Top DOJ Ethics Official Releases Statement After Being Fired by AG Pam Bondi

US Attorney General Pam Bondi fired top Department of Justice official Joseph Tirrell on Friday amid her firing spree.

Bondi fired 20 DOJ officials tied to January 6 and Trump docs probe on Friday. Joseph Tirrell was swept up in the firings.

Tirrell released a statement on his LinkedIn account:

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. I was also responsible for the day-to-day operations of the ethics program across the Department. I led a small, dedicated team of professionals and coordinated the work of some 30 other full-time ethics officials, attorneys, paralegals and other specialists across the Department of Justice, ensuring that the 117,000 Department employees were properly advised on and supported in how to follow the Federal employee ethics rules.

My career in public service has so far spanned a quarter of a century. I started as a United States Naval Officer, graduating from the ROTC program at the University of Michigan. After a 6-year military career, I earned a law Degree from the Detroit School of Law at Michigan State University. I started at the FBI in 2006 in the Presidential Management Fellows Program. At the FBI, I worked in a variety of offices thanks to the PMF program and eventually I went to work for the FBI’s Office of Integrity and Compliance. From there, I moved to the Departmental Ethics Office at Main Justice as Deputy Director. Finally, in 2023, I was promoted to the Senior Executive Service and the Position of Director of the Ethics Office.

My public service is not over, and my career as a Federal civil servant is not finished. I took the oath at 18 as a Midshipman to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” I have taken that oath at least five more times since then. That oath did not come with the caveat that I need only support the Constitution when it is easy or convenient. I look forward to finding ways to continue in my personal calling of service to my country. I encouraged anyone who is reading this to do the same. I believe in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I also believe that Edmund Burke is right and that “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.”

I received a number of calls and messages of support in the last few days. Thank you to everyone who has reached out. Be well.

Axios reported:

Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the ethics director at the Department of Justice on Friday, removing the staff in charge of advising her and other officials on how to navigate conflicts of interest.

Why it matters: The ethics director was fired on the same day that Bondi dismissed more than 20 employees involved in various investigations of President Donald Trump, reflecting an ongoing purge of personnel at the department.

Context: On Monday, former director Joseph Tirrell confirmed on LinkedIn that he had been fired from the position without being given a reason for his removal.

• Tirrell has worked for the DOJ for 16 years, and became director of the departmental ethics office in July of 2023, according to his official staff profile.

• In the LinkedIn post, Tirrell said he was responsible for “ensuring that the 117,000 Department employees were properly advised on and supported in how to follow the Federal employee ethics rules.”

• The Department of Justice declined to comment on why Tirrell was dismissed.

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