DOJ Purge Ramps Up As Bondi Fires Her Ethics Chief
The Trump administration’s ongoing purge of the Department of Justice (DOJ) continued over the weekend with Attorney General Pam Bondi firing the department’s top ethics adviser.
Joseph Tirrell, the former director of the Departmental Ethics Office, was responsible for giving Bondi and other senior political appointees, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, advice on conflicts of interest, financial disclosures and recusals.
Tirrell, who had been with the department for almost two decades, confirmed his dismissal Monday, posting on social media the July 11 letter he received from Bondi. The short letter did not state a reason for his dismissal but, as with several other recent dismissal letters, only cited Article II of the Constitution, which concerns presidential powers.
“Pursuant to Article II of the United States Constitution and the laws of the United States, your employment with the Department of Justice is hereby terminated, and you are removed from federal service effective immediately,” the letter stated.
Trump officials have repeatedly referenced Article II to make broad assertions of presidential authority and to justify dismissing federal workers who traditionally have been shielded by civil service protections.
Despite his dismissal, Tirrell said his career as a federal civil servant was “not finished.”
“I took the oath at 18 as a Midshipman to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States.’ I have taken that oath at least five more times since then,” he said. “That oath did not come with the caveat that I need only support the Constitution when it is easy or convenient.”
“I look forward to finding ways to continue in my personal calling of service to my country,” Tirrell added.
Tirrell was just one of several DOJ employees fired over the weekend.
The DOJ also recently fired around 20 other employees who once worked on former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents after the end of his first term, CBS News reported.
The latest firings targeted Justice Department prosecutors and those in support roles, such as paralegals and staff who oversaw financial records.
The employees were singled out by the “weaponization working group,” a unit created by Bondi to investigate the purported weaponization of the department. So far, Trump officials have used the task force to get retribution against Trump’s political enemies.
The department has fired at least 35 employees who worked for Smith, and it could fire an additional 15, according to CBS.
Dozens of dismissals, mass resignations and early retirements have left several DOJ offices short staffed.
The DOJ section that enforces voting rights laws had only three attorneys left on staff earlier this year.
The Department’s Federal Programs Branch, which defends the government in civil lawsuits, has lost nearly two-thirds of its staff, according to staffing documents seen by Reuters.