WASHINGTON (AP) — The recent dismissal of career Justice Department lawyers by the White House signals President Donald Trump’s increasing influence over an agency historically known for its political independence.
On Friday, an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles was fired without explanation via a brief email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office. The termination occurred shortly after a right-wing activist publicly criticized him on social media, according to a person familiar with the matter. This source spoke anonymously due to concerns about potential retaliation.
This follows last week’s firing of a longtime career prosecutor who had been serving as acting U.S. attorney in Memphis, Tennessee.
These dismissals mark an escalation of unprecedented actions that have thrown the Justice Department into turmoil. They have also sparked alarm over the weakening of civil service protections for career prosecutors and the erosion of the agency’s independence from political influence. The fact that one dismissal came just an hour after a conservative figure called for it has raised further concerns about external pressures shaping government personnel decisions.
“The integrity of our legal system and the independence of the DOJ require that laws be enforced impartially, which cannot happen when the White House fires career prosecutors to advance a political agenda,” said Stacey Young, a former Justice Department lawyer and founder of Justice Connection, a network supporting department employees.
The Trump administration has installed loyalists to lead the Justice Department, resulting in the removal of officials involved in past prosecutions against the president and the demotion of numerous career supervisors. However, these latest firings were not carried out by the department’s leadership but directly by the White House.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on Monday. Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the actions, stating that the White House, in coordination with the Justice Department, had dismissed more than 50 U.S. attorneys and deputies in recent weeks.
“The American people deserve a judicial branch full of honest arbiters of the law who want to protect democracy, not subvert it,” Leavitt said.
While political appointees within the Justice Department typically change with a new administration, career prosecutors usually remain in their positions across administrations, protected by civil service rules designed to prevent politically motivated dismissals. However, the scope of terminations this year far exceeds the typical turnover within the department.
One of the dismissed attorneys, Adam Schleifer, had been part of the Corporate & Securities Fraud Strike Force in the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s Office. He received an email Friday morning stating that he was being terminated “on behalf of President Donald J. Trump,” according to the source. The email came exactly one hour after right-wing activist Laura Loomer called for his firing on social media, highlighting Schleifer’s past criticisms of Trump when he ran in a Democratic primary for a congressional seat in New York.
Loomer labeled Schleifer a “Trump hater” and a “Biden administration holdover.” However, Schleifer had rejoined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in California at the end of Trump’s first term after losing the primary election. At the time of his firing, he was prosecuting a fraud case against Andrew Wiederhorn, the former CEO of Fat Brands Inc., who had donated to pro-Trump groups during the presidential campaign.
The termination notice came from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, which typically handles political appointments and has no formal role in hiring or firing career civil servants.
Another dismissed attorney, Reagan Fondren, a longtime career prosecutor in Tennessee, was fired Thursday via a one-line email from the White House, she told The Daily Memphian. Fondren had been acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee since September after the Biden-appointed U.S. attorney stepped down. While her acting role was always expected to be temporary, it is customary for such officials to return to their previous positions once a new appointee takes office. Instead, Fondren was completely removed from the Justice Department.
Earlier this year, shortly after the Trump administration assumed office in January, the Justice Department dismissed more than a dozen employees involved in criminal cases against Trump. These cases were subsequently dropped following his electoral victory. Days later, then-acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the dismissal of prosecutors who had worked on cases against over 1,500 individuals charged in connection with the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
The White House’s actions have also drawn legal scrutiny. Leavitt is one of three administration officials facing a lawsuit from The Associated Press, which alleges First- and Fifth-Amendment violations. The AP claims the administration is retaliating against the news organization for its editorial decisions. The White House, however, argues that the AP is not complying with an executive order requiring the Gulf of Mexico to be referred to as the “Gulf of America.”
The U.S. Justice Department has yet to publicly comment on the recent terminations.
