Attorney General Merrick Garland and top Justice Department officials are encouraging career staffers to remain at the agency through the next administration, stressing that institutional knowledge is important as new leaders take hold. The weeks since President-elect Trump’s victory have been filled with uncertainty and tumult for many of the more than 100,000 employees of the nation’s largest law enforcement agency, reports the Washington Post. As top officials have led meetings about transition protocols, Trump and his allies have continued their vows to fire career staffers and seek retribution on those they consider their political enemies. More Justice Department employees than usual appear to be exploring jobs outside the government.
Trump has announced that his personal defense lawyers, who represented him in his criminal cases, would be nominated for top Justice Department jobs. While some DOJ insiders said that those lawyers’ relevant job qualifications for the jobs were reassuring — two are former prosecutors — they were also concerned about whether Trump would expect the would-be officials to act like his personal counsel. Nearly a dozen current and former Justice Department employees isaid there’s not yet a mass exodus bursting from agency headquarters They said the transition so far appears to be operating as it would during any administration change and there’s been little mention of Trump and his nominees in the transition meetings. Many career employees worked for Justice during the first Trump administration and are waiting to see who is appointed to head different divisions before deciding how to proceed. In a speech to some employees last month, Garland said, "You... the career lawyers of the Justice Department as a whole — you are the institutional backbone of this department.”
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