Ex-DOJ officials reflect on Trump's transformation of the institution

By — Ali Rogin Ali Rogin By — Ali Schmitz Ali Schmitz Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/ex-doj-officials-reflect-on-trumps-transformation-of-the-institution Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio Justice Department officials appointed by President Trump have made sweeping changes since he returned to office. They’ve redefined the focus of key divisions and challenged legal norms, and thousands of career lawyers have resigned or been fired. Justice Correspondent Ali Rogin asked several former DOJ attorneys and leaders to reflect on what they believe it means for the institution's future. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Amna Nawaz: Justice Department officials appointed by President Donald Trump have made sweeping changes since he returned to office. They redefined the focus of key divisions and challenged legal norms. And thousands of career lawyers have resigned or been fired. Former Justice Department officials say those changes are transforming not only what the department does, but what its leaders expect from its employees. Justice correspondent Ali Rogin asked several former DOJ attorneys and leaders to reflect on what they have seen and what they believe it means for the future of the institution. Kyle Boynton, Former Federal Prosecutor: My name is Kyle Boynton. Prior to leaving the DOJ, I was a prosecutor with the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division. I started my career with the Justice Department in 2010 as a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Anam Petit, Former Immigration Judge: My name is Anam Petit. I was an immigration judge within the Department of Justice prior to my termination in September 2025. Brendan Ballou, Former Federal Prosecutor: My name is Brendan Ballou. I'm a former special counsel in the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department. Sean Murphy, Former Federal Prosecutor: My name is Sean P. Murphy. I'm a former assistant United States attorney. I most recently worked with the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Puerto Rico, but I work on a detail with the Capitol siege section out of the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia. Kyle Boynton: The Justice Department has long been a place and had a tradition of being apolitical in its approach to things. And I was increasingly seeing decisions being made within the Civil Rights Division for political reasons. And that troubled me. Brendan Ballou: I left because I had spent two years prosecuting January 6 rioters. On the very first day of Donald Trump's second term, he issued a pardon for over 1,500 people who were accused of attacking the Capitol that day and the people inside. So it was obvious to me that Donald Trump was going to try to use the Department of Justice to enact vengeance, to enact violence against those who op