In Washington, the removal of seasoned Justice Department attorneys by the White House has spotlighted President Donald Trump’s increasing control over the agency, which traditionally maintains political neutrality.
A recent incident involved the unexplained firing of an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles; this came shortly after a right-wing figure posted about him on social media, as confirmed by a source who wished to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation.
This followed the dismissal of a longstanding prosecutor who had been temporarily leading the U.S. attorney’s office in Memphis, Tennessee. Such actions signal an unsettling trend that challenges norms, stirring concerns about the protection of civil service employees and the jeopardizing of the Justice Department’s independence from White House influence.
The dismissal of one attorney on the same day a conservative activist publicly called for it raises questions about the role of outside influence in government staffing decisions. Stacey Young, a former Justice Department lawyer and founder of Justice Connection, emphasized the importance of impartial law enforcement and condemned the firings as advancing a political agenda.
The Trump administration is alleged to have inserted loyalists into leading roles within the Justice Department, targeting employees who participated in prosecutions against the president and demoting career officials seen as inadequately supportive. While the recent firings were enacted by the White House, a Justice Department spokesperson declined to provide a comment.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the administration, in collaboration with the Justice Department, has dismissed numerous U.S. attorneys recently, asserting the need for a judiciary committed to defending democracy without bias.
As political appointees typically shift with administrations, career prosecutors remain under civil service protections against political termination. The scale of dismissals this year notably exceeds usual operations at the Justice Department.
Adam Schleifer, previously part of a fraud initiative in Los Angeles, received his termination via an email purportedly from President Trump, coinciding precisely with right-wing activist Laura Loomer’s social media appeal against him. She labeled Schleifer, who has openly criticized Trump, as a “Biden administration holdover.”
Although Schleifer rejoined the U.S. attorney’s office after an unsuccessful congressional run, his prosecution of a fraud case involving a Trump donor did not prevent his firing by the White House’s Presidential Personnel Office, typically disconnected from civil service matters.
In Tennessee, Reagan Fondren, a career prosecutor, reported being dismissed by a brief email from the White House. Having temporarily led the U.S. attorney’s office after a Biden appointee’s departure, Fondren did not just lose her acting role but was dismissed entirely.
Post-Trump’s election victory, the Justice Department dismissed several employees involved in criminal cases against him. Subsequently, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the removal of prosecutors connected to over 1,500 cases arising from the January 6 Capitol riot.
Leavitt, part of ongoing litigation with The Associated Press, faced accusations relating to First- and Fifth-Amendment rights after allegedly punishing AP for editorial decisions. The dispute includes a directive to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, which the AP rejected.