The U.S. Department of Justice has seen major shake-ups in recent days as President Donald Trump’s administration implements sweeping changes to personnel and policy. According to The Hill, the administration is actively “culling the ranks of career officials.”
The news follows U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s decision to fire Maurene Comey—daughter of former FBI Director James Comey—from her position as a federal prosecutor earlier this week, as reported by Breitbart News.
“The news of Maurene Comey’s firing comes as the FBI has recently been reported to have launched an investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan and James Comey regarding their roles in the investigation surrounding President Donald Trump and Russia allegedly colluding,” the outlet said. Per the Hill, the DOJ also fired immigration court Judge Jennifer Peyton who led the Chicago immigration court system.
“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 outlet said.
Trump has long vowed to “drain the swamp” if returned to the White House, and in January, Breitbart News reported that the Department of Justice had dismissed more than a dozen prosecutors connected to cases involving him. “The prosecutors who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal cases against Trump were those in the line of fire, as the DOJ said they cannot trust them,” the article highlighted.
In February, Trump administration officials dismissed over 20 immigration attorneys from the Department of Justice. Joe Biden’s deputies had recently appointed the lawyers to serve as pro-migration judges within the nation’s immigration courts, which—now comprising roughly 700 judges—fall under the authority of President Trump’s Justice Department, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
In 2021, the Biden administration dismissed several immigration judges appointed under President Trump, following a precedent set by President Barack Obama, who also removed some judges hired during President George W. Bush’s tenure, The Hill added.
