Is Donald Trump being implementing his threats? During the American presidential campaign, the billionaire continued to position himself as a victim of a conspiracy in the face of the multiple judicial affairs which he was and was the subject. Last September, he had thus promised to continue before the courts the officials who had invested in his responsibility in the various files concerning him, in particular concerning his role in the attack of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. “These people who have Triched will be prosecuted with all the rigor of justice, which will include long prison terms, “he said about investigators, while denouncing an alleged” militarization of the federal government “.
True to his own account, Donald Trump therefore pardoned, from his first day of mandate, more than 1,500 rioters who had participated in this historic assault. Almost two weeks after his enthronement, he is now ready to clean the FBI, the American federal police, to get rid of the agents who investigated him. Several dozen senior officials of the agency have learned in recent days that they were subject to a prior assessment of a potential dismissal. According to information from Cnnsix of them were ordered to “retire, resign or be fired by Monday, February 3”.
A dozen prosecutors returned
The American media cite different orders of magnitude as to the extent of this purge. According to NBC News20 agency office managers, including those of Miami and Washington, could be thanked after this series of interviews. The reason? Having contributed, directly or indirectly, to the investigations on the accusations weighing on Donald Trump before his election. The acting director of the FBI, Brian Driscoll, was also commissioned by the Ministry of Justice to establish a “list” of people who “at any time” participated in these investigations. An inventory which will include Brian Driscoll himself, as well as his assistant, and which could affect “potentially hundreds” of agents, underlines the Washington Post.
A dozen prosecutors, who instructed or worked on the January 6, 2021 assault, have already been dismissed for the same reasons. “Given your important role in prosecution against the president, I do not believe that the leaders of the department can trust you to help to implement the president’s program faithfully,” justified, in an email addressed to the undesirable, the Acting attorney general, James Mchenry, appointed by Donald Trump. The special prosecutor Jack Smith, who had instructed two procedures against the Republican for his illegal attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 election and about the retention of classified documents after leaving power, has resigned in January.
The initiative of the Ministry of Justice worries FBI officials, who complained in a statement. “The dismissal of hundreds of agents would seriously weaken the office’s ability to protect the country from criminal and national security threats, and may ultimately train the office and its new management in failure,” said deplored the association of FBI agents. This announcement comes at a time when a new director will take place at the head of the federal police, Kash Patel. This close close to Donald Trump, with sometimes conspiratorial comments, had been chief of staff to the Pentagon during the businessman’s first mandate.
Democrats are indignant
The prospect of a purge within the FBI and justice has caused the ire of many Democratic officials. “By trying to dismiss hundreds of dedicated law enforcement agents and undergoing patriotic officials and respectful of the FBI principles, extreme extremists prove once again that they are the party of Anarchy and disorder, “tackled the elected official of New York and Democrat leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries in a statement.
California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff also deplored the situation. “The president eliminates those who are faithful to the Constitution and installs those who are faithful to him,” he summed up on the social network X.
The predecessor of Donald Trump at the White House, Joe Biden, had decided in December to grant preventive graces to several target personalities of the republican president (Dr. Anthony Fauci, Liz Cheney …), but also to the people who have invested in the January 6, 2021. All participants in the commission of inquiry into this case, as well as the police who came to testify there, thus obtained this protection in the last days of the Democratic presidency, just before the nomination of the billionaire.