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Justice Dept. Fires More Prosecutors 07/14 06:06
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department has fired additional lawyers and
support staff who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's prosecutions of
President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The overall number of terminations was not immediately clear but they cut
across both the classified documents and election interference prosecutions
brought by Smith, and included a handful of prosecutors who were detailed to
the probes as well as Justice Department support staff and other non-lawyer
personnel who aided them, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity
to discuss personnel moves that have not been publicly announced.
The firings are part of a broader wave of terminations that have roiled the
department for months and that have targeted staff who worked on cases
involving Trump and his supporters. In January, the Justice Department said
that it had fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on prosecutions of
Trump, and last month fired at least three prosecutors involved in U.S. Capitol
riot criminal cases.
Days ago, Patty Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in
Washington, whose prosecutors handled the cases against the Trump supporters
who stormed the Capitol, said in a social media post that she had been handed a
letter signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi informing her that she had been
fired.
Smith's team in 2023 brought separate indictments accusing Trump of hoarding
classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as well as conspiring
to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the run-up to the
Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Neither case reached trial. The Supreme Court significantly narrowed the
election interference case in a ruling that said former presidents enjoyed
broad immunity from prosecution for their official acts, and a Trump-appointed
judge dismissed the classified documents case by holding that Smith's
appointment as special counsel was illegal.
Smith ultimately withdrew both cases in November 2024 after Trump's victory,
citing a Justice Department legal opinion that protects sitting presidents from
federal prosecution.
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