US Justice Department fires 20 employees tied to Trump prosecutions

US Attorney General Pam Bondi has dismissed 20 Justice Department employees involved in federal prosecutions of President Donald Trump during the Biden administration, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The removals included two prosecutors who worked under former special counsel Jack Smith, as well as U.S. Marshals and support staff who assisted in the now-halted investigations. Sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of professional retaliation, Caliber.Az writes, citing US media.

Smith, appointed by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, led two high-profile probes into Trump: one examining efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and the other focused on Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Trump had frequently denounced both investigations as politically motivated, labelling them part of a "witch hunt." On the 2024 campaign trail, he pledged to fire Smith immediately upon returning to office. Smith resigned from the Justice Department days before Trump’s inauguration in January, after concluding that the cases could not proceed due to DOJ policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.

Trump was indicted in August 2023 by a federal grand jury on four felony counts related to election interference, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of an official proceeding. In the separate documents case, charges included willful retention of national defence information and obstruction of justice.

However, neither case advanced to trial. The election-related charges were delayed indefinitely after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last summer to expand presidential immunity for official acts. Weeks later, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon in Florida dismissed the classified documents case, ruling that Smith’s appointment as special counsel had been unlawful. Although the DOJ initially appealed, the matter was never resolved.

By Khagan Isayev