Speaker 1 (00:00):
The new Trump Administration has fired federal prosecutors at the Department of Justice who were involved in the criminal cases investigating President Trump and his role in the January 6th Capitol riots. Let's get right to CNN's Chief Legal Affairs correspondent, Paula Reid. This news is breaking right now. Paula, tell us what's going on.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Jake, we have gotten so much news out of the Justice Department in just the past 30 minutes. Trump Justice Department officials doing exactly what President Trump said he would do, firing officials who worked on criminal investigations related to Trump, and also launching investigation into the prosecutions of January 6th. Now, let's start with that first news, and that is, this move to fire, we're told over a dozen officials who worked on criminal investigations related to President Trump. The Acting Attorney General sent out a memo earlier, notifying them that they're being removed from their position saying, "You played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump, the proper functioning of the government critically depends on the trust superior officials placed in their subordinates. 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."
(01:15)
That has happened just in the past 15, 20 minutes. Earlier this afternoon, we learned that the Trump Administration is also launching what is being described as a special project to investigate certain charges that were pursued in the larger January 6th investigations. This isn't related to President Trump, but this is related to January 6th prosecutions where individuals were charged with obstruction of justice. Now, the interim US attorney, Ed Martin, sent out a memo today saying that he wants to review cases where this charge was used. A senior administration official notes the fact that the Supreme Court reviewed this charge being used in the context of January 6th, that it could not be used in this context, so now all of these cases are being reviewed.
(02:00)
The senior administration official called this a huge waste of resources and said, this is going to be a fact finding mission, but of course, there are enormous concerns about the Trump Justice Department going after prosecutors. Of course, this was the largest criminal investigation and prosecution in the Justice Department's history. Trump has just pardoned most of the people who have been convicted. All but 14, our pardon, the 14 received commutations, other people having their charges dismissed. Two incredibly big stories out of the Trump Justice Department in terms of how they're going to handle the criminal investigations that have occurred over the past four years.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Paula, was this a surprise?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
No. It is exactly what President Trump said he would do when he was on the campaign trail. He made it clear that he would fire Jack Smith. Officials that I've spoken with said that they could expect anyone who worked in Jack Smith's office to be pushed out. There is an enormous amount of distrust from the president's team of anyone who worked related to the special counsel's office, so it's not a surprise in terms of what they signaled they would do, but it is a surprise because these are career officials who are supposed to be impartial, they're supposed to be able to do their job, investigate, follow the facts where they may lead, without retaliation.
(03:18)
Now, when it comes to reviewing specifically the January 6th cases, where they charged obstruction of justice, that is a little bit of a surprise, but this opens the door to a larger review of how the January 6th cases were handled. Jake, as you know, the president has come under criticism for offering pardons that were much more broad than he had said he would. He said that he wouldn't likely pardon folks who had committed violent acts on January 6th. He pardoned many people who committed violence on that day, also commuted the sentences of others, so perhaps this is part of an effort to undermine the credibility and legitimacy of some of those cases.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Let's bring in CNN's Chief National Affairs correspondent, Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, you're at the White House. The President campaigned on this, as Paula says?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
He campaigned on it and it's been something that he has been thinking about for a long time, and this should not come as a surprise at all, as Paula was just saying there, but interesting in that letter that Paula was reading, if we break that down a little bit more, they're saying that these career officials cannot be trusted to implement the president's agenda. Very interesting words there. Of course, the Department of Justice has long been viewed separately, it is not the president's lawyers, but that language certainly reflects what the president believes. Jake, thinking back to what President Trump still believes his biggest mistake was in his first term is appointing Jeff Sessions as the Attorney General, of course, he recused himself in the Russia investigation and it went downhill from there.
(04:46)
Since that moment, the president has been intent on remaking the Justice Department in his own vision. He wants someone who is loyal to him. This is also coming, this cleaning of house, if you will, is coming right before Pam Bondi is going to have a vote in the Senate and likely will be confirmed, so it seems to me like trying to get some business taken care of before she becomes the Attorney General, which everyone expects. She's likely to earn even some democratic votes. This is not a surprise, but it is still noted for history that these career officials are being ousted, Jake.