Why a DOJ prosecutor resigned, telling coworkers and bosses 'you serve no man'

A prosecutor with years of experience at the U.S. Department of Justice has resigned amid major changes from the Trump administration, telling NPR, “It just was not a Department of Justice that I any longer wanted to associate with.”

In a sharp resignation letter shared with NPR, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Murphy warned of the erosion of the Justice Department’s independence from the president, writing to his coworkers, “you serve no man.”

In response to NPR’s request for comment, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said in a statement, “This Department of Justice is acutely focused on Making America Safe Again and ensuring one tier of justice for all Americans after historic political weaponization under the previous administration.

Murphy is a veteran prosecutor who previously worked for the Bronx District Attorney in New York. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, he joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Puerto Rico and worked on drug trafficking and illegal gun prosecutions. Most recently, he served in the Department of Justice’s Capitol Siege Section, which prosecuted more than 1,500 people for crimes stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

When Trump took office, he immediately granted clemency to all of the Jan. 6 defendants — even the most violent offenders and those with lengthy criminal records — and his administration fired and demoted many prosecutors who worked on those cases.