A prosecutor with years of experience at the U.S. Department of Justice has resigned amid major changes from the Trump administration, telling NPR, "It just was not a Department of Justice that I any longer wanted to associate with."
In a sharp resignation letter shared with NPR, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Murphy warned of the erosion of the Justice Department's independence from the president, writing to his coworkers, "you serve no man."
In response to NPR's request for comment, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said in a statement, "This Department of Justice is acutely focused on Making America Safe Again and ensuring one tier of justice for all Americans after historic political weaponization under the previous administration."
Murphy is a veteran prosecutor who previously worked for the Bronx District Attorney in New York. In 2018, during Trump's first term, he joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in Puerto Rico and worked on drug trafficking and illegal gun prosecutions. Most recently, he served in the Department of Justice's Capitol Siege Section, which prosecuted more than 1,500 people for crimes stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
When Trump took office, he immediately granted clemency to all of the Jan. 6 defendants — even the most violent offenders and those with lengthy criminal records — and his administration fired and demoted many prosecutors who worked on those cases.
As a result, Murphy said, he simultaneously faced threats and harassment from Jan. 6 defendants, who were emboldened by their presidential pardons, while also having to fear retaliation from the administration.
"There are some posts on social media saying that prosecutors 'need to fry,' that prosecutors need to 'get the rope,'" Murphy said, "comments naming prosecutors directly, saying, 'now it's your turn.'"
Murphy said he did not feel that federal law enforcement under Trump's leadership would protect Jan. 6 prosecutors. In addition to the pardons, Trump has praised the Capitol riot defendants as "patriots" and described the prosecutions as a "grave national injustice."
"I don't think the safety of those that caused that 'injustice' is a priority for the current administration," Murphy said.
Murphy has three children, all of whom are still in school. He said getting fired would cause serious consequences for his family's financial situation.
Still, over the course of the last two months, Murphy told NPR that he questioned whether he could remain in the Department of Justice given its new direction under Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Trump loyalist. The recently installed FBI Deputy Director, a former Secret Service agent turned podcaster named Dan Bongino, has also repeatedly called for prosecuting Trump's political opponents.
Seven federal prosecutors resigned from the Justice Department last month over ethical concerns about the administration's decision to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams. Another veteran prosecutor in Washington, D.C. resigned after refusing to follow an order she believed was unsupported by the law.
Most concerning to Murphy has been the erosion of the Justice Department's independence from the president. After the Watergate scandal during Richard Nixon's presidency, subsequent administrations put more distance between the president and federal law enforcement to prevent politicization and abuses of power. The new administration has rejected that independence, all while arguing that the Biden administration "weaponized" law enforcement.
"We all work for the greatest president in the history of our country," Bondi said in a speech to the Justice Department last week. "We are so proud to work at the directive of Donald Trump."
After Bondi spoke, Trump gave a speech where he described himself as the "chief law enforcement officer in our country," and railed against his political opponents and other perceived enemies.
"To maintain credibility, there has to be some separation between the President and the Department of Justice, some measure of independence," Murphy told NPR. "And that's nearly gone."
He also pointed to a statement posted on social media from Ed Martin, interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and an activist for Jan. 6 defendants.
"The interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia repeatedly referred to his office and himself as 'the president's lawyers.' And that we are not," Murphy said. "An Assistant United States Attorney's only client is the people of the United States of America. None of us are 'the president's lawyers.'"
Trump has nominated Martin to take that position full-time, but he has not yet been confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Another message from Bondi also got under Murphy's skin — not because of its importance, but its insignificance.
Earlier this month, the department issued a three-paragraph memo announcing a ban on paper straws.
"I mean, it was just so crazy to me that the attorney general of the United States would be writing a memo about the dangers of paper straws," Murphy said.
Eventually, Murphy accepted an offer to work at a private practice in Puerto Rico, so his family would not have to uproot if he were to be reassigned by the Justice Department, or if he was fired. All of the changes at the Justice Department, he said, had, in a way, made his decision for him.
"It became for me the question of how high do you let the water rise before you get in the boat?" Murphy said. "And if it was just me, the calculus would have been different. But I have to think of my family. And I made a choice."
Murphy resigned on Friday, March 14. In his resignation letter he mocked the memo on paper straws, took time to praise the work of his fellow Jan. 6 prosecutors and rebuked Trump's criticism that they had committed a "national injustice."
"Together we addressed the grave national injustice (methinks this be a better use of the phrase) that occurred on January 6, 2021, at the seat of our nation's government, the U.S. Capitol," Murphy wrote, and went on to commend the police officers who protected the Capitol that day.
He ended his letter with an entreaty to his now-former coworkers and bosses.
"May you renew daily your dedication to justice, and always seek to end each day secure in the knowledge that you showed up and sought justice for your one and only client, the people of the United States of America," he wrote. "You serve no man."
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