2026年2月18日 / 美国东部时间晚上7:30 / CBS新闻
作者
斯科特·麦克法兰（Scott MacFarlane） 司法部记者
斯科特·麦克法兰是哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）新闻的司法部记者，他已在华盛顿报道20年，曾获20项艾美奖和爱德华·R·默罗奖，其报道直接促成了5部新法律的通过。
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前联邦检察官迈克尔·罗曼诺（Michael Romano）习惯在法庭上提问，但现在他却发现自己身处国会听证会的证人席，接受质询。
今年，他已两次作为证人出席国会听证会，警告特朗普政府试图降职或解雇参与调查特朗普总统或1月6日美国国会大厦骚乱案件的司法部检察官，这对民主构成了威胁。
“今天能与各位交流是我的荣幸，”罗曼诺在最近参议院司法委员会关于联邦调查的听证会上表示。他坐在证人席的黑色皮椅上，面前的标牌向参议员们介绍了他的身份。
罗曼诺是特朗普第二任期第一年内超过5000名从司法部辞职、退休或被解雇的员工之一。这场大规模的人员清洗——既有自愿离职也有非自愿解雇——已使该机构失去了宝贵的机构记忆和长期积累的经验。
文件照片： 前联邦检察官迈克尔·罗曼诺于2026年2月10日在参议院小组面前作证。
这场历史性的人员变动为私人律所、地方检察官办公室和政治竞选活动提供了丰富的人才资源。
它们正利用这波由罗曼诺这样的优秀前检察官构成的人才浪潮，这些人正寻求新的工作和使命。
罗曼诺在2025年3月特朗普总统对司法部进行全面改革后离职。他曾是一名精英检察官，在起诉国会骚乱被告（包括殴打警察的暴力分子）方面战绩完美，还曾负责经济间谍案、针对华盛顿国际使馆的财产破坏案和银行欺诈案。
如今在私人律所工作的罗曼诺，已成为国会听证会上就1月6日骚乱影响作证的关键人物，为政府对轻罪指控的起诉辩护。
本月的参议院司法委员会听证会上，罗曼诺对参议员们表示：”2021年1月6日没有小罪。我听到有人批评说，因非法入侵被指控的轻罪被告受到了过于严厉的处理——我强烈反对这种说法。那些侵入国会大厦并实施扰乱秩序行为的人，助长了暴民暴力。”
“这是我参与过的最正义的努力，与我共事过的调查人员、检察官和工作人员都是最优秀的，”他作证说。
罗曼诺的证词激励了他的前同事们。
“重要的是，有亲身经历的人在认为情况不对时愿意发声，”前司法部国会骚乱特别部门负责人格雷格·罗森（Greg Rosen）表示。”这种参与不是党派性的，而是典型的美国式行为。”
罗森也于2025年离开司法部，现在效力于华盛顿一家知名精品诉讼律所Rogers Joseph O’Donnell。
作为私人律师，罗曼诺正运用自己的经验帮助卷入劳资纠纷的人士。他告诉CBS新闻，他喜欢新工作和同事，并表示：”这很重要。我认为我们在司法部用于调查犯罪的很多工具，也可以用来调查其他类型的不当行为。”
罗曼诺曾任职的华盛顿美国检察官办公室在2025年经历了严重的人员流失，当时特朗普政府抨击该办公室对1月6日案件的起诉工作，并试图降职或撤换相关检察官。2025年接受采访时，华盛顿美国检察官让娜·皮罗（Jeanine Pirro）透露，该办公室因人员短缺而陷入困境，需要增加90名检察官才能处理案件。
据多名司法部消息人士和美国律师协会的报告称，过去12个月中，司法部民权司也因辞职和退休而元气大伤。
其中包括悉尼·福斯特（Sydney Foster），她是一位多产的律师，曾任民权司上诉部代理主任。上个月，她加入了华盛顿诉讼集团（Washington Litigation Group）——一个旨在遏制政府越权的非营利法律组织，该组织正挑战特朗普政府的多项争议性决策和政策。
该集团主席汤姆·格林（Tom Green）表示，福斯特凭借其丰富的上诉经验和专业知识，是”完美的人选”。
她的离职对司法部是重大损失。她曾代表政府在联邦上诉法院打赢30多起案件，现在将为与特朗普政府对簿公堂的客户提供帮助。
福斯特称这是”我们民主的关键时刻”。
“在这个非常关键的时刻，我们正专注于提起最具影响力的诉讼，”她告诉CBS新闻。
华盛顿诉讼集团正在参与多项挑战特朗普的诉讼：包括挑战特朗普将肯尼迪中心更名为”特朗普中心”、削弱司法部社区关系服务局的合法性，以及质疑特朗普政府任命的美国检察官的合法性。该集团还吸纳了其他前司法部检察官，包括曾在特别顾问杰克·史密斯（Jack Smith）法律团队任职的玛丽·多赫曼（Mary Dohrmann）和詹姆斯·皮尔斯（James Pearce）。
其他司法部校友转向了地方政府工作。弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿县检察官办公室发言人表示，已有一个团体加入该办公室。
帮助被解职司法部员工的”司法连接”（Justice Connection）组织创始人兼执行董事斯泰西·杨（Stacey Young）表示，非营利组织和律所”正利用司法部愚蠢的决定，抢走了数千名才华横溢的职业雇员”。
“当部门失去可能永远无法挽回的世代机构知识时，外部雇主正受益于他们抢走的无可匹敌的人才，”杨补充道。
在明尼苏达州，由于移民局特工争议性地杀害两名美国公民，导致明尼苏达美国检察官办公室大量人员离职。两名离职律师已成立一家私人律所，专注于白领辩护、国际调查、复杂商业诉讼和危机管理。该律所迅速获得了一位高调客户，即上周五作为记者唐·莱蒙（Don Lemon）辩护律师出庭的莱蒙，因其上月在明尼阿波利斯教堂骚乱争议性起诉中被判无罪。
1月份，史密斯也与前政府律师蒂莫西·希菲（Timothy Heaphy）、大卫·哈巴赫（David Harbach）和托马斯·温德姆（Thomas Windom）共同创立了自己的私人白领调查与诉讼律所。
至少有两名前司法部检察官正竞选联邦公职。前公共诚信检察官瑞安·克罗斯韦尔（Ryan Crosswell）因特朗普政府决定撤销对前纽约市长埃里克·亚当斯的联邦刑事指控而辞职，现已宣布竞选宾夕法尼亚州众议院席位，并获得了包括支持民主党的VoteVets政治行动委员会在内的一系列高调背书。
上周，曾在特朗普第二任期前调查起诉他的J.P.库尼（J.P. Cooney）宣布，如果弗吉尼亚州今年晚些时候重新划分国会选区，他将竞选该州众议院席位。
“唐纳德·特朗普解雇我，是因为我忠于法治而非他本人，”库尼告诉CBS新闻。他赞扬了特别顾问办公室、美国检察官办公室和公共诚信部门的前同事，称”坚持法治和宪法是我的荣誉徽章”。
他在竞选信息中重点提及特朗普，并表示：”过去一年发生的事件比我一生中任何时候都更令我不安。”
“我不认为美国历史上曾有过这样的时刻：美国总统一个人就对我们共同珍视的基本价值观——如民主、法治——构成了真正而严重的威胁，”库尼说。
早期的捐赠者和活动人士反应积极——他在竞选启动几天内已筹集超过20万美元。
Mass departures from Justice Dept. are boon for law firms, legal groups and political campaigns
February 18, 2026 / 7:30 PM EST / CBS News
By
Scott MacFarlane Justice Correspondent
Scott MacFarlane is CBS News’ Justice correspondent. He has covered Washington for two decades, earning 20 Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards. His reporting has resulted directly in the passage of five new laws.
Read Full Bio
Michael Romano, a former federal prosecutor, is used to asking the questions in court, but now he’s finding himself on the other side, fielding the questions from witness tables at congressional hearings.
Twice already this year, he’s served as a witness at congressional hearings, warning that the Trump administration’s efforts to demote or fire Justice Department prosecutors who worked on cases involving President Trump or the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot pose a threat to democracy.
“It is an honor to speak with you today,” Romano said at a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about federal investigations, as he sat in a black leather armchair at the witness table behind a placard identifying him for the senators.
Romano is one of more than 5,000 employees who have resigned, retired or been fired from the Justice Department in the first year of Mr. Trump’s second administration. The large-scale purge – with both voluntary and involuntary departures – has gutted the agency of its institutional memory and long experience.
File: Former federal prosecutor Michael Romano testifies before a Senate panel on Feb. 10, 2026.
The historic turnover has proven to be a treasure trove for private firms, local prosecutor’s offices and political campaign operatives.
They’ve capitalized on the wave of talented ex-prosecutors like Romano seeking new work and new missions.
Romano left the Justice Department in March 2025, in the wake of President Trump’s overhaul of the agency. He was an elite prosecutor with a perfect record against the Capitol riot defendants, including some of the violent rioters who beat police officers. He also prosecuted cases of economic espionage, property destruction targeting international embassies in Washington and bank fraud.
At the private law firm where Romano is now working, he’s become a go-to congressional witness on the impact of the U.S. Capitol riot, defending the government’s prosecution of those who were accused of misdemeanors.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this month, Romano told senators, “There were no small crimes on Jan. 6, 2021. I have heard the criticism that misdemeanor defendants, accused of trespass offenses, were treated too harshly — and I strongly disagree with it. The people who trespassed at the Capitol, and committed disorderly behavior, enabled the mob violence.”
“It is the most righteous effort I have been a part of, with the finest team of investigators, prosecutors, and staff I have worked with,” he testified.
Romano’s testimony has been a source of encouragement for his former colleagues.
“What matters is that people with firsthand experience are willing to raise concerns when they believe something is amiss,” said Greg Rosen, the former head of the Justice Department’s Capitol Siege Section. “That kind of engagement isn’t partisan; it’s quintessentially American.”
Rosen also left the Justice Department in 2025 and now works for Rogers Joseph O’Donnell, a prominent boutique litigation D.C. law firm.
As a private attorney, Romano is marshaling his experience to help people enmeshed in labor disputes. He told CBS News he likes his new job and colleagues and says of the work, “It’s important. I think a lot of the tools that we used to investigate crime in the Justice Department can be used to investigate other sorts of wrongdoing.”
The D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office, where Romano used to work, suffered heavy turnover in 2025, as Mr. Trump attacked the work of the office on its Jan. 6 prosecutions and as the administration sought to demote or remove prosecutors involved. In a 2025 interview, D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro revealed the office had been crushed by a staffing shortage and needed 90 additional prosecutors to manage the caseload.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has also been gutted by resignations and retirements over the past 12 months, according to multiple Justice Department sources and a report from the American Bar Association.
Among the departures is Sydney Foster, a prolific attorney and former acting chief of the Civil Rights Division’s Appellate Section. Last month, she joined the Washington Litigation Group, a non-profit legal organization whose mission is to curb government overreach. It’s challenging some of the controversial decisions and policies of the Trump administration.
The group’s president, Tom Green, said Foster, with her extensive appellate experience and expertise, is a “perfect fit” for the firm.
Her departure was a notable loss for the Justice Department. She argued more than 30 cases before federal appellate courts for the government, and now she’ll be working with clients who have cases against the Trump administration.
Foster said it’s a “critical moment for our democracy.”
“We are focusing on bringing the most impactful cases in this very critical moment,” she told CBS News.
The Washington Litigation Group is involved in lawsuits challenging Trump’s renaming of the Kennedy Center, the hollowing out of the Justice Department’s Community Relations Service and the legitimacy of a U.S. attorney appointment by the Trump administration. It has landed other former Justice Department prosecutors, too. Among them are Mary Dohrmann and James Pearce, who both served on former special counsel Jack Smith’s legal team.
Other Justice Department alumni have shifted to local government work. One group has joined the Arlington County, Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, according to a spokesperson for the office.
Stacey Young, the founder and executive director of Justice Connection, an organization that helps ousted Justice Department staff, said nonprofits and firms “are capitalizing on DOJ’s idiotic decision to drive out many thousands of brilliant career employees.”
“As the department loses generations of institutional knowledge it may never get back, employers on the outside are benefiting from the unmatched talent they’re snatching up,” Young said.
In Minnesota, where the controversial killings of two U.S. citizens by immigration agents have been a factor in the mass exodus from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, two of the departed attorneys have launched a private firm.
One of the two, Joe Thompson, who was formerly the office’s acting U.S. attorney, said the practice would be a boutique law firm “focused on white-collar defense, international investigations, complex commercial litigation, and crisis management.” Thompson promptly landed a high-profile client, appearing in court last Friday as a defense attorney for journalist Don Lemon, who has pleaded not guilty to federal charges in the controversial prosecution of a church disturbance last month in Minneapolis.
In January, Smith also launched his own private white-collar investigation and litigation firm with former government lawyers Timothy Heaphy, David Harbach and Thomas Windom.
At least two other former Justice Department prosecutors are running for federal office. Ryan Crosswell, a former public integrity prosecutor who quit amid the Trump administration’s controversial decision to drop a federal criminal case against former New York Mayor Eric Adams, has declared his candidacy for a House seat in Pennsylvania.
Crosswell has secured a series of high-profile endorsements, including from the VoteVets political action group, which champions Democratic political candidates.
And last week, J.P. Cooney, who was on the team that investigated and prosecuted Mr. Trump before his second term, announced his intention to run for a House seat in Virginia, if the state redraws its congressional maps later this year.
Cooney told CBS News, “Donald Trump fired me because of my fidelity to the rule of law instead of to him.” He praised his former colleagues in the special counsel’s office, U.S. Attorney’s Office and Public Integrity Section, and said, “I view it as a badge of honor for standing for the rule of law and the Constitution.”
He’s made Mr. Trump a prominent part of his early campaign messaging and told CBS News, “The events of the last year have disturbed me more than at any point in my life.”
“I don’t believe that there has ever been a moment in American history that a single person, the president of the United States, posed a real, grave threat to fundamental values that we all share, like democracy, the rule of law,” Cooney said.
The early response from donors and activists has been positive — he’s raised more than $200,000 in the opening days of his campaign.