The acting attorney general does not trust the officials to ’to assist in faithfully implementing the President’s agenda,’ a spokesperson said.
The acting head of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Jan. 27 fired officials who worked on former special counsel Jack Smith’s team, a department spokesperson said.
“Today, Acting Attorney General James McHenry terminated the employment of a number of DOJ officials who played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump,” a DOJ spokesperson told media outlets in a statement.
“In light of their actions, the Acting Attorney General does not trust these officials to assist in faithfully implementing the President’s agenda.”
“[The firings are] consistent with the mission of ending the weaponization of government,” the spokesperson said.
It was not clear which officials had been terminated.
The DOJ did not respond by publication time to a request by The Epoch Times for more information.
President Donald Trump has accused the department of being weaponized against him and other conservatives. Smith, who was appointed during the Biden administration, and his team investigated Trump and ultimately brought two sets of charges against him. Trump was charged for allegedly mishandling sensitive documents and obstructing the 2021 electoral certification.
Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The charges were dropped after Trump won the 2024 election, because the DOJ has a policy of not prosecuting sitting presidents, Smith and his team said in court filings.
Smith resigned on Jan. 10, before Trump was sworn into office. Days later, the DOJ released part of Smith’s final report. Smith, in the report, detailed why he brought charges against Trump. He said, in part, that “substantial evidence demonstrates that Mr. Trump then engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort to overturn the legitimate results of the election in order to retain power.”
The other part of the report has not yet been made available to the public. A federal judge recently blocked its release as proceedings against two of Trump’s co-defendants advance.
McHenry is serving as acting attorney general as the Senate considers the nomination of Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general. Bondi sat for questioning from senators on Jan. 15, but the Senate has not yet voted on her nomination. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on her nomination on Jan. 29. If the panel approves the nomination, the full chamber will vote on it at a later date.
The Senate has recently confirmed several other nominees of Trump’s, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
