How the Trump administration erased centuries of Justice Department experience

January 16, 2026 | Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer | Associated Press

Firings of notable DOJ attorneys have marked Attorney General Pam Bondi’s first year in office. “The terminations and a larger voluntary exodus of lawyers have erased centuries of combined experience and left the department with fewer career employees to act as a bulwark for the rule of law at a time when Trump, a Republican, is testing the limits of executive power by demanding prosecutions of his political enemies,” The Associated Press writes. The outlet interviewed more than a half-dozen former employees, who offered a “snapshot of the toll throughout the department.”