The US Justice Department on Monday fired officials who were involved in the criminal prosecutions of President Donald Trump.
A Justice Department official said acting attorney general James McHenry had made the decision because he did not believe these officials could be trusted to "faithfully implement the President's agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting the President."
The official did not specify now many people had their employment terminated, but US media outlets said it was more than a dozen and several were career prosecutors with the Justice Department. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought two federal cases against Mr Trump, resigned this month.
The firings come as Mr Trump seeks to reshape the federal government so that only loyalists have top positions. Late on Friday, he broke the law by firing of at least a dozen inspectors general, who are responsible for providing independent oversight of government agencies, without the legally required 30 days’ congressional notification.
Mr Smith charged Mr Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House. Neither case came to trial and Mr Smith – in line with a long-standing Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president – dropped them both after the Republican won November's presidential election.
The firing of the Justice Department officials involved in prosecuting Mr Trump was not unexpected. He had vowed before the election to fire Mr Smith “on day one” and accused the Justice Department under Democratic president Joe Biden of conducting a “political witch hunt” against him. In his inauguration speech, Mr Trump said he would end the “vicious, violent, and unfair weaponisation of the Justice Department and our government.”
In his final report, Mr Smith said Mr Trump would have been convicted for his “criminal efforts” to retain power after the 2020 election if the case had not been dropped.
Mr Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the US and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding – the session of Congress held to certify Mr Biden's win, which was violently attacked on January 6, 2021, by a mob of Trump supporters.
Mr Smith also prepared a report into Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents but it is being withheld because charges are pending against two of his former co-defendants.
Mr Trump faces separate racketeering charges in Georgia over his efforts to subvert the election results in the southern state, but the case will probably be frozen while he is in office. The President was convicted in New York in May of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to an adult film star. The judge who presided over the case gave him an “unconditional discharge”, which carries no jail time, fine or probation.
