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DOJ Fires Lawyers On Two Trump Cases
The Wall Street Journal|January 28, 2025
The Trump-era Justice Department on Monday fired more than a dozen lawyers who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's two prosecutions of the president, while a Trump appointee opened an internal review of the department's decision to charge hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants with felony obstruction offenses in connection with the Capitol attack.
- By C. RYAN BARBER AnD SADIE GURMAN
DOJ Fires Lawyers On Two Trump Cases

Together, the moves escalated the Trump administration's planned shake-up at the department and signaled its eagerness to swing back at people Trump believes targeted him unfairly during the Biden era.

Acting Attorney General James McHenry fired the prosecutors 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," a Justice Department official said.

Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney in Washington, is leading the review of Jan. 6 prosecutions, according to people familiar with the matter. In an email Monday, he asked prosecutors to turn over "all files, documents, notes, emails and other information" related to the obstruction cases, which included charges against some of the most violent rioters at Capitol on Jan.6, 2021.

The loosely defined inquiry jarred prosecutors in the office, as well as others who recently left, and some took steps to arrange legal counsel to prepare for what comes next, the people familiar with the matter said.

This story is from the January 28, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

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This story is from the January 28, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

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