More than 20 Justice Department employees who participated in investigations of President Trump and his allies were fired over the last week. Scott MacFarlane discusses what we know about the purge.

Washington

The U.S. Department of Justice has dismissed more than 20 employees who were involved in investigations related to former President Trump and his associates. Those affected include prosecutors who worked on high-profile cases, such as the classified records investigation, the Mar-a-Lago case, the 2020 election interference case, and the January 6th prosecution.

The firings have led to concerns about staffing shortages and the impact on ongoing cases, as prosecutors were removed from active investigations. Administrative staff, including those responsible for communications about major cases, were also among those dismissed. The Department of Justice has not commented on the reasons for the firings.

Justice Department officials who investigated Trump, allies fired

We turn now to the purge of officials at the Department of Justice. More than 20 employees who worked on past investigations related to President Trump and his allies were fired this past week. Justice Correspondent Scott McFarlane joins me now. Scott, tell me, what do we know about these latest firings and who was affected by them? Those affected include actual prosecutors, the ones who go into the courtroom and try to secure justice and try to secure convictions. The connection between those fired, well, that's clear as day, John. They took part in one of those three cases you see there, the classified records investigation, the Mar-a-Lago case from 2022 involving President Trump, the 2020 election interference case involving President Trump, or the January 6th prosecution, which, oh, by the way, is the largest prosecution in American history. Those being fired had some fingerprints on those cases, which, John, is why so many of them are telling CBS News they believe this is a wave of retribution being enacted by the Trump administration, the Department of Justice not commenting on the firings. Scott, it's hard to keep track of the bouncing ball here, but give us a sense of how these firings and departures have affected the kind of overall scope of the business and work they do at the Department of Justice. This is gonna impact U.S. communities. First of all, you're pulling prosecutors away when you fire them from active cases, from a fraud case in Florida to a felony violent crime in the District of Columbia. What's more, you're just leaving them short-staffed. You have dozens of vacancies now inside the U.S. Department of Justice at a time when crime isn't just gonna stop. So there's concern about the workload, the tonnage, and the effect, but it's not just prosecutors, John. Our CBS News review found administrators fired, too, including the woman in Washington, D.C., who sent out the press releases and maintained the website about January 6th cases. Scott McFarlane on the Justice feed for us in Washington. Thank you, Scott.

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