DOJ Fires Ethics Office
Attorney General Pam Bondi has dismissed one of the Department of Justice’s most senior ethics officials, signaling a decisive shift in the DOJ's internal culture and priorities. Joseph Tirrell, who had overseen the department’s ethics program and advised the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General directly, was informed of his termination late Friday. On Monday, Tirrell publicly confirmed his firing in a LinkedIn post that included an image of his termination notice.
Tirrell had held a powerful position, leading a team responsible for guiding 117,000 DOJ employees on compliance with federal ethics regulations. His work spanned the Department’s internal legal conduct, conflict-of-interest protocols, and disclosure procedures.
He was seen by many as a pillar of the DOJ’s pre-2025 institutional framework. But for critics, particularly those aligned with the incoming wave of conservative reforms, Tirrell embodied a legacy bureaucracy resistant to change and out of step with public demands for accountability and transparency.
Bondi’s move comes amid a broader overhaul at the DOJ. At least 20 other officials have been dismissed in recent weeks, many of whom were connected to special counsel Jack Smith’s controversial prosecutions of President Donald Trump.
While DOJ has not released an official explanation for Tirrell’s removal, several former department insiders have pointed to a growing focus on ethics-related decisions made under the previous administration.
A particularly contentious issue involves Tirrell’s approval of a $140,000 pro bono legal services arrangement accepted by special counsel Jack Smith. Tirrell had signed off on the gift, asserting it met federal ethics standards.
That approval is now under renewed scrutiny, with critics questioning whether such an arrangement violated the impartiality and financial integrity expected of DOJ leadership.
Tirrell’s firing is just an example of Bondi’s determination to root out what many conservatives have described as institutional bias within the Department. Her leadership marks a stark departure from the previous era, one increasingly defined by politicized investigations and bureaucratic resistance to executive oversight.
Tirrell, a former U.S. Navy officer and FBI agent, joined the DOJ after a nearly two-decade career in federal service. He was appointed to his most recent ethics role in July 2023 during the Biden administration. Now, with his abrupt departure, the DOJ sends a clear message: under Bondi, career insulation will not shield officials from accountability or reform.