Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the Department of Justice‘s top ethics adviser on Friday as part of broader government layoffs.
Joseph Tirrell, the DOJ’s ethics director, posted Bondi’s letter announcing his firing on LinkedIn on Monday. In it, Bondi said he was being terminated from his position effective immediately with no further explanation. Notably, his name was misspelled as “JOSPEH.” He had served in the position since July 2023 and advised Bondi and other officials regarding how to avoid and deal with conflicts of interest.
“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,” Tirrell wrote on LinkedIn.
Tirrell didn’t explain why he was fired, but his post had an unmistakable undercurrent of resentment. He quoted Martin Luther King Jr. in writing that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” and philosopher Edmund Burke, who said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.”
“My public service is not over, and my career as a Federal civil servant is not finished,” he pledged, adding that he looks “forward to finding ways to continue in my personal calling of service to my country.”
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The same day, 20 other staffers were fired after being identified by the “Weaponization Working Group,” which Bondi established to review “unethical prosecutions,” according to Axios.
While no reason was given, Bloomberg Law reported that Tirrell had advised special counsel Jack Smith during his criminal investigations into President Donald Trump. Sources familiar with the matter told the outlet that Tirrell had approved Smith receiving $140,000 in pro bono legal fees from Covington & Burling.