Donald Trump's Justice Department fired employees involved in special counsel Jack Smith's investigation of the president, which critics have said weaponized the agency — a claim made for years by the right against the Biden administration.
NBC News's Ken Dilanian reported that career officials fired by Trump's team are employees with legal protections for their positions. However, he confessed he's unsure if legal recourse matters.
"The right-wing likes to accuse the DOJ of being weaponized under Merrick Garland and Joe Biden. That was a farce," said former former Palm Beach County state attorney Dave Aaronberg. "This is the weaponization of the Department of Justice. This is. The firing of career prosecutors who have protection under the law, because they didn't like the case."
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He said this shows that the Justice Department is already at work preparing "to be Trump's own defense firm" when "it's supposed to be loyal to the evidence and the rule of law. Not to one man."
A spokesman said the DOJ is committed to advancing the new administration’s goals, which include “upholding the rule of law, ensuring the security of the American people, restoring the public’s trust in the justice system, and ending weaponization of government.”
Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman called it "the Orwellian quote of the week."
"It's no exaggeration to say that this is the darkest day in the history of the DOJ," he said when the news was first announced. "The savage moves are a clusterbomb detonated against completely innocent and, in fact, estimable career prosecutors, who are the heart and soul of the Dept. There will be legal remedies, but that's beside the point."
He said he believes the purpose "is to cow future prosecutors from doing their jobs, particularly insofar as it has anything to do with oversight of Trump and his administration."
"The every 'accusation is a confession' stuff is overdone, but it is an unmistakable theme in MAGA rhetoric: they engage in mass politicization or weaponization of government by arguing it is to correct politicization and weaponization. Muddies the waters and justifies extreme actions," said policy Professor Don Moynihan at the Ford School at the University of Michigan.
Speaking on The Bulwark, Sam Stein noted, "One might argue, the firing of them is the weaponization of government. But, you know, details."
See the MSNBC video below or at the link here.
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