Washington – The Trump administration dismissed a group of prosecutors involved in the criminal affairs of January 6 and demanded the names of the FBI agents involved in these same probes on Friday so that they can possibly be ousted the federal agencies for applying the law and purge of career employees considered insufficiently faithful.
The acting general sub-procurer, Emil Bove, ordered the layoffs of the prosecutors of January 6 after the leniency of President Donald Trump for the benefit of the more than 1,500 people charged in the attack on the American Capitol, according to a Memo obtained by the Associated Press. About two dozen employees of the American prosecutor’s office in Washington were dismissed, said a person familiar with the issue that spoke under the guise of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss personnel issues.
A memo separated from Bove identified more than half a dozen FBI senior executives who were ordered to retire or be dismissed on Monday, and also asked for the names, titles and offices of all The FBI employees who worked on investigations on January 6, 2021, US Capitol Riot – A list that the acting director of the office said could count in the thousands. Bove, who defended Trump in his criminal affairs before joining the administration, said that the Ministry of Justice officials would then carry out a “examination process to determine whether additional staff actions are necessary”.
“As we have said since the moment we have agreed to play these roles, we will follow the law, follow the policy of the FBI and do what is in the best interest of the American workforce and the people – Still “, still director of the acting FBI Brian Driscoll wrote in a letter in the workforce.
Prosecutors dismissed in the DCU lawyer’s office were hired for temporary assignments to support the cases of January 6, but were moved to permanent roles after Trump’s presidential victory in November, according to the memo obtained by the ‘AP. Bove, the acting vice-prosecutor, said that he “would not” tolerate the actions of subversive personnel by the previous administration “.
Any mass dismissal to the FBI would be a major blow to the historic independence of the White House of the first federal agency for the application of the country’s law, but would comply with Trump’s persistent resolution to fold the community of the forces of the forces ‘Order and intelligence to his will. This would be part of a surprising model of reprisals conducted on employees of the federal government, following the forced outs of a group of senior executives from the FBI earlier this week as well as a broad dismissal by the Ministry of Justice Prosecutors of the special lawyer Jack Smith who investigated Atout.
The association of FBI agents said that the efforts reported to oust agents represent the “scandalous actions of acting officials” which were “fundamentally in contradiction with the objectives of application of the law described by President Trump and his support to FBI agents “.
“The potentially rejection of hundreds of agents would seriously weaken the office’s ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats and will ultimately be able to set up the office and its new direction for failure,” said the association in a press release.
It was not immediately clear which recourse could take a licensed agent, but the office has a well -defined process for layoffs and any sudden action which bypass this protocol could probably open the door to a legal dispute.
Pressed during his confirmation hearing Thursday, Trump’s choice for FBI director Kash Patel, said he was not aware of any intention to terminate or punish FBI employees who were involved in the Trump surveys. Patel said that if he had been confirmed, he would follow the FBI internal examination processes to take measures against employees.
Questioned by the Democratic senator Cory Booker if he would make the decisions before his confirmation which do not follow this standard process, Patel said: “I do not know what is going on now, but I am committed to you, the Senator and your colleagues, that I will honor the regular procedure of the FBI. »»
Before being nominated for the position of director, Patel had noticed at least one appearance in the podcast on what he called the anti-Trump “conspirators” in the government and the media which, according to him, were to be anchored.
Trump expressed Fury for the FBI and the Ministry of Justice for surveys that followed his presidency for years, including an investigation into the links between Russia and his 2016 campaign, and continued in the past four years. He dismissed an FBI director, James Comey, in the middle of the investigation in Russia, then replaced his second, Christopher Wray, just a few weeks after his victory in November.
Questioned on Friday at the White House if he had something to do with the examination of the agents, he said: “No, but we have very bad people there. He was armed at a level that no one has ever seen before. They came after many people – like me – but they came after many people. »»
He added: “If they pulled people there, it’s a good thing because they were very bad.”
The FBI and Smith team investigated Trump for its efforts to overthrow the 2020 presidential election and its hoarding of classified documents in its Mar-A-Lago field in Florida. These two cases led to indictment acts which were withdrawn after the presidential victory of Trump in November due to the long -standing policy of the Ministry of Justice prohibiting the federal pursuit of an in -office.
The Ministry of Justice also charged more than 1,500 Trump supporters as part of the Capitol riot, although Trump on his first day of mandate granted mercy to all – including those found guilty of crimes Violent – For forgiveness, sentence switches and indictments.
This week, the Ministry of Justice has dismissed more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on Smith Investigations, and a group of FBI senior executives – including several assistant directors and agents in charge of big city offices – were invited to resign or retire or be dismissed on Monday.
—The associated press writers Zeke Miller, Michael Kunzelman, Byron Tau and Jim Mustian contributed to this report.
