Attorney General Pam Bondi has dismissed the Justice Department’s top ethics official, Joseph Tirrell, according to a LinkedIn post shared by Tirrell on Friday.
Tirrell, a Navy veteran who had served in federal government roles for over 25 years, posted a copy of his termination letter—which misspelled his name as “JOSPEH”—and confirmed he had been removed from his role as the DOJ’s senior ethics attorney.
“Until Friday evening, I was the senior ethics attorney at the Department of Justice, directly advising the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General on federal employee ethics,” Tirrell wrote. “I led a dedicated team overseeing ethics guidance for 117,000 DOJ employees.”
Why It Matters
Tirrell’s firing comes amid growing controversy surrounding Bondi and the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Bondi has faced backlash for walking back her earlier pledge to fully release the documents. In recent weeks, she’s also targeted officials who worked under former special counsel Jack Smith—who led investigations into Donald Trump during the Biden administration—raising concerns about political purges within the DOJ.
Tirrell is among roughly 35 DOJ employees reported to have been terminated, many of them connected to Smith’s probes into Trump’s role in the January 6 Capitol riot and his mishandling of classified documents.
Who Is Joseph Tirrell?
Tirrell began his federal service in the U.S. Navy, joined the FBI in 2006, and moved to the DOJ in 2013. He assumed his most recent role as senior ethics counsel in July 2023 under President Biden. In that capacity, he managed financial disclosures, conflict-of-interest waivers, and ethics approvals for high-level officials—including Bondi, Deputy AG Todd Blanche, and FBI Director Kash Patel, all of whom are now under scrutiny over the redacted Epstein documents.
In his post, Tirrell said he remained committed to public service:
“I believe in the words of Dr. King: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ And that Edmund Burke was right: ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.’”
The Official Reason
Bondi’s termination letter cited Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which grants the president and executive branch authority to remove personnel, including those with civil service protections. No specific justification for Tirrell’s firing was provided.
When Did Bondi Become Attorney General?
Trump nominated Bondi as attorney general in November 2024. She was confirmed and took office on February 5, 2025. A former two-term Florida AG and Trump adviser during his first impeachment, Bondi returned to the national spotlight amid MAGA-world demands for Epstein-related transparency.
What People Are Saying
- Tom Renz, conservative attorney, on X: “Bondi firing Jack Smith investigators is pure CYA. She’s had months and done nothing real. Unless she drops criminal charges against Pfizer, Gates, Soros, and the Dems tomorrow and admits what she has on Epstein, it’s just theater.”
- Ed Krassenstein, political commentator, on X: “Americans deserve full transparency on Epstein, Trump’s memecoin buyers, and the full Jack Smith report. WE THE PEOPLE DESERVE ANSWERS.”
- Kash Patel, FBI Director, on X: “The conspiracy theories aren’t true and never have been. It’s an honor to serve President Trump—and I’ll keep doing so as long as he calls.”
What’s Next
Despite President Trump urging his supporters to “move on” from the Epstein controversy, the issue continues to dominate headlines and fuel internal friction within his administration. Critics remain unconvinced by the DOJ’s heavily redacted Epstein file release, while pressure mounts for Bondi, Patel, and others to provide greater transparency.
More DOJ terminations could follow in the coming weeks, according to recent reports.
