DOJ dismisses scores of prosecutors involved in handling Jan. 6 cases
It marks the newest remarkable removal of officials that Donald Trump has classified as opposing his interests.
TroibNews 
The Justice Department has unexpectedly dismissed dozens of prosecutors involved in criminal cases related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, based on correspondence reviewed by PMG and an interview with a terminated employee.
Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin sent an email to the staff shortly before 5 p.m. on Friday, including a memo from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove that outlined a plan to remove employees deemed improperly hired by the outgoing Biden administration during the Trump administration’s tenure.
This action represents a significant purge of officials that Donald Trump has labeled as adversaries. Recently, the administration has reorganized personnel at the FBI and dismissed multiple inspectors general across the federal government.
One of the dismissed prosecutors, who dealt with some of the approximately 1,600 criminal cases related to the January 6 riot, indicated that around 25 to 30 colleagues were let go. Some attorneys were reassigned to different offices, according to the former assistant U.S. attorney, who spoke with PMG anonymously due to concerns about potential retaliation.
Throughout the extensive four-year investigation of the January 6 incident, the Justice Department enlisted hundreds of prosecutors nationwide to manage the cases.
Soon after assuming office, Trump halted the Capitol riot investigation, granting mass pardons to participants and directing the DOJ to drop pending charges related to the events of January 6.
“Today we received direction about some folks leaving our employment,” Martin noted in his brief email to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. A staunch advocate for the January 6 rioters, Martin was appointed by Trump as the interim top prosecutor for the district, a position that typically requires Senate confirmation.
Attached to Martin’s email was a memo from Bove, a senior figure at Main Justice who previously represented Trump in criminal cases, including the federal case concerning accusations of election subversion and the incitement of the January 6 riot. Bove’s memo outlined a department initiative to terminate probationary employees who had recently been changed to "permanent" status by the Biden administration, a move he suggested was an improper tactic to shield them from termination.
Bove’s memo indicated that the prosecutors targeted for dismissal were hired by the previous U.S. attorney specifically to assist with January 6 case work. He emphasized, “I will not tolerate subversive personnel actions by the previous Administration at any U.S. Attorney’s Office. Too much is at stake. In light of the foregoing, the appropriate course is to terminate these employees.”
He also mentioned that the "resources allocated to their hiring" should be redirected to Martin for "merit-based hiring."
Furthermore, Bove stated that the DOJ is investigating the Biden administration’s hiring of the prosecutors, an inquiry arising from Trump’s executive order aimed at terminating the “weaponization” of government agencies.
In supporting the terminations, Bove referenced Trump’s labeling of the January 6 prosecutions as a “grave national injustice,” a characterization that several federal judges have rejected in recent rulings concerning those cases.
“There has been no ‘grave national injustice,’” U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman asserted in a ruling issued on Thursday. “And just because the proclamation was signed by the president does not transform up into down or down into up as if peering through the looking glass of Alice in Wonderland.”
Alejandro Jose Martinez contributed to this report for TROIB News
Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin sent an email to the staff shortly before 5 p.m. on Friday, including a memo from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove that outlined a plan to remove employees deemed improperly hired by the outgoing Biden administration during the Trump administration’s tenure.
This action represents a significant purge of officials that Donald Trump has labeled as adversaries. Recently, the administration has reorganized personnel at the FBI and dismissed multiple inspectors general across the federal government.
One of the dismissed prosecutors, who dealt with some of the approximately 1,600 criminal cases related to the January 6 riot, indicated that around 25 to 30 colleagues were let go. Some attorneys were reassigned to different offices, according to the former assistant U.S. attorney, who spoke with PMG anonymously due to concerns about potential retaliation.
Throughout the extensive four-year investigation of the January 6 incident, the Justice Department enlisted hundreds of prosecutors nationwide to manage the cases.
Soon after assuming office, Trump halted the Capitol riot investigation, granting mass pardons to participants and directing the DOJ to drop pending charges related to the events of January 6.
“Today we received direction about some folks leaving our employment,” Martin noted in his brief email to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. A staunch advocate for the January 6 rioters, Martin was appointed by Trump as the interim top prosecutor for the district, a position that typically requires Senate confirmation.
Attached to Martin’s email was a memo from Bove, a senior figure at Main Justice who previously represented Trump in criminal cases, including the federal case concerning accusations of election subversion and the incitement of the January 6 riot. Bove’s memo outlined a department initiative to terminate probationary employees who had recently been changed to "permanent" status by the Biden administration, a move he suggested was an improper tactic to shield them from termination.
Bove’s memo indicated that the prosecutors targeted for dismissal were hired by the previous U.S. attorney specifically to assist with January 6 case work. He emphasized, “I will not tolerate subversive personnel actions by the previous Administration at any U.S. Attorney’s Office. Too much is at stake. In light of the foregoing, the appropriate course is to terminate these employees.”
He also mentioned that the "resources allocated to their hiring" should be redirected to Martin for "merit-based hiring."
Furthermore, Bove stated that the DOJ is investigating the Biden administration’s hiring of the prosecutors, an inquiry arising from Trump’s executive order aimed at terminating the “weaponization” of government agencies.
In supporting the terminations, Bove referenced Trump’s labeling of the January 6 prosecutions as a “grave national injustice,” a characterization that several federal judges have rejected in recent rulings concerning those cases.
“There has been no ‘grave national injustice,’” U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman asserted in a ruling issued on Thursday. “And just because the proclamation was signed by the president does not transform up into down or down into up as if peering through the looking glass of Alice in Wonderland.”
Alejandro Jose Martinez contributed to this report for TROIB News
