Three career Justice Department officials—described as “exemplary” public servants—have sued Attorney General Pam Bondi and the U.S. government, alleging they were abruptly and unlawfully fired after working on the Jan. 6 prosecutions.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by plaintiffs Michael M. Gordon, Patricia A. Hartman, and Joseph W. Tirrell, claims their dismissals violated federal law, the Constitution, and long-standing protections designed to prevent civil servants
The three litigants were all fired “without cause, justification, or due process” on the same day earlier this summer via a one-page document “signed by Attorney General Pamela Bondi,” according to the suit, which cited only “Article II of the United States Constitution and the laws of the United States.”
The lawsuit states: “No cause, let alone a proper merit-based one, or required due process was provided to Plaintiffs with respect to their termination and removal.”
Gordon said he believes he and Hartman and Tirrell were fired for their work on the Jan. 6 cases, suggesting it was “pretty easy to connect the dots” that it was to do with their work prosecuting “people that this administration wanted protected.”
He warned that their removals set a dangerous precedent, had left other non-political federal workers fearing for their futures—and that Americans should be concerned about what it means for U.S. democracy.
“I think, very unfortunately and terrifyingly, I hear from now former colleagues and FBI agents every day that they now wonder if they’re next,” he said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday morning.
“They’re looking over their shoulder, wondering about any case they take and wondering whether even if they follow the law, even if they do what our jobs are, which is to follow the evidence and the law wherever they lead, that they could be fired just for doing their jobs.”
Gordon added: “We should all be terrified of living in a country where the law isn’t what’s on the books, it isn’t what we can all read and understand, but it’s instead whatever the president says it is, and that whim could change.
“So I think that what’s going on is already doing damage to the Justice Department, and I worry that more is on the horizon.”
The trio are suing Bondi in her official capacity, as well as the Department of Justice, the Executive Office of the President, and the United States itself.
They say they have “suffered adverse and harmful effects, including, but not limited to, lost or jeopardized present or future financial opportunities,” and seek reinstatement, back pay, and declaratory relief to affirm that their firings were illegal.
Their dismissals come amid a broader reshaping of the DOJ under President Donald Trump’s second administration, as Bondi and her allies have aggressively moved to purge those associated with investigations into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
But the lawsuit—bought by D.C. legal heavyweights Abbe Lowell, Trump’s one-time family lawyer, former U.S. ambassador Norm Eisen, and regular Trump litigant Mark Zaid—highlights how sweeping and indiscriminate those removals may be.
“There used to be a line, a very distinct separation between the White House and the Department of Justice,” Hartman told CBS News. “That line is very definitely gone.”
It says the plaintiffs—non-political officials with decades of combined public service, who have served multiple administrations, both Republican and Democrat—were not political appointees, nor were they ever given any indication their jobs were at risk.
Gordon is a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Florida and had been detailed as a senior trial counsel in Washington, D.C., working in the DOJ’s Capitol Siege Section.
According to the suit, he “prosecuted high-profile cases of individuals involved in the January 6, 2021 insurrection, including Richard Barnett, Eric Munchel, and Ray Epps,” and had received consistent “outstanding performance evaluations.”
Gordon’s removal came as a “particular shock” as he had just been “hand-selected” to lead a high-profile fraud case involving the alleged theft of $100 million from special-needs children.
The second plaintiff, “Patty” Hartman, was the supervisory public affairs specialist for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C., a role in which she oversaw the dissemination of press releases on Jan. 6 prosecutions. The suit says she “consistently received positive performance evaluations of ‘Successful’ or ‘Outstanding.’”
Tirrell, the third plaintiff, served as the senior-most executive overseeing the DOJ’s Departmental Ethics Office and was a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES), with an “exemplary” employment history.
His firing, the lawsuit argues, violated both SES protections and federal rules related to veterans’ preference, as Tirrell is a Navy veteran.
The plaintiffs also argue they have no meaningful recourse through normal administrative channels, as the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB)—which would ordinarily hear their appeals—is currently defunct following Trump’s decision to remove a sitting board member.
As such, filing with the MSPB would be “futile” due to “the government’s own actions,” the lawsuit states.
The DOJ declined to comment to the Daily Beast on the case.
