Investigators removed

Deputy attorney general said “over 200” people who worked on the Trump prosecutions are gone

At the CPAC conference in March 2026, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who had been Trump’s own criminal defense lawyer, said of the federal cases against Trump: “There is not a single man or woman at the Department of Justice who had anything to do with those prosecutions.” He put the number at “over 200” who “either left before we came in because they knew it was coming, or were fired, or took early retirement.” Justice Connection, a group of department alumni, separately counts at least 88 FBI agents and analysts fired or forced out under Director Kash Patel as of mid-September 2026, more than 20 of them for work on the election or classified-documents cases. Blanche’s figure mixes firings with departures and retirements, and the alumni group’s count is its own tally with no published method.

Their response: Blanche, at CPAC: “They are no longer employed by this department.” According to Justice Connection’s account of a September 2026 Senate hearing, Patel testified that agents were fired because they “weaponized law enforcement”, not because of their case assignments.

Sources: CNN Inside Politics transcript (Mar. 27, 2026) · Justice Connection statement (Sept. 2026) · AP via PBS News (Apr. 19, 2026)

Virginia prosecutors who found too little evidence against Comey and Letitia James were forced out or fired

Erik Siebert, Trump’s own choice as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, resigned on Sept. 19, 2025, hours after Trump said “I want him out”; ABC News reported his office had found no clear evidence that New York Attorney General Letitia James committed mortgage fraud. Trump replaced him with his former personal lawyer Lindsey Halligan, who obtained indictments of James and former FBI director James Comey without career prosecutors. Three senior career prosecutors in the office were then fired: national security chief Michael Ben’Ary (Oct. 1) and Norfolk criminal chief Elizabeth Yusi and her deputy Kristin Bird (Oct. 17). The office’s No. 2, Robert McBride, a former federal prosecutor hired from private practice in the fall of 2025, was fired on Jan. 12, 2026; a source told CBS News he had refused to help lead the Comey prosecution. A judge threw out both indictments in November 2025 after finding Halligan was unlawfully appointed.

Their response: Trump said he wanted Siebert out because Virginia’s two Democratic senators had backed him: “When I saw that he got approved by those two men, I said, pull it, because he can’t be any good.” He later posted: “I fired him!” Ben’Ary wrote in a farewell note: “It appears that my termination was based on little more than a single social media post containing false information.”

Sources: ABC News (Sept. 19, 2025) · The Guardian (Sept. 20, 2025) · The Guardian (Oct. 4, 2025) · ABC News (Oct. 18, 2025) · CBS News (Jan. 12, 2026)

Fired FBI leaders say Patel told them he had to remove agents who worked on Trump cases to keep his own job

Brian Driscoll, who was acting FBI director in early 2025 and had resisted a demand for the names of agents on Jan. 6 cases, was fired in August 2025 along with Washington field office chief Steven Jensen and Las Vegas office chief Spencer Evans. Their Sept. 10, 2025 lawsuit quotes Director Kash Patel as saying he had to fire the people his superiors named because “the FBI tried to put the President in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it”, and that he knew the firings were “likely illegal”. It also says Deputy Director Dan Bongino ordered Jensen to fire agent Walter Giardina, who had worked on the Mueller and Jack Smith investigations. Those quotations are allegations in a complaint; the firings themselves are not disputed, and the case was still pending in 2026.

Their response: “The FBI declined to comment on the suit.” At his confirmation hearing Patel had told senators under oath that “all FBI employees will be protected against political retribution.” The stated cause for Evans was a “lack of reasonableness and overzealousness” in applying COVID-19 rules, according to the suit.

Sources: NBC News (Sept. 10, 2025) · AP via PBS News (Sept. 10, 2025) · AP via PBS News (Mar. 31, 2026)

FBI folded its Washington public-corruption squad, then fired agents who had worked the Trump election case

In May 2025 the FBI’s Washington Field Office shut down CR-15, the federal public-corruption squad that had run “Arctic Frost”, the investigation that became special counsel Jack Smith’s election case against Trump. In October and November 2025 the bureau fired agents tied to that work, in one case firing, reinstating and re-firing agents within two days. Three of them, Michelle Ball, Jamie Garman and Blaire Toleman, filed a class action on March 31, 2026 seeking to represent at least 50 agents fired since Jan. 20, 2025; the FBI Agents Association and four other outside groups filed briefs backing them in August 2026, and the case is pending.

Their response: Patel, on Fox News: “You’re darn right I fired those agents; you’re darn right I blew up CR-15, the public corruption squad, that led the weaponization at the Washington Field Office.” An FBI official said in May 2025 that the change was part of a broader reorganization and that public corruption cases would still be pursued. Sen. Chuck Grassley: “It’s good news it’s been shut down after I exposed the unit for its misconduct.”

Sources: NBC News (May 15, 2025) · NBC News (Oct. 8, 2025) · NBC News (Nov. 4, 2025) · AP via PBS News (Mar. 31, 2026) · AP via PBS News (Aug. 4, 2026)

FBI fired about 10 employees who worked the Mar-a-Lago documents case; Patel had been a witness in it

In late February 2026 the FBI fired about 10 employees who had taken part in the investigation of Trump’s retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, the Associated Press reported, citing multiple people familiar with the matter. Director Kash Patel had himself been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury in that investigation in 2022 and appeared under a grant of immunity, AP noted. The firings were disclosed the same day Patel said the Biden-era FBI had subpoenaed his own phone records.

Their response: The FBI Agents Association: “These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce.” Patel and then-Attorney General Bondi have said fired agents and prosecutors who worked on Smith’s team were responsible for weaponizing federal law enforcement, a claim the fired agents call defamatory and baseless, AP reported.

Sources: AP via PBS News (Feb. 26, 2026) · AP via PBS News (Mar. 31, 2026)

Maurene Comey, prosecutor in the Epstein and Maxwell cases, fired with no reason given; her suit is pending

The Justice Department fired Maurene Comey, a Manhattan federal prosecutor who worked on the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases and led the Sean Combs prosecution, on July 16, 2025. She told colleagues the memo “did not give a reason for my termination.” She sued on Sept. 15, 2025, alleging she was fired “solely or substantially because her father is former FBI Director James B. Comey, or because of her perceived political affiliation and beliefs, or both”; nothing on the record ties the firing to her Epstein work. On Aug. 25, 2026, Judge Jesse Furman refused to pause discovery, writing that “it appears likely that at least some of Plaintiff’s claims will survive”; he set argument for Sept. 18, 2026, and no ruling had been reported as of early October 2026.

Their response: “The Justice Department declined CNBC’s request for comment on the suit.” Activist Laura Loomer said the firing followed “my pressure campaign on [Attorney General Pam Bondi] to fire Comey’s daughter and Comey’s son in law from the DOJ.”

Sources: Order denying stay of discovery, Comey v. DOJ, S.D.N.Y. (Aug. 25, 2026) · Order setting oral argument, Comey v. DOJ (Aug. 18, 2026) · CBS News (July 16, 2025) · CNBC (Sept. 15, 2025)

Prosecutor who withdrew from the dropped Adani bribery case was fired a month after the dismissal

A Justice Department Fraud Section prosecutor assigned to the bribery and fraud case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani was fired, NBC News reported on Sept. 9, 2026, citing two people familiar with the firing. The prosecutor was one of two who asked to withdraw two days after a senior political appointee, Trent McCotter, moved in May 2026 to dismiss the case. Adani had pledged to invest billions in the United States, and Democrats asked whether that bought the dismissal; Judge Nicholas Garaufis found the pledge did not influence the decision but called the department’s conduct “highly unusual” and its irregularities “concerning”, and in early September he let some counts against some of Adani’s co-defendants stand. No reason was given for the firing, so any link to the withdrawal is an inference.

Their response: McCotter called the case “indefensible” and said he “would have sought dismissal of the securities charges regardless of any mentions of investments.” Adani said in a sworn statement he was “not aware of any agreement involving any person or entity exchanging anything for the dismissal of the indictment.” The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on the firing.

Sources: NBC News (Sept. 9, 2026) · NBC News (Aug. 11, 2026)

Agriculture watchdog escorted from her office; it had an open investigation of Musk’s Neuralink

Phyllis Fong, the Agriculture Department’s inspector general for 22 years, was escorted from her office by security agents on Jan. 27, 2025 after refusing to accept her firing three days earlier, Reuters reported. Her office had opened an investigation of Elon Musk’s brain-implant company Neuralink in 2022 that was still under way, sources told Reuters; Musk had spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect Trump. Fong was one of 17 inspectors general fired the same night, and nothing shows the Neuralink inquiry was the reason. In September 2025 Judge Ana Reyes ruled the firings broke the law but declined to reinstate the eight who sued, including Fong.

Their response: The White House: “these rogue, partisan bureaucrats ... have been relieved of their duties in order to make room for qualified individuals who will uphold the rule of law and protect Democracy.” Judge Reyes: “President Trump violated the IGA. That much is obvious,” but the “president does have the power to remove an IG.”

Sources: The Guardian, carrying Reuters (Jan. 29, 2025) · Federal News Network (Sept. 24, 2025)

USAID inspector general fired a day after reporting that the aid freeze left $8.2 billion hard to track

$8.2B in unspent aid the report said was harder to safeguard

Paul Martin, inspector general of the U.S. Agency for International Development, was fired on Feb. 11, 2025 by an email from the White House personnel office saying his position was “terminated, effective immediately.” A day earlier his office had reported that staff cuts and the foreign-aid freeze had “degraded USAID’s ability to distribute and safeguard taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance”, including $8.2 billion in unspent aid. No reason was given, although the law requires 30 days’ notice to Congress with case-specific reasons, and his staff were told the same day they could no longer use their office space.

Their response: A spokesperson for the USAID inspector general’s office confirmed the termination “and said no reason was given.” CNN said it had asked the White House for comment; none is recorded in the story.

Sources: CNN (Feb. 11, 2025) · Federal News Network (Sept. 24, 2025)

Housing regulator’s acting watchdog was removed in 2025; in 2026 the agency cut the watchdog’s budget 64%

Watchdog budget cut from $55M to $20M

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte made criminal referrals against Letitia James, Fed governor Lisa Cook and Sen. Adam Schiff. In November 2025 the agency’s acting inspector general, Joe Allen, was removed; Reuters reported it followed his sharing information with the prosecutors handling the James case and his plan to tell Congress the agency was not cooperating with his investigators. On Sept. 30, 2026 the agency cut the inspector general’s budget from the $55 million in the president’s own request to $20 million. The official now running the office told Congress that would mean losing 70% to 80% of staff and “the discontinuance of essentially all criminal investigations”.

Their response: FHFA said a review found the office was “an extraordinary budgetary outlier among its peer OIGs” and that it “fully supports the independence and mission of the Office of Inspector General.” Democratic leaders called for Pulte to resign. Neither the agency nor the White House answered questions in 2025 about the acting inspector general’s removal.

Sources: FHFA Office of Inspector General letter to Congress (Sept. 30, 2026) · FHFA news release (Sept. 30, 2026) · Government Executive (Oct. 2, 2026) · Government Executive (Nov. 7, 2025)

Acting inspectors general replaced after reporting stonewalling; another watchdog fired without notice

On May 23, 2025 the acting Education Department inspector general, Rene Rocque, told Congress that the department was giving her investigators “unreasonable denials and repeated delays” in a review of its staff cuts. On June 4 Trump notified Congress he was replacing her. Government Executive counted at least five acting inspectors general replaced by November 2025 (Education, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Justice and the housing finance agency), noting the circumstances vary. On Oct. 15, 2025 Trump also fired the Senate-confirmed Export-Import Bank inspector general, Parisa Salehi, without the notice to Congress the law requires, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Their response: Trump’s notices to Congress said “the changed priorities of my administration (as compared to the previous one) will be better reflected with new leadership in this office.” On the Export-Import firing, White House spokesman Kush Desai: “The administration remains committed to finding the best, most qualified individuals who are aligned with the president’s vision to make America great again.”

Sources: Government Executive (July 29, 2025) · Government Executive (Oct. 21, 2025) · Government Executive (Nov. 7, 2025)

White House cut off the inspectors general council; at least 15 watchdog websites went dark

On Sept. 26, 2025 the Office of Management and Budget told the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency it would not release its funding for the new fiscal year. On Oct. 1 the council’s site, Oversight.gov and at least 15 inspector general websites, with their reports and whistleblower hotlines, were replaced by a line saying they were unavailable “due to a lack of apportionment of funds”. After objections from Republican senators Susan Collins and Chuck Grassley, the budget office restored nearly $4.3 million in mid-November 2025, about a month and a half later. In July 2026 a House committee scheduled a vote on a Republican bill to abolish the council and hand several of its functions to the budget office.

Their response: An OMB spokesperson: “Inspectors general are meant to be impartial watchdogs identifying waste and corruption on behalf of the American people. Unfortunately, they have become corrupt, partisan, and in some cases, have lied to the public.” A Republican committee aide said of the 2026 bill that the council’s Integrity Committee had shown “the inspectors general cannot be trusted to investigate wrongdoing in their ranks”, citing a GAO report.

Sources: Government Executive (Oct. 1, 2025) · Government Executive (Nov. 18, 2025) · Government Executive (July 22, 2026)

Watchdog posts filled with partisans: a former GOP congressman, a secretary’s adviser, a director’s aide

Anthony D’Esposito, a former Republican congressman sworn in as Labor Department inspector general on Jan. 5, 2026, said in a radio interview four days later that “there’s no question that we’re exploring” another run for Congress and “we’re doing the polling”; a Hatch Act complaint followed. Cheryl Mason, the Veterans Affairs inspector general and a former senior adviser to the VA secretary, now leads the inspectors general council, and Chris Fox, the intelligence community’s inspector general, had been an aide in Director Tulsi Gabbard’s office. The Partnership for Public Service found political appointees placed inside the Housing and Labor inspector general offices, the first in any such office since at least 2009. Government Executive noted that Trump’s most recent nominees, including the new Justice Department inspector general, are career watchdog staff.

Their response: D’Esposito told a House hearing: “I am here on this panel today answering your questions as the inspector general,” adding that he is “well aware of the Hatch Act.” Education nominee Mark Priebe has said of the mass firing: “If a new administration comes in and says we want all of our own IGs, that’s fine.” Former Interior inspector general Mark Greenblatt, a critic of earlier picks, called the Justice nominee “a home run.”

Sources: Government Executive (Mar. 18, 2026) · Government Executive (July 22, 2026) · Government Executive (June 1, 2026) · Government Executive (May 19, 2026) · Government Executive (Sept. 30, 2026)

Count: Cabinet watchdog offices are 19% smaller and issue 25% fewer investigative reports

The Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan nonprofit, reported in July 2026 that inspector general offices at Cabinet departments issued 25% fewer investigative reports and 15% fewer audit reports on average in the first half of fiscal 2026 than their 2020 to 2024 average. The average office had more than 19% fewer staff than in December 2024, and three had lost at least a quarter. The Housing and Urban Development office issued 59% fewer investigative reports and the Education office 66% fewer audits.

Their response: The White House budget office has said inspectors general “have become corrupt, partisan and in some cases, have lied to the public.” The Partnership wrote: “Every report that did not happen represents oversight that did not occur.”

Sources: Partnership for Public Service report (July 29, 2026) · Government Executive (July 29, 2026)

Bondi fired the Justice Department’s ethics chief; its misconduct office lost nearly half its staff

Joseph Tirrell, the career lawyer who ran the Justice Department’s ethics office and advised the attorney general and her deputy directly, was fired on July 11, 2025 by a letter from Pam Bondi that gave no reason. He had earlier signed off on $140,000 in free legal services for special counsel Jack Smith, Politico reported, though it is unclear whether that was the cause. Justice Connection, summarizing an August 2026 Reuters report, said nearly half the staff of the Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates lawyer misconduct, had left and the inspector general’s office had shrunk by 17%, while the misconduct office received 1,666 complaints in fiscal 2025, the most since 2005, and opened the fewest investigations in those 20 years.

Their response: “The Justice Department and Tirrell have not responded to CNN’s requests for comment.” Tirrell wrote: “Until Friday evening, I was the senior ethics attorney at the Department of Justice responsible for advising the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General directly on federal employee ethics.”

Sources: CNN (July 14, 2025) · The Guardian (July 14, 2025) · Justice Connection tracker update (Sept. 4, 2026) · Justice Connection list of pending termination suits

Hatch Act complaints against senior Trump officials sit unresolved while rank-and-file staff are charged

The Office of Special Counsel, which enforces the ban on politicking by federal officials, has been run since spring 2025 by Charles Baldis, a former Republican Senate staffer confirmed in August 2026, after Trump removed Hampton Dellinger; Trump’s first nominee, Paul Ingrassia, withdrew in October 2025 after reports of racist texts. As of September 2026 the office had issued no findings on complaints against senior appointees; the watchdog group CREW said investigations of six senior officials had been open, five of them for more than 10 months. In the same period the office filed disciplinary cases against two ordinary federal employees, and it declined to discipline anyone over more than 1,000 complaints about agency messages blaming Democrats for the 2025 shutdown.

Their response: An Office of Special Counsel spokesperson said the agency “doesn’t comment on open cases.” The office says it resolved hundreds more Hatch Act complaints in fiscal 2025 than in 2024, and in 2025 it found a FEMA supervisor broke the law by telling workers to skip homes with Trump signs. A Justice Department spokesperson called a complaint against Attorney General Blanche “baseless.”

Sources: Government Executive (Sept. 14, 2026) · Government Executive (Aug. 21, 2026) · Government Executive (Sept. 25, 2026) · Government Executive (Oct. 22, 2025)

On her first day, Bondi disbanded the FBI’s foreign-influence task force and two kleptocracy units

In memos issued Feb. 5, 2025, her first day as attorney general, Pam Bondi ordered that “the Foreign Influence Task Force shall be disbanded” and limited criminal charges under the Foreign Agents Registration Act to “conduct similar to more traditional espionage by foreign government actors.” A separate directive disbanded Task Force KleptoCapture and the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, two efforts to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs. About 50 FBI agents and staff on the foreign-influence squads were left looking for other assignments, an FBI official told NBC News. Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and national security adviser Michael Flynn had both been caught up in foreign-lobbying cases; both were later pardoned by Trump.

Their response: The memo gave the reason: “To free resources to address more pressing priorities, and end risks of further weaponization and abuses of prosecutorial discretion.” A Justice Department spokesperson said the order “speaks for itself.” The department said staff would be reassigned to fight drug cartels and that forfeiture cases already under way would continue.

Sources: NBC News (Feb. 6, 2025) · AP via PBS News (Feb. 7, 2025)

Nearly a quarter of FBI agents were moved to immigration enforcement, Senate data showed

FBI personnel data obtained by Sen. Mark Warner and published in October 2025 showed 23% of the bureau’s roughly 13,000 agents working on immigration enforcement, and 45% of agents in the 25 largest field offices. NBC News had reported in May 2025 that field offices were ordered to shift agents, with a goal of 2,000 working immigration full time, at the same time as a Justice Department memo deprioritized some white-collar and corporate cases. Former agents said the shift pulled people from public-corruption, counterintelligence and fraud work, which state and local agencies cannot pick up.

Their response: FBI spokesman Ben Williamson, in May 2025: “The FBI has been committed to supporting our partners in immigration enforcement and will remain so.” Criminal Division chief Matthew Galeotti wrote: “Not all corporate misconduct warrants federal criminal prosecution.” The FBI and Justice Department did not respond to the Guardian’s questions in October.

Sources: The Guardian (Oct. 9, 2025) · NBC News (May 14, 2025)

Washington’s top criminal prosecutor quit rather than open a grand jury probe she said lacked evidence

Denise Cheung, head of criminal prosecutions in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, resigned on Feb. 18, 2025 after Trump appointees demanded she open a grand jury investigation into Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency climate grants and freeze the funds, the Guardian reported, citing CNN and her resignation letter. The directive came from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove through interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin, and rested largely on an undercover video. She wrote that she and other prosecutors had found insufficient evidence for grand jury subpoenas.

Their response: Cheung, in her letter to Martin: “When I explained that the quantum of evidence did not support that action, you stated that you believed that there was sufficient evidence.”

Sources: The Guardian (Feb. 18, 2025)

Whistleblower complaint about Gabbard reached Congress eight months late; her former aide is now the watchdog

A whistleblower complaint filed with the intelligence community’s inspector general alleged that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard restricted the sharing of an intercepted-call intelligence report for political purposes. The Wall Street Journal reported in February 2026 that it had stalled in Gabbard’s office for about eight months before a heavily redacted version went to congressional leaders. The inspector general who then briefed lawmakers, Chris Fox, had been an aide in Gabbard’s office before his confirmation. The acting inspector general at the time of filing had told the whistleblower in June 2025 that she “could not determine if the allegations appear credible.”

Their response: A Gabbard spokesperson: “Every single action taken by DNI Gabbard was fully within her legal and statutory authority, and these politically motivated attempts to manipulate highly classified information undermine the essential national security work being done by great Americans in the Intelligence Community every day.”

Sources: Government Executive / Nextgov (Feb. 9, 2026)