Overview
- This week several senior Justice Department officials resigned, including Harmeet Dhillon, Brett Shumate, Jason Reding Quiñones and John Eisenberg.
- A principal associate deputy attorney general told U.S. attorneys to adopt a 'wartime' posture and to press Democratic-led localities on immigration enforcement, according to people briefed on the call.
- The departures add to a multi-year trend of career prosecutors leaving since 2025, with reporting that hundreds have been pushed out or quit and many remaining staff are weighing exits.
- Many key posts are now filled by acting or temporary officials, such as HUD official Craig Trainor in the Civil Rights Division, leaving most divisions short of Senate-confirmed leadership.
- With Democrats set to take control of Congress, oversight plans that may include subpoenas and witness testimony threaten to strain the department’s thin legal capacity to manage high-stakes cases and defend administration policies.