Acting Deputy Attorney-General Emil Bove on Friday ordered the firings of the prosecutors days after US President Donald Trump's sweeping clemency action benefiting the more than 1500 people charged in the US Capitol attack, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.
About two dozen employees at the US attorney's office in Washington were terminated, said a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss personnel issues.
Donald Trump has so far escaped prosecution for his role in instigating the US Capitol riot in 2021. (AP PHOTO)
A separate memo by Bove identified more than a half-dozen FBI senior executives who were ordered to retire or be fired by Monday, and also asked for the names, titles and offices of all FBI employees who worked on investigations into the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot — a list the bureau's acting director said could number in the thousands.
Bove, who has defended Trump in his criminal cases before joining the administration, said Justice Department officials would then carry out a "review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary."
"As we've said since the moment we agreed to take on these roles, we are going to follow the law, follow FBI policy, and do what's in the best interest of the workforce and the American people — always," acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll wrote in a letter to the workforce.
It is part of a startling pattern of retribution waged on federal government employees, following the forced ousters of a group of senior FBI executives earlier this week as well as a mass firing by the Justice Department of prosecutors on special counsel Jack Smith's team who investigated Trump.
The FBI Agents Association called the firings "outrageous actions by acting officials are fundamentally at odds with the law enforcement objectives outlined by Trump and his support for FBI agents".
"Dismissing potentially hundreds of agents would severely weaken the Bureau's ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats and will ultimately risk setting up the Bureau and its new leadership for failure," the association said in a statement.
The FBI and Smith's team investigated Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Both of those cases resulted in indictments that were withdrawn after Trump's November presidential win because of longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting the federal prosecution of a sitting president.
The Justice Department also brought charges against more than 1500 Trump supporters who participated in the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, though Trump on his first day in office granted clemency to all of them — including the ones convicted of violent crimes — through pardons, sentence commutations and dismissals of indictment.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment, and an FBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
The firings would be done over the will of the acting FBI director Brian Driscoll, who has indicated that he objects to the idea, the people said.
