WASHINGTON — As members of the National Guard deploy to the nation's capital as part of the Trump administration's takeover of policing in Washington, members of the military are also set to take on prosecutorial roles handling civilian crimes.
Twenty members of the Defense Department are set to begin working as special assistant U.S. attorneys — federal prosecutors — in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia next week, two people familiar with the matter told NBC News.
Tim Lauer, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, confirmed the move, saying members of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps would be joining the office, though he did not know how long the detail would last.
The Trump administration has overhauled the Justice Department since January, shifting federal law enforcement resources toward immigration-related offenses, overhauling the Civil Rights Division and targeting career law enforcement officials involved in cases disfavored by the administration, including the two criminal cases against Trump.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia is unique in that it prosecutes both federal crimes in U.S. District Court and local adult criminal offenses in D.C. Superior Court. The office led the charge in prosecuting members of the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
A person familiar with the plans said that the 20 new employees were expected to work misdemeanor cases and that they would begin their training next week.
Steven Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University, noted that in 1983, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel said JAG lawyers could not serve as special assistant U.S. attorneys because it violated a statute barring military officers from exercising the duties of a civil office. But just a few months later, Congress authorized them to do so.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro recently told Fox News that her office is understaffed and needs 90 prosecutors, as well as 60 investigators and paralegals. The Trump administration has fired numerous federal prosecutors who worked on the Jan. 6 cases, contributing to the shortage.
"To the extent the U.S. Attorney’s Office has a shortage of lawyers, this administration did itself no favors by firing qualified prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases and pushing out others by pursuing such an obviously political agenda," said former Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Ballou, who worked on Jan. 6 cases. "It sounds like the U.S. attorney is trying to import both staff and credibility; I don’t think it’ll work."
