A career federal prosecutor who was fired without reason last month in yet another stunning breach of the Justice Department’s independence from the White House is now challenging what he is calling an unlawful dismissal.
Late last month, Los Angeles-based federal prosecutor Adam Schleifer was dismissed in an email that came directly from a White House official, with no apparent reason for the firing provided, the New York Times reported.
At the time of his firing, Schleifer had been working on a case against the founder of Fatburger, Andrew Wiederhorn, who has been a donor to political action committees that have stood behind Trump.
And notably, right before he was fired, conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer shared a post on X, surfacing old posts from Schleifer from before he was working as a government lawyer that were critical of Trump.
“Why is Biden holdover @AdamSchleiferNY Adam Schleifer still working for the US Attorney’s office under the new Trump administration? He is a Trump hater who has been working at the US Attorney’s office since 2021,” Loomer said. “Fire him. He supported the impeachment of President Trump and said he wanted to repeal Trump’s tax plan.”
“We need to purge the US Attorney’s office of all leftist Trump haters,” Loomer continued.
Trump’s DOJ has consistently been taking cues from Loomer and other MAGA celebrities and conspiracy theorists, allowing them to influence decisions regarding who gets dismissed and what the department decides to investigate. This retaliatory firing was of note at the time because it came directly from the White House, eliminating even the appearance of Justice Department independence from the President — a norm that has eroded entirely since the start of Trump’s second term.
Now, in a new filing with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board — an independent agency devoted to protecting the rights of federal workers — Schleifer is pushing back against his firing, saying he was fired as part of a retribution campaign for his comments made before he was a federal prosecutor, the AP was first to report.
“Nothing in Mr. Schleifer’s conduct as a private citizen would cast any doubt on his commitment to defend the Constitution and the rule of law and to advance the impartial administration of justice,” the filing, which was obtained by the AP, reads.
The firing was carried out for “unprecedented partisan and political reasons,” Schleifer reportedly argued in the filing.
“The White House, in coordination with the Department of Justice, has dismissed more than 50 U.S. Attorneys and Deputies in the past few weeks. The American people deserve a judicial branch full of honest arbiters of the law who want to protect democracy, not subvert it,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told TPM in an emailed statement at the time of the unprecedented firing.
Federal prosecutors are, of course, part of the executive branch, not the judicial branch of government.
Is the merit protection board still a thing?
Also required cat photo.
No wonder Loomer wants a purge; she already has a plastic face.
Cases like this force the regime to address the Schroeder cat situation these government agencies are in, one way or another. For better or worse. It’s better for us that people can see the naked corruption for what it is.
If we allow the board to die it will be perverted and reconstituted as a board to protect the sort of “merit” that is limited to rich white men.
Dont surrender in advance.
Delay. Delay. Delay. Make them work for it.
The Trump Administration: Weaponization of the Justice Department, OK For Me, But Not For Thee.