Ex-DOJ Exodus Fuels Private Firms and Campaigns

More than 5,000 Justice Department employees left in the first year of Trump’s second term, a turnover described as a ‘purge’ that private law firms, local prosecutors’ offices, nonprofits, and political campaigns are capitalizing on. Ex-prosecutors like Michael Romano are shifting into private practice and testifying at congressional hearings, while others join firms or run for office, signaling a sharp loss of institutional memory at DOJ and broader implications for accountability and democracy.