(NewsNation) — Attorney General Merrick Garland is among top Justice Department officials asking staffers to stay with the agency through Donald Trump’s second administration, reports say.
Sources familiar with the higher-up’s conversations tell The Washington Post that DOJ leaders are stressing the importance of institutional knowledge ahead of an expected federal shakeup.
Though the near dozen sources interviewed by the outlet — including current and former DOJ employees — say there is not yet a mass exodus in the works, concern is evident.
The new Department of Government Efficiency, to be headed by billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk and former GOP rival Vivek Ramaswamy, have promised to redesign the federal government — including the nation’s largest law enforcement agency.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told NewsNation in mid-November that both the FBI and DOJ are “ripe for reform” under Trump, a sentiment echoed by many Republicans craving change.
“The clear intent is to scare career staffers out, but, you know, career prosecutors are tough, and agents are tough,” a senior Justice Department official told The Washington Post. “So, good luck with that.”
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Some of Trump’s picks also stirred up internal concerns, including former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R. Fla., who was tapped to serve as U.S. attorney general. Sources say his lack of legal experience shocked people throughout the department.
Gaetz, embroiled by scandal surrounding an unreleased House ethics report, has since taken his name out of the running.
Another concerning choice was Trump’s nomination of Kash Patel for FBI director. Patel, one of the president-elect’s most trusted allies, has previously vowed to punish the president-elect’s enemies and other so-called “deep state” figures.
FBI director is not a position that is automatically open. Instead, directors are appointed to 10-year terms. Current FBI Director Chris Wray’s term does not end until 2027, meaning that Trump will either have to fire Wray or ask for his resignation.
In his first administration, Trump fired then-Director James Comey and replaced him with Wray.
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In a mid-November speech to staffers at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, AG Garland told staffers that, while his time at the department was coming to a close, theirs must carry on.
“You will continue in the department’s mission, what has always been its mission: to uphold the rule of law, to keep our country safe and to protect civil rights. You — the career lawyers of this district, the career lawyers of all the U.S. attorney’s offices, the career lawyers of the Justice Department as a whole — you are the institutional backbone of this department,” Garland said, per Post reporting.
On Tuesday, two Democratic-appointed federal judges reversed their decisions to retire, seemingly in response to another Trump White House.
This angered Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who called their choices to remain a “partisan” gambit that will undermine federal court integrity.
