February 15, 2026

DOJ

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Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said that roughly three-quarters of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division staff have departed since she took office, citing a shift in enforcement priorities and a federal retirement package during a segment for Breitbart News Sunday.

Dhillon, who was sworn in earlier this year, noted that about 200 of the division’s 400-plus attorneys accepted a government-wide retirement package in her second week in office. She added that another 100 lawyers resigned in the following months, leaving the division down “75 percent” of its prior workforce. Dhillon explained the department is now working to rehire attorneys “who want to do the work as Congress wrote the laws and the courts interpreted the laws.”

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‘I have been this racehorse that has been held back,’ says NYC mayor

Eric Adams (cropped, Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

New York City mayor Eric Adams will leave the Democratic primary and run for reelection as an independent, as internal tensions and a broader identity crisis roil the Democratic Party.

“Though I am still a Democrat, I am announcing that I will forgo the Democratic primary for mayor and appeal directly to all New Yorkers as an independent candidate in the general election,” Adams announced in a video Thursday morning. He argued that New York City needs “truly independent leadership, not leaders pulled at by the extremists on the far-left or the far-right.”

Adams had been weighing an independent bid for weeks, as his high-profile corruption case dragged on in court, sources close to him told the New York Post. A federal judge on Wednesday permanently dismissed Adams’s criminal case.

The mayor, who faced charges of bribery, wire fraud, and soliciting illegal campaign contributions, has repeatedly accused the Biden administration of bringing the charges against him in retaliation for his criticism of former president Joe Biden’s handling of the migrant crisis, according to the New York Times.

Federal Judge Dale Ho has issued a written order dismissing all federal charges against Eric Adams, “with prejudice,” meaning the charges cannot be filed again.

Judge Ho wrote on his decision to dismiss with prejudice, that to allow DOJ to later refile charges “would create the unavoidable perception that the Mayor’s freedom depends on his ability to carry out the immigration enforcement priorities of the administration. (Adams) might be more beholden to the demands of the federal government than to the wishes of his own constituents.”

Judge Permanently Dismisses Eric Adams’s Corruption Case– freebeacon.com
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A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed the corruption case against New York City mayor Eric Adams (D.) and barred the Department of Justice from refiling the charges against him.

Judge Dale Ho in a written order tossed the criminal case “with prejudice,” permanently blocking the DOJ from recharging Adams based on the same evidence. Federal prosecutors had sought a dismissal “without prejudice,” which would have allowed them to refile the case later.

Allowing the Justice Department to refile charges, Ho wrote, “would create the unavoidable perception that the Mayor’s freedom depends on his ability to carry out the immigration enforcement priorities of the administration.”

Adams, who is running for reelection this year, also “might be more beholden to the demands of the federal government than to the wishes of his own constituents” in that situation, according to Ho.

The DOJ in February directed prosecutors to drop the case against Adams, who had been set to face trial this month on charges of bribery, wire fraud, and soliciting illegal campaign contributions.

 

Federal judge Ho dismisses public corruption case against Mayor Adams “with prejudice”– www.nydailynews.com
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A federal judge on Wednesday permanently dismissed the sweeping public corruption charges against Mayor Adams  — denying an effort by Trump’s Justice Department to have them, tossed “without prejudice,” or keeping open the possibility of bringing them again.

Manhattan Federal Judge Dale Ho’s decision was not based on the merits of the case against Adams or a belief of whether he was innocent or guilty.

It came after the Justice Department asked Ho to get rid of the case without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled; Mayor Adams asked him to get rid of it permanently, and former federal judges and prosecutors urged him to scrutinize the terms behind the dismissal deal offered to Adams closely and consider appointing a special prosecutor.

The judge appointed an independent lawyer, Paul Clement, the former solicitor general under President George W. Bush, to advise him on the matter, who recommended he dismiss the case for good. Clement said the prospect of the mayor feeling indebted to the president out of fear he could be reindicted and not New Yorkers was “deeply troubling.”

President Donald Trump announced the termination of Biden-appointed Attorney Generals on a Truth Social post, stating “Over the past four years, the Department of Justice has been politicized like never before. Therefore, I have instructed the termination of ALL remaining ‘Biden Era’ U.S. Attorneys. We must ‘clean house’ IMMEDIATELY, and restore confidence.”

Trump to all Biden-era US attorneys: You’re fired– www.theblaze.com
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President Donald Trump drained more of the swamp on Tuesday night, firing all U.S. attorneys appointed by his predecessor, President Joe Biden.

As is his wont, Trump took to the Truth Social platform to make the announcement. In his post, Trump indicated that the firings were a major step in ridding the Department of Justice of partisan hacks who waged a lawfare campaign against him, his supporters, and other conservatives for political purposes.

“Over the past four years, the Department of Justice has been politicized like never before. Therefore, I have instructed the termination of ALL remaining ‘Biden Era’ U.S. Attorneys,” Trump wrote. “We must ‘clean house’ IMMEDIATELY, and restore confidence.”

Trump also claimed that the move would help usher in “America’s Golden Age,” which he said “must have a fair Justice System.” That fair justice system “BEGINS TODAY!” he assured everyone.