AOL: US Justice fires several more employees from Jack Smith’s team, sources say

U.S. Attorney General Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi on Friday fired several more Justice Department employees who worked for Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate President Donald Trump’s retention of classified records and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to five people familiar with the matter.

About 20 lawyers, support staff and U.S. Marshals who worked on Smith’s probe were terminated, according to one of the sources.

At least two of the people fired were prosecutors who most recently worked in other U.S. Attorneys’ offices in Florida and North Carolina, three of the sources told Reuters.

The Justice Department since January has been dismissing employees who worked on matters involving Trump or his supporters, citing Trump’s executive powers under the U.S. Constitution.

A spokesperson for Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fourteen attorneys who worked on Smith’s team were fired on January 27 because of work on cases against Trump, becoming some of the department’s earliest employees who were dismissed. Department leadership told those attorneys in termination letters that they could not be trusted to carry out Trump’s agenda because of their work on Smith’s probe.

Including the people fired on Friday, at least 37 people who worked on Smith’s team have been terminated since Trump took office on January 20.

The Justice Department in recent months has also fired people who handled casework involving defendants who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.

In late June, three prosecutors, one of whom had worked on cases involving the Proud Boys, were fired. Earlier this month, [Bimbo #3] Bondi also fired a career veteran of the department who served as a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington.

In late January, the Justice Department also fired probationary prosecutors who had worked on January 6 cases.

Smith brought two criminal cases against Trump in 2023, accusing him of illegally retaining national security documents and plotting to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Both were dropped before Trump returned to office.

The politicization of the Department of Justice into a machine of revenge for King Donald and his cronies continues unabated.

https://www.aol.com/news/us-justice-fires-nine-more-021501413.html

The Conversation: Surge of ICE agreements with local police aim to increase deportations, but many police forces have found they undermine public safety

Part of that operation includes what’s known as the federal 287(g) program. Established in 1996, it allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose work is normally carried out by federal officials, to train state and local authorities to function as federal immigration officers.

Under 287(g), for example, local police officers can interview people to determine their immigration status. They can also issue immigration detainers to jail people until agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement take custody.

Since Trump began his second term in January, ICE has increased 287(g) agreements from 135 in 25 states in December 2024 to 628 in 40 states as of May 28, 2025.

As a criminal justice scholar, I believe the surge of 287(g) agreements sets a dangerous precedent for local policing, where forging relationships and building the trust of immigrants is a proven and effective tactic in combating crime. In my view, the expansion of 287(g) will erode that trust and makes entire communities – not just immigrants – less safe.

https://theconversation.com/surge-of-ice-agreements-with-local-police-aim-to-increase-deportations-but-many-police-forces-have-found-they-undermine-public-safety-255937

Newsweek: Kash Patel gives update on Epstein Files release

FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News on Wednesday that the federal government is in no “rush” to release more information about Jeffrey Epstein and the so-called Epstein Files.

All we ever seem to get out of loser Patel is lip service.

https://www.newsweek.com/jeffrey-epstein-files-kash-patel-fbi-bondi-2078537