CBS News: US fires dozens of DOJ officials who investigated Trump cases

The purge of US Department of Justice officials investigating the activities of US President Donald Trump and his allies continued this week, with two dozen employees involved in the investigation being fired. This was reported by the TV channel CBS News with reference to unnamed interlocutors familiar with the matter.

One of the sources said that the firings concerned more than 20 people who worked on former special counsel Jack Smith's classified documents case against Trump and the investigation into attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

According to him, at least 35 US Department of Justice employees who worked under Smith on the two investigations have been fired, and at least 15 more may lose their jobs in the future.

Sources told CBS News that those fired included paralegals who worked in Smith's office, financial and support staff, and two Justice Department prosecutors in North Carolina and Florida.

CBS News reaches out to Justice Department for comment on dismissals.

One of the fired employees was Patty Hartman, who served as a lead public affairs officer for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and federal prosecutors. Gartman was fired on Monday via a letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi.

"There are no rules anymore. There used to be a boundary, a very clear separation between the White House and the Department of Justice, because one should not interfere with the other. That line has definitely disappeared," she commented.

• In January 2025, Special Prosecutor Smith, who had been leading two criminal investigations into Trump, resigned. After the politician's election victory, he stopped investigating both cases, citing the US Department of Justice's long-standing policy against prosecuting sitting presidents.
• On June 28, AP wrote that the US Department of Justice fired at least three prosecutors who were handling criminal cases related to the January 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol.