WASHINGTON (UNITED STATES) (ITALPRESS) – The Justice Department said it has fired more than a dozen employees who have worked on prosecutions against President Donald Trump in recent years, moving swiftly to prosecute lawyers involved in the investigations and signaling a swift willingness to take measures favorable to the president’s personal interests.The abrupt dismissal of the career prosecutors who worked on Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s team is the latest sign of upheaval within the Justice Department and is in line with the administration’s determination to permanently exclude from the government team those workers deemed disloyal to the president.The tycoon, in synergy with the department, has carried out an unusual move since career prosecutors traditionally remain in the department in all presidential administrations and are not punished by virtue of their involvement in sensitive investigations. In this specific and unique case, the firings also take immediate effect. “Today, Acting Attorney General James McHenry fired a number of officials who played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump,” said a Justice Department official. “In light of their actions, the acting attorney general does not trust these officials to assist in the faithful implementation of the president’s agenda. This action is consistent with the mission to end the militarization of government. “It was not immediately clear which prosecutors were affected by the order, or how many of those who worked on the Trump investigation had remained in the department when the mogul took office last week. Nor is it currently known how many of the prosecutors excluded by the administration actually plan to challenge the dismissals.The action was yet another attempt by Trump in wanting to turn the tables on the criminal investigations that have dogged him for years, which were followed by several indictments that never went to trial and were eventually dropped. The only exception was the New York “hush money” case, an occasion in which Trump was convicted but suffered no consequences.On his first day in office Trump also granted clemency to the more than 1,500 supporters charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, a massive grant of clemency that also benefited those found guilty of violent attacks on police, as well as leaders of far-right groups convicted of failed plots to keep the Republican president in power.Trump has long sought to exert control over a Justice Department that investigated him both during his first term and over the past four years under former Attorney General Merrick Garland. He has repeatedly said he expects loyalty from a law enforcement community trained to put facts, evidence and the law before politics. He has moved to place close allies in high-level positions, including replacing FBI Director Christopher Wray with Kash Patel.Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general, said during her confirmation hearing this month that she would not be involved in politics, but she did not rule out the possibility of investigations into Trump’s opponents such as Jack Smith, who instead resigned from the department earlier this month after submitting a two-volume report on the twin investigations into Trump’s efforts to nullify the 2020 presidential election and his accumulation of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. At least one other key member of the team, Jay Bratt, also retired from the department this month after serving as lead prosecutor in the case of the documents taken by Trump from the White House.Both the election interference case and the prosecution based on classified documents were withdrawn from Smith’s team after Trump’s presidential victory in November, in line with longstanding Justice Department policy.-photo xp6-(ITALPRESS).
