he was under criminal indictment for allegedly illegally retaining classified documents.
Lawyers representing some of these now-former career officials said in a letter to deputy acting Attorney General Emil Bove that the firings that began last week may violate simple due process rights and that those targeted for termination are profoundly concerned that the Justice Department is now “planning to publicly disseminate the names of those employees they plan to or will actually be terminating, despite the risk of stigmatization.”
Attorney Mark Zaid and representatives of the State Democracy Defenders Fund, including the watchdog’s executive chair Norm Eisen and its board member and retired federal judge Nancy Gertner, wrote, “The continuation in this course of action is a direct assault on the national security of the American citizens you have sworn to faithfully and unselfishly serve.”
Last week, the FBI’s acting director Brian Driscoll informed staff at the bureau that Bove — who once represented Trump in his criminal cases — asked for a list of FBI agents or other employees who worked on Jan. 6 prosecutions. Bove said he would then “determine whether any additional personnel actions were necessary.”
A former U.S. attorney who investigated Jan. 6 said that they knew at least 25 of 30 agents who had been fired or transferred to another office, according to Politico. Meanwhile, at least six of the senior most leaders at the FBI were also pushed out, NBC News reported on Jan. 31. The Justice Department announced last week that over a dozen prosecutors who worked on criminal probes of Donald Trump under former special counsel Jack Smith were fired after being deemed unable to “faithfully implement” Trump’s agenda.
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