Special counsel prosecutors were fired on instructions of White House
Special counsel prosecutors were fired on instructions of White House
Share:
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt says late-night dismissals came after White House’s personnel office issued memo. The justice department fired more than a dozen federal prosecutors involved in the two criminal prosecutions against Donald Trump after receiving instructions to do so from the White House, indicating the late-night purge was a political directive that deputized the justice department.
The termination of the career prosecutors were ostensibly at the direction of the acting attorney general, James McHenry, according to the notices sent to anyone remaining on the trial team of 18 who had worked for former special counsel Jack Smith. But in a remark during her first briefing on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, when asked whether the president had authorized the firings, said the firings were tied to a memo issued by the White House personnel office.
“This was a memo that went out by the presidential personnel office and the president is the leader of this White House, so yes,” Leavitt said in response. The White House’s involvement in the firings undercut the pretense of the justice department acting independently over its own affairs, and deepened fears that the move was a precursor to the department ultimately becoming an extension of the West Wing.
