Justice Department Firings, Humanitarian Parole Ends, China And AI
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Among Trump's latest moves, the Justice Department says it's fired over a dozen officials.
I have never seen this sort of effort to just sweep out experienced people.
All of them were involved in prosecuting President Trump.
I'm Amy Martinez, that's Leila Fadl, and this is Up First from NPR News. Also, the Trump administration is ending programs that granted legal status to nearly 1.5 million immigrants in the U.S.
These things were originally designed to allow people to have protection, temporary protection, and instead they've just become backdoor immigration programs.
They were granted asylum after fleeing violence and disasters in their home country, so what happens to them now?
And a Chinese AI chatbot is free and getting more popular than ChatGPT. It's caught the attention of the tech world and Wall Street. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
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President Trump and his administration continue to flood the zone with executive actions and department changes. Just yesterday, dozens of senior officials in the U.S. Aid and Development Agency were put on leave.
The White House Budget Office paused grants, loans, and other federal assistance. Trump also signed four executive orders that include a move that would push openly transgender folks out of the military and another ordering the Pentagon to build a missile defense system.
Right. And there's one more. The acting attorney general purged Department of Justice officials involved in investigating Trump. We're going to hone in on that purge and what it means with NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson. Good morning, Carrie.
Good morning.
So what do we know about these firings?
At least a dozen people who work with special counsel Jack Smith got dismissal notices. That's according to two DOJ officials. Acting Attorney General James McHenry wrote the letters. He said he did not believe these officials could be trusted to faithfully implement the president's agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting the president. Remember, Jack Smith brought two criminal cases against Donald Trump over January 6th and over classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Prosecutors moved to dismiss both cases after Trump won the election. And this purge is a big deal. One longtime lawyer told me he couldn't think of a time in modern DOJ history where a whole slew of prosecutors who worked on a particular case were dismissed.
Of course, Donald Trump had promised to fire Jack Smith, too, but Smith resigned before the inauguration.
OK, on the campaign trail, Trump did talk about retribution and getting back at the people who investigated him. Is this Trump fulfilling that promise?
You know, federal judges approved search warrants and other actions DOJ took in its two cases against Trump. Grand juries signed off on them. So prosecutors say it's not as if these lawyers were acting without checks and balances. But clearly, President Trump does not see it that way. He signed an executive order last week designed to root out what he calls weaponization of the government.
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