Washington:The US Justice Department fired several officials on Monday who were involved in the criminal prosecutions of President Donald Trump.
"Acting attorney general James McHenry made this decision because he did not believe these officials could be trusted to faithfully implement the president's agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting the president," a Justice Department official said.
The official did not specify how many people had their employment terminated. Still, US media outlets said it was more than a dozen and several were career prosecutors with the Justice Department. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought two federal cases against Trump, resigned earlier this month.
Smith charged Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House. Neither case went to trial, and by a long-standing Justice Department policy of not prosecuting sitting presidents, Smith dropped them both after the Republican won November's presidential election.
The firing of the Justice Department officials involved in prosecuting Trump was not unexpected. Trump had vowed before the election to fire Smith "on day one" and accused the Justice Department under Democratic president Joe Biden of conducting a "political witch hunt" against him.
In his inauguration speech, Trump said he would end the "vicious, violent, and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government." In his final report, Smith said Trump would have been convicted for his "criminal efforts" to retain power after the 2020 election if the case had not been dropped.
Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding -- the session of Congress held to certify Biden's win that was violently attacked on January 6, 2021, by a mob of Trump supporters.
Smith also prepared a report into Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents but it is being withheld because charges are pending against two of his former co-defendants. Trump faces separate racketeering charges in Georgia over his efforts to subvert the election results in the southern state. Still, the case will likely be frozen while he is in office.
Trump was convicted in New York in May of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star. The judge who presided over the case gave him an "unconditional discharge" which carries no jail time, fine or probation.
