The A.T.F. has been hit by the departure of key career officials, the diversion of agents from core duties to immigration enforcement and from what amounts to a campaign of indifference.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tends to draw intense scrutiny during bursts of regulatory activity under Democratic presidents, then recede into obscurity when Republicans return and reverse those regulations.
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft balked at having one of its partners represent Donald Trump in his criminal cases. Now the firm is among those that have been pushed to agree to a deal with the White House.
Inside the department’s civil division, litigators are squeezed between judges demanding answers and bosses’ instructions to protect the Trump agenda at all costs.
Career lawyers say they increasingly feel trapped between President Trump’s political appointees, like Attorney General Pam Bondi, and judges who demand comprehensible answers to basic questions.
A fight over the testimony of Elizabeth G. Oyer could have a ripple effect on whether other fired Justice Department lawyers speak publicly about their experiences.
A lawyer in the office of the deputy attorney general warned Elizabeth G. Oyer, the Justice Department’s former pardon attorney, that she was “not authorized to disclose” records to lawmakers.
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