Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the ethics official who advises her and other top Justice Department officials of their ethical obligations, a source in the DOJ told ABC News on Monday.
Joseph Tirell posted about his dissmissal on LinkedIn on Monday, including a photo of his termination notice, which apparently didn't include a reason for the firing.
"Until Friday evening, I was the senior ethics attorney at the Department of Justice responsible for advising the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General directly on federal employee ethics," Tirrell said in the post. "I was also responsible for the day-to-day operations of the ethics program across the Department."
His firing appears to be part of the DOJ purge of personnel who participated in former Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into and case against President Donald Trump.
Around 35 DOJ employees have been fired so far, and 15 more are likely on the chopping block.
While no official word about why Tirell was fired has been given, a theory has been espoused by several former officials.
Tirell was director of the DOJ's Ethics Office when Smith disclosed that he had been gifted $140,000 in pro bono legal services while he was special counsel.
Tirell apparently signed off on the gift as following the regulations and requirements of the agency, an ethical lapse that could have led to his firing.
The purge is itself a development that has arisen out of the "Weaponization Working Group" formed by Bondi when she first took office as U.S. Attorney General.
The DOJ leadership under Trump is concerned that its personnel could work against Trump the way various personnel did during his first administration.
It's a valid concern because it happened both while he was in office and after.
The DOJ reportedly has tried to distinguish personnel who were only obeying orders from the higher ups from those who seemed to have ill will toward Trump and acted against him on their own initiative.
Trump vowed while campaigning to get rid of what he called the deep state, which is made up of longtime officials who have more sympathies for Democrat administrations than Republican ones.
At least within the DOJ, Trump's pledge is being taken very seriously.
