More people who probed Trump lose jobs

US attorney general Pam Bondi on Friday fired several more justice department employees who worked for Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate President Donald Trump’s retention of classified records and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to five people familiar with the matter.

About 20 lawyers, support staff and US Marshals who worked on Smith’s probe were terminated, according to one of the sources. At least two of the people fired were prosecutors who most recently worked in other US Attorneys’ offices in Florida and North Carolina, three of the sources told Reuters.

The justice department since Jan has been dismissing employees who worked on matters involving Trump or his supporters, citing Trump’s executive powers under the US Constitution.

A spokesperson for Smith did not immediately respond to arequest for comment.

Fourteen attorneys who worked on Smith’s team were fired on Jan 27 because of work on cases against Trump, becoming some of the department’s earliest employees who were dismissed. They were told in termination letters that they could not be trusted to carry out Trump’s agenda because of their work on Smith’s probe. Including the people fired on Friday, at least 37 people who worked on Smith’s team have been terminated since Trump took office on Jan 20. In late Jan, the department also fired probationary prosecutors who had worked on Jan 6 cases.

Smith brought two criminal cases against Trump in 2023, accusing him of illegally retaining national security documents and plotting to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Both were dropped before Trump returned to office. REUTERS