DOJ rocked by wave of Trump firings
Maurene Comey, a New York-based federal prosecutor and the daughter of the former FBI director, was fired Wednesday without explanation.
And news broke this week that the Justice Department also fired immigration court Judge Jennifer Peyton, who served as head of the Chicago immigration court system, shortly after the jurist gave a tour to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.
Those firings come on the heels of the dismissal of at least 20 staffers who worked under special counsel Jack Smith, a group that includes not only attorneys but also support staff and even U.S. Marshals.
Attorney General Pam Bondi last week also fired the top career ethics official at the department, Joseph Tirrell, the latest in a string of ethics officials pushed out under President Trump.
'Every time I think we're at some point when the firings are over, there's another wave. So I would predict we'll see more,' said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
'It's more dedicated career professionals being given walking papers when they really deserve to be elevated and empowered. And to fire the ethics attorney, I think, speaks volumes about where she's taking the department,' Blumenthal said.
Justice Connection, a network of the department's alumni dedicated to protecting 'colleagues who are under attack,' estimate that more than 200 employees have been terminated at DOJ, a figure that includes firings at the FBI and other agencies, as well as prosecutors that worked on the cases of Jan. 6 rioters at the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C.
'The senseless terminations at the Justice Department are growing exponentially. The very institution created to enforce the law is trampling over the civil service laws enacted by Congress. It's shameful, and it's devastating the workforce,' Stacey Young, executive director and founder of the group, said in a statement to The Hill
'DOJ leadership is making clear the ability to keep your job is not tied to your performance, your expertise, or your commitment to uphold and defend the Constitution. Those who remain at the department are now worried about how to uphold their professional ethical standards when it seems that their willingness to do whatever they are ordered matters more than any other aspect of their work.'
The Justice Department declined to comment on personnel matters.
Many of the attorneys that were fired have received brief letters saying they were terminated under the authority of the second article of the constitution, the one that establishes the presidency.
A letter from Comey to her colleagues referenced the guiding ethos of the Justice Department: to pursue cases 'without fear or favor.'
'Our focus was really on acting 'without favor.' That is, making sure people with access, money, and power were not treated differently than anyone else; and making sure this office remained separate from politics and focused only on the facts and the law,' Comey said in the memo, adding, 'but we have entered a new phase where 'without fear' may be the challenge.'
In the case of Peyton, Durbin said he sees a direct line between the tour she gave him – something he called a routine oversight visit – and her termination.
'Judge Peyton took time to show me the court and explain its functions. Soon after, she received an email from Department of Justice political appointees. The email claimed that immigration judges should not directly communicate with members of Congress and congressional staff and required all communications from congressional offices to be forwarded to headquarters for review and response,' Durbin said in a Tuesday email.
'Judge Peyton was fired soon after. Her abrupt termination is an abuse of power by the Administration to punish a non-political judge simply for doing her job.'
On Smith's team, the recent firings make for at least 37 staffers who have been dismissed, according to Reuters.
And on the ethics front, beyond Terrill, Jeffrey Ragsdale, the head of the Office of Professional Responsibility, which reviews the conduct of attorneys in the department, was fired in March. Brad Weinsheimer, another top ethics official, resigned after he was reassigned to a new working group focused on cracking down on sanctuary cities.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), also a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he sees two primary patterns.
'This is Pam Bondi attempting to go after all the president's perceived political enemies, to go after dedicated prosecutors who brought cases successfully to conviction. It's also part of the broader effort to completely rewrite history about Jan. 6,' he told The Hill, adding that he expects more firing of those 'deemed insufficiently pro-MAGA.'
He then listed a string of officials inside and outside of DOJ that have been fired under Trump, including the heads of the Office of the Special Counsel and the Office of Government Ethics.
'They seem to be doing everything they can to eviscerate any kind of watchdog or ethical oversight – clearly part of a pattern of trying to eliminate all accountability,' said Schiff, who sent a letter to Bondi this week asking for more details on Terrill's firings and plans to comply with ethics guidelines at the department.
Beyond the firings, many Justice Department lawyers have left the department of their own accord, with several sharing with The Hill they feared being asked to do something illegal or would be forced to defend unlawful actions.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said the result is a culture of fear at the Justice Department.
'The Department of Justice is now a joke. When you look at the history of a once storied and legendary department, Pam Bondi has defined her job as doing whatever Donald Trump wants. She's completely sycophantic and subservient. And there may be some lawyers still left in the building who are trying to do their jobs in an honest way consistent with professional ethics, but everything has been supported, subordinated to the political will of Donald Trump,' he told The Hill.
'It's a tough thing for the real lawyers who are still there, and they express a lot of fear and anxiety about where the DOJ is going.'
He added that some Republican colleagues, largely former prosecutors, have privately expressed concern over the firings.
'I have had Republican colleagues who were former federal prosecutors telling me privately that they are absolutely appalled that United States assistant attorneys are being fired because they worked on the January 6 case,' Raskin said.
'Think about the implications of that. People are being fired for doing their jobs well, and their job was bringing cases against people who violently assaulted federal police officers,' he said.
But that concern was not publicly shared by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the chair of the panel.
'I have confidence in President Trump, confidence in his team at the Justice Department, if that's what they think is in the best interest of fulfilling their mission, that's their call,' he told The Hill.
'I don't know this particulars about each individual, but if that's what the attorney general believes is in the best interest of the Justice Department's mission, that's fine.'
Comey and Terrill both addressed morale in letters to their colleagues.
Comey said unjustified firings mean 'fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain.'
'Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else,' she wrote.
Terrill, too, hinted at a call to action from colleagues.
'I believe in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – 'the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,'' he wrote in a post on LinkedIn that included his brief termination notice.
'I also believe that Edmund Burke is right and that 'the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
12 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Royal Caribbean crew member stabs female colleague, jumps overboard. He's found dead
A Royal Caribbean crew member stabbed a colleague on board during a cruise this week, Bahamian police say, then jumped into the waters off the island chain. He was found dead. The 35-year-old South African male stabbed a 28-year-old fellow crew member 'multiple times,' the Royal Bahamas Police said in a July 25 statement. The victim is female and also South African, they said. The incident took place aboard the Icon of the Seas, billed as the largest cruise ship in the world when it debuted at PortMiami in January, 2024. It is frequently used for week long trips to the Caribbean. The ship departed Miami on July 19 and was on a 7-night cruise to the eastern Caribbean. It had stops in St. Thomas and Coco Cay, an exclusive resort it uses in the Bahamas. It is scheduled to return to PortMiami on July 26 at 6 AM, according to Cruise Mapper, an online tracker. The incident occurred on July 24, shortly before 7:30 p.m. local time, in the waters off of San Salvador Island, the Nassau-based police said. That's when the crew member is suspected of attacking his female colleague, according to initial information it received from the police in Berry Islands, where Coco Cay is. 'Following the incident, the male reportedly fled from the scene and jumped into the water,' the Royal Bahamas Police statement said. 'He was retrieved unresponsive and pronounced dead by onboard medical staff.' An autopsy is being scheduled to determine the exact cause of death, police said. The victim was airlifted to Miami to seek further medical attention, a Royal Bahamas Police spokesperson said in a follow-up email to the Herald on Friday evening. That's according to what they were told by police stationed in the Berry Islands. 'Her injuries are not life threatening.' The Bahamas police didn't provide any more information on the case because it's not yet complete, it said. 'The matter is under active investigation at this time,' a spokesperson wrote. It did note that 'the female victim sustained stab wounds to her upper body and was treated and is in stable condition.' The Miami-based Royal Caribbean Group confirmed the victim 'is now in stable condition,' in an email from a spokesperson on July 25 and that the male crew member died after going overboard. But the cruise giant had little else to say. 'Our onboard security team responded to an incident involving two crew members in a personal dispute,' it said.
CBS News
13 minutes ago
- CBS News
New exhibit explores the impact and legacy of the Hollywood blacklist
New York — The central question in 1947, as the House Un-American Activities Committee investigated alleged Communist influence in Hollywood, was: "Are you a member of the Communist Party?" Chaired by Republican Rep. John Parnell Thomas of New Jersey, the committee eventually led to a Hollywood blacklist, now the focus of a new exhibit at the New York Historical Society. "The exhibit really tells the story of the Hollywood Ten," Louise Mirrer, president of the New York Historical Society, told CBS News, of a group of 10 Hollywood writers and directors. "And the charge was for the Hollywood Ten, that they were making movies that espoused the Communist point of view." The Hollywood Ten refused to answer the committee's questions. They were held in contempt of Congress, each sentenced from anywhere between six months to a year in prison, and blacklisted by studio executives. "I think it had an enormous effect," Anne Lessy, who helped curate the exhibit, told CBS News of the impact of the blacklist. "If you wanted to be a part of the film industry, you essentially forfeited your privacy and your right to your own political ideas and affiliations." Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten, spent 10 months in prison. His daughter, Mitzi, was 5 years old at the time. Her drawings and letters to him are on display in the exhibit, as well as testimony from those who named suspected Communists. "In an effort to save themselves, their careers and their reputations, many, you know, creatives felt compelled to name names, which is what the committee wanted," Lessy said. Even Walt Disney famously testified before the committee. "Walt Disney very much objected to labor organizing that had taken place in his studios and blamed it on Communist infiltration," Lessy said. "And then you also have Ronald Reagan, who at the time, was president of the Screen Actors Guild. While he didn't name names in public, he did to the committee's investigator. And he went on to very much endorse the anti-Communist crusade." The blacklist later expanded to include classically trained pianist Hazel Scott, the first Black entertainer to have a nationally syndicated TV show. But the show was canceled after she was named in an anti-Communist pamphlet. Once out of prison, Trumbo used pseudonyms to write the Academy Award-winning films "The Brave One" and "Roman Holiday." "So it took about four the Academy Awards to finally recognize Dalton Trumbo," Lessy said. " was seen as the beginning of eroding of the committee's power." The impact of the Red Scare also extended beyond Hollywood. "A number of regular Americans got caught up in this anti-Communist fervor, members of labor unions, high school teachers," Lessy said. "College professors also came under scrutiny. There was a well-known publication called Red Channels that would provide very detailed information on a wide range of creatives. And so even just your name appearing in one of these publications was enough to get you blacklisted." By the 1960s, as the Red Scare had faded, so too did the blacklist's power. And in 1975, the House Un-American Activities Committee was abolished. "I think it [the Hollywood blacklist] raises important questions about how to protect a robust democracy," Lessy said. "How do we protect our rights and freedoms, particularly freedom of you hold unpopular views, should you be punished? Should you lose your job? These are all questions we should be wrestling with."
CBS News
13 minutes ago
- CBS News
Massapequa asks President Trump for executive order protecting Native American school mascots
A Long Island school district is asking for President Trump's help in their fight to keep their team name and mascot — the Massapequa Chiefs. The New York State Board of Regents voted to ban Native American-related mascots, team names and logos in public schools back in 2023 and issued a June 2025 deadline for rebranding, saying districts that didn't comply could lose state aid. Massapequa High School has been pushing back, and the town is asking Trump to issue an executive order that would protect Native American mascots and imagery nationwide by outlawing any such bans. "This is a national issue, and so what we're saying is instead of having these little fights everywhere, we're asking the president to get involved," Massapequa Board of Education President Kerry Wachter said. "It really goes to the heart of who we are, and they're trying not only to erase Native Americans, but they're also trying to erase our tradition." The New York State Department of Education released the following statement in response: "No school district is above the law. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has twice rejected attempts by Massapequa and others to block enforcement of this regulation. The court made it clear: the State Education Department has a strong public interest in making sure every student learns in an environment free from discrimination and harassment. In fact, the court said the hardships 'tipped decidedly' in favor of NYSED. We remain committed to ending the use of harmful, outdated, and offensive depictions of Indigenous people. Our responsibility is to students and families; we won't trade their dignity for convenience." Trump has voiced support for Massapequa in the past. Back in April, he posted on Truth Social, in part, "I agree with the people in Massapequa, Long Island, who are fighting furiously to keep the Massapequa Chiefs logo on their Teams and School. Forcing them to change the name, after all of these years, is ridiculous and, in actuality, an affront to our great Indian population." United States Education Secretary Linda McMahon visited the district in May and said she planned to launch an investigation into the state's mascot ban. On Sunday, Trump threatened to block a deal for the Washington Commanders NFL team to return to a Washington, D.C., stadium unless the team changed their name back to the "Washington Redskins." A deal was reached between the city and the team Thursday, however.
