As Attorney General Pam Bondi approaches her first anniversary on the job, the firings of career attorneys have defined her turbulent tenure. The terminations and a larger voluntary exodus of lawyers have erased centuries of combined experience. They have also left the department with fewer career employees to act as a bulwark defending the rule of law when President Donald Trump is testing the limits of executive power by demanding prosecutions of his political enemies. Interviews by The Associated Press of more than a half-dozen fired employees offer a snapshot of the toll throughout the department. The Justice Department has disputed the accounts of some of those who have been fired or quit.

Jerome Powell isn't the first high-profile official to find himself targeted by the Justice Department since Donald Trump returned to the White House. The Republican president pledged in his inaugural address his government would apply the law fairly — unlike the way he said federal power had been turned against him. What's happened since is a string of indictments and inquiries and failed attempts at indictments against a long line of people who've crossed Trump. The list includes Federal Reserve governors who won't cut interest rates fast enough for Trump, former directors at the CIA and the FBI, and prosecutors who've investigated and even won cases against him.

President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Alina Habba, announced her resignation as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey. This decision comes after an appeals court disqualified her from the role. Habba was appointed in March to serve a temporary term. She had no prior federal prosecutorial experience, and New Jersey's senators opposed her confirmation. In July, a panel of federal judges replaced her with a subordinate. Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the replacement, blaming politically motivated judges. Earlier this month, an appeals court formally disqualified Habba.

President Donald Trump brought insults and grievances to the traditional Thanksgiving turkey pardoning ceremony at the White House. On Tuesday, he joked about sending the turkeys to a prison in El Salvador and suggested naming them after Democratic stalwarts Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. Trump also claimed that last year's turkey pardons by President Joe Biden were invalid. The ceremony eventually proceeded with Trump pardoning a turkey named Gobble, although its companion, Waddle, was absent. Trump also used the event to claim that Thanksgiving meal prices are dropping, though some research suggests otherwise.

A federal judge has dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, concluding that the prosecutor who brought the charges at President Donald Trump's urging was illegally appointed by the Justice Department. The rulings from U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie amount to a stunning rebuke of the Trump administration's efforts to target Trump's political opponents as well as its legal maneuvering to hastily install a loyalist prosecutor willing to file the cases. The orders make Lindsey Halligan the latest Trump administration prosecutor to be disqualified because of the manner in which they were appointed.

Lawyers for two of President Donald Trump's foes who've been charged by the Justice Department have asked a federal judge to dismiss the cases against them, saying the prosecutor who secured the indictments was illegally installed. U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie says she expects to decide by Thanksgiving on challenges to Lindsey Halligan's appointment as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Currie also disclosed Thursday a record of grand jury proceedings in ex-FBI Director James Comey's case was missing a portion. Comey denies charges of making a false statement and obstructing Congress. New York Attorney General Letitia James also was charged by Halligan and denies mortgage fraud allegations.

John Bolton has pleaded not guilty in the Justice Department case accusing him of sharing classified information. Bolton was ordered released from custody after making his appearance before a judge in the third Justice Department case brought in recent weeks against an adversary of the Republican president. Bolton has signaled he will argue he is being targeted because of his criticism of the president, describing the charges as part of a Trump "effort to intimidate his opponents." The case, however, appears to have followed a more conventional path toward indictment than other recent cases against perceived Trump enemies.

Former FBI Director James Comey has pleaded not guilty in a criminal case that has highlighted the Justice Department's efforts to target adversaries of President Donald Trump. Comey's lawyers said Wednesday they plan to argue the prosecution is politically motivated and should be dismissed. The Comey case amplifies concerns Trump's Justice Department is being weaponized in pursuit of the Republican president's political enemies. Comey was arraigned at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. Comey's indictment two weeks ago followed an extraordinary chain of events that saw Trump publicly implore Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against Comey and other perceived adversaries. Comey's trial is set for Jan. 5.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has repeatedly deflected questions while seeking to defend herself during a combative congressional hearing in the face of growing criticism that she's turning the law enforcement agency into a weapon to seek vengeance against President Donald Trump's political opponents. Democrats sought to use Tuesday's hearing to warn of what they view as the politicization of a department that has long prided itself on remaining independent from the White House. The hearing comes on the heels of the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, which has deepened concerns about the politicization of the department.

President Donald Trump's retribution campaign against his perceived political enemies has reached new heights as his Justice Department brings criminal charges against a longtime foe and he expands his efforts to classify certain liberal groups as "domestic terrorist organizations." Ex-FBI Director James Comey was indicted by a grand jury Thursday and accused of lying to Congress in a hastily brought case days after the Republican president publicly demanded action. Hours earlier, Trump signed a memorandum directing his administration to target backers of what they dubbed "left-wing terrorism" as he alleged without evidence a vast conspiracy by nonprofit groups and activists to finance violent protests. Trump says "it's about justice." Comey says he's innocent.