DOJ Tracker: November Update

Our monthly update to track the attacks on the rule of law and the Justice Department. Here’s what you need to know from November.

Source: United States Department of Justice

As we announced in October, we have created a Substack series to help you stay informed and engaged in protecting the Justice Department. Each month, we pull highlights from Justice Connection’s DOJ Tracker to offer a more digestible way to keep up with the latest attacks.

Here’s what happened in November.

James Comey indictment

DOJ got in trouble with judges yet again as James Comey’s attorneys moved to throw out the indictment. On Nov. 17, Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick reprimanded interim U.S. Attorney Lindsay Halligan, a Trump appointee, for “fundamental misstatements of the law” when presenting the case to the grand jury. Judge Fitzpatrick noted that Halligan appeared to have let the grand jury draw negative inferences from Comey asserting his Fifth Amendment right not to testify, and seemed to suggest that the grand jurors did not need to rule based only on the evidence presented. Instead, she appeared to assure the grand jury that additional evidence existed and would be presented at trial. Judge Fitzpatrick ordered the Justice Department to provide all grand jury materials to the defense.

Days later, DOJ attorneys admitted that not every member of the grand jury had seen the final indictment. When pressed by District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, prosecutors said two indictments had been drafted. The first showed three counts—two of which the grand jury indicted Comey on—while the second draft showed only the two counts. Halligan signed the second indictment and presented it to the magistrate judge with only two members of the grand jury. DOJ later reversed course, claiming in a filing that the full grand jury had reviewed the final indictment. Halligan also criticized the judge for supposed “personal attacks” against her. In reality, Judge Nachmanoff asked Comey’s attorneys whether they were characterizing Halligan as a “puppet,” but never directly called her one.

Before Judge Nachmanoff could make a ruling on whether the case was vindictive, a different district judge dismissed Comey’s indictment—along with an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James—after finding Halligan had been illegally appointed. DOJ is expected to appeal the ruling.

Firings, resignations continue

In early November, Justice Connection provided news outlets with an estimate of how many employees have left DOJ since President Trump entered office in January. That number—approximately 5,500—includes more than 200 people who have been fired. Since then, many more have left the department, including two Miami prosecutors who resigned in protest of unconventional interrogation tactics to root out disloyal employees, and at least 12 immigration judges who were terminated. Several Bureau of Prisons employees were also fired after a whistleblower leaked emails from Ghislaine Maxwell describing how happy she is in her new minimum security prison following a deal with DOJ.

Senators seek millions for phone records

After news broke last month that Jack Smith’s team lawfully obtained the phone records of several GOP senators as part of its investigation into January 6, those senators quietly snuck a provision into the shutdown deal allowing them to sue DOJ. The provision requires service providers to notify senators if their records are seized, and allows senators—and only senators—to sue the U.S. government for $500,000 for each time their records are accessed without their knowledge, provided the senator wasn’t the target of the investigation. The legislation applies retroactively, allowing a handful of senators to potentially recover millions of dollars from the government, and setting up a senators-only protection against future investigations.

On Nov. 19, the House unanimously voted to repeal the provision, with even Republican members calling the provision “self-serving” and “wrong.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) backed the provision, but proposed clarifying that any damages awarded would be forfeited to the U.S. Treasury. With Thune being the major force behind the provision, the repeal effort has stalled in the Senate. Justice Connection advisory committee member Rupa Bhattacharyya calls the provision “inequitable, unjust, and blatant self-dealing.”

Here are a few other things you might’ve missed

• The Trump administration is close to finalizing a new rule ending whistleblower protections for large swaths of federal employees, including many at DOJ. The new rule targets senior federal employees, the very people who are best positioned to identify and report wrongdoing. Read Aaron Zelinsky’s piece on Justice Connection’s Substack about why whistleblowing is a legal and moral duty.

• The Civil Rights Division is planning to open a new office called the Second Amendment Rights Section to challenge local laws and policies restricting gun rights. As Justice Connection told Reuters, “The Civil Rights Division’s new focus on the Second Amendment, which is far outside its longstanding mission, is moving us even further away from our nation’s commitment to protecting all Americans’ civil rights.” The section is expected to open today.

• Six Democratic members of Congress are under FBI investigation after they released a video informing members of the military and intelligence services that they can refuse illegal orders. After the video’s release, Trump called it “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!.” Sen Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), one of the lawmakers in the video and a former CIA analyst, received a bomb threat at her Michigan house the next day.