WASHINGTON, DC – Since Donald Trump took office last month, his administration has fired and reassigned career investigators and prosecutors across the Justice Department, according to Just Security, an online forum for the rigorous analysis of security, democracy, foreign policy, and rights.
Just Security calls this a move “to rapidly politicize an institution” which Trump claims he has a right to total control.
According to Just Security, the purging of Department officials illuminates the potential threat that the Trump administration will use the DOJ to maintain power in future election cycles, an attempt to redeem their failed attempts in 2020.
The 2020 investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election outline the independence of the department, writes Just Security, adding, “Much of its work is guided by internal norms, not laws passed by Congress,” noting these norms were put in place to ensure the department’s decisions to investigate are based only on facts and law.
A central norm to the DOJ’s independence is its policy restricting communications between Department officials and the White House regarding criminal prosecutions, investigations, and civil enforcement actions, said Just Security, and this norm was disregarded by high-ranking White House officials including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows who asked DOJ leaders to “open criminal investigations of false election fraud claims.”
Norms also play an important role in ensuring the Justice Department doesn’t unnecessarily interfere during elections, insisted Just Security, citing the Public Integrity Section’s Election Crimes Branch which states, “the Department’s role in election crime cases is limited,” and that it is not the Department’s role to determine the results of an election.
At the encouragement of then-Attorney General William Barr, DOJ officials deviated from this long standing norm in 2020, reports Just Security, noting just days after the 2020 election, Barr issued a memo that “loosened the Department’s long standing restrictions on taking overt investigative steps in election fraud matters until the election is certified.”
The memo was withdrawn early in 2021, but its issuing in the first place and subsequent investigations beyond what was historically permitted by the DOJ raised concerns about how precarious long standing norms can be depending on who is leading the department, said Just Security.
Trump’s 2020 attempt and failure to use the DOJ to hold onto power is said to be attributed to the large number of individuals that took a stand against his actions, writes Just Security, adding Trump is now ousting these individuals responsible for upholding department norms of independence.
