Trump DOJ Fires Prosecutors Who Led Criminal Cases Against Him

story

JAN 28

Above: Donald Trump appears in court April 23, 2024 in New York City. Image copyright: Curtis Means/Pool/Getty Images via Getty Images Newsstory last updated JAN 29

The Facts

The US Justice Department (DOJ) has terminated more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's criminal investigations of Pres. Donald Trump while he was out of office.
This comes as acting Attorney General James McHenry concluded that the fired prosecutors' would be unable to "faithfully" implement Trump's agenda since they played a "significant role" in the prior administrations' prosecutions of the president.
The fired officials were involved in two federal cases against Trump: One concerning classified documents retained at Mar-a-Lago, and another regarding his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. Both cases were dropped after Trump's 2024 election victory.

The Spin

Republican narrative

Trump is fulfilling his promise to end the weaponization of law enforcement against political opponents. The next step should be to investigate — and prosecute when appropriate — those who went after Trump in order to send a message that this form of weaponization will no longer be tolerated.

National Review Federalist

Democratic narrative

Contrary to McHenry's claims, it's actually the current DOJ that's weaponizing the legal system to go after opponents. It's typically not the role of career DOJ employees to show unwavering loyalty to the president, but that's precisely what Trump is demanding, all while holding vengeful firings to maintain control.

The New Republic MSNBC