Law Professor Says Trump Firing Members of Jack Smith’s Team Would Be ‘Probably Illegal’ and Lead To Lawsuits
President-elect Donald Trump reportedly plans to fire members of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team, according to an article published by the Washington Post on Friday night. If Trump follows through, the terminations will be “probably illegal,” according to Ryan Goodman, a New York University law school professor.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith as special counsel in November 2022 after Trump announced his intention to run for president. Smith wound up securing indictments in two separate cases against Trump. The first centered on Trump’s retention of government documents after leaving office. The indictment alleged that Trump took classified documents and obstructed the government’s efforts to retrieve them. Additionally, Smith brought charges against the former president for trying to overturn the 2020 election, which Trump falsely claimed was rigged against him.
These cases are moot now that Trump will be president again come January. Department of Justice rules stipulate that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted. Meanwhile, this year the U.S. Supreme Court issued a sweeping decision stating that presidents and former presidents cannot be prosecuted for “core” powers they exercise while in office and that they enjoy presumptive immunity for all “official acts”
“President-elect Donald Trump plans to fire the entire team that worked with special counsel Jack Smith to pursue two federal prosecutions against the former president, including career attorneys typically protected from political retribution, according to two individuals close to Trump’s transition,” the Post report said.
It also added that Trump, who on Thursday nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to be U.S. attorney general, plans to use the Department of Justice to examine baseless claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Goodman joined Friday’s OutFront on CNN, where host Erin Burnett asked for his reaction to Trump’s plan to fire Smith’s team. He replied:
It’s extraordinary on so many levels. First, these are civil servants who have legal protections. They probably include people who did not have any choice but to work with the team… So, to fire those people categorically who have protections, which also means that it would be probably illegal firings. And a huge part of the Justice Department and Pam Bondi will be caught up in a huge amount of employment litigation over all of their claims were they to go down that path.
So, it’s just very destructive. It smacks of political retribution. Even the idea that he’s announcing this, or it’s being reported that this is what he wants to do now before any kind of investigation into individuals, is another reason in which they’ll have very strong legal claims were they to try to do this.
