(DC Pundit) – President-elect Donald Trump, fresh off his 2024 election victory, is wasting no time in letting his desire to implement sweeping changes at the Department of Justice be known. His plans, which were campaign promises, are now about to become reality as he reshapes the landscape of ongoing investigations and addresses past election controversies.
One of Trump’s probable first moves is a complete overhaul of the team that worked with special counsel Jack Smith. “President Trump is firing the entire team that worked with special counsel Jack Smith to pursue two federal prosecutions against him, including career attorneys typically protected from political retribution,” reports The Washington Post.
This unprecedented move will affect career attorneys usually shielded from political fallout. Trump’s determination to clean house is particularly noteworthy given the size of Smith’s team, which was reportedly twice as large as Robert Mueller’s during the Russia investigation.
But Trump’s actions don’t stop there. He’s also planning to use the Justice Department to investigate the 2020 election. The Washington Post states, “Trump is assembling investigative teams within the Justice Department to hunt for evidence in battleground states that fraud tainted the 2020 election.”
This investigation comes more than four years after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, a process marked by controversy and claims of irregularities from Trump and his supporters.
Election night ballot drop patterns puzzled many election experts, who struggled to explain them without raising questions about potential irregularities.
The secrecy surrounding Jack Smith’s team has been a point of contention. Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the DOJ, seeking to uncover the names of Smith’s lawyers and staffers. The previous administration’s DOJ had resisted these efforts, asking a federal court to keep the names under wraps.
Now, with Trump back in office soon, these names are likely to come to light – right before the team members are shown the door.
Trump’s supporters are celebrating these changes, seeing them as necessary steps to address what they view as past injustices. Critics, however, express concern about potential overreach of executive power and threats to the independence of the Justice Department.
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