Justice Dept. Fires More Prosecutors   07/14 06:06

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department has fired additional lawyers and 
support staff who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's prosecutions of 
President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the matter.

   The overall number of terminations was not immediately clear but they cut 
across both the classified documents and election interference prosecutions 
brought by Smith, and included a handful of prosecutors who were detailed to 
the probes as well as Justice Department support staff and other non-lawyer 
personnel who aided them, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity 
to discuss personnel moves that have not been publicly announced.

   The firings are part of a broader wave of terminations that have roiled the 
department for months and that have targeted staff who worked on cases 
involving Trump and his supporters. In January, the Justice Department said 
that it had fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on prosecutions of 
Trump, and last month fired at least three prosecutors involved in U.S. Capitol 
riot criminal cases.

   Days ago, Patty Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in 
Washington, whose prosecutors handled the cases against the Trump supporters 
who stormed the Capitol, said in a social media post that she had been handed a 
letter signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi informing her that she had been 
fired.

   Smith's team in 2023 brought separate indictments accusing Trump of hoarding 
classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as well as conspiring 
to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the run-up to the 
Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

   Neither case reached trial. The Supreme Court significantly narrowed the 
election interference case in a ruling that said former presidents enjoyed 
broad immunity from prosecution for their official acts, and a Trump-appointed 
judge dismissed the classified documents case by holding that Smith's 
appointment as special counsel was illegal.

   Smith ultimately withdrew both cases in November 2024 after Trump's victory, 
citing a Justice Department legal opinion that protects sitting presidents from 
federal prosecution.