The acting attorney general on Monday fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on the two criminal investigations into Donald J. Trump for the special counsel Jack Smith, saying they could not be trusted to “faithfully implement” the president’s agenda, a Justice Department spokesman said.
Justice Department veterans called the firings an egregious violation of well-established laws meant to preserve the integrity and professionalism of government agencies.
What made it all the more jarring, current and former officials said, was that such a momentous and aggressive step had been initiated by an obscure acting attorney general, James McHenry, operating on behalf of a president with a stated desire for vengeance, and few advisers with the stature or inclination to restrain him.
The department did not name the fired prosecutors. But a person who worked with some members of Mr. Smith’s team said that many of the dismissals appeared to target career lawyers and most likely violated civil service protections for nonpolitical employees….
In the letters to the prosecutors, which were transmitted electronically on Monday afternoon, Mr. McHenry claimed that Mr. Trump had constitutional authority over personnel matters under Article II of the Constitution to fire career staff members, rather than arguing they were terminated for cause based on poor performance or improper conduct.
“Given your significant role in prosecuting the president, I do not believe that the leadership of the department can trust you to assist in implementing the president’s agenda faithfully,” the firing memo said.
Greg Brower, who was a U.S. attorney during the George W. Bush administration, said the move was unheard-of.
“This is unprecedented, given the career status of these people, which makes them not subject to dismissal by the president, and the apparent lack of any cause that the department has been able to articulate,” Mr. Brower said. “And so I suspect we will see them exercise their rights to appeal” to the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent agency that reviews the claims of dismissed civil service workers and can reinstate them.
The rationale expressed in the firing memo contradicts decades of civil service law, which says employees can be fired only for misconduct or poor performance, not for doing their jobs, said Kristin Alden, a lawyer who specializes in federal employment issues.