Several former Justice Department attorneys seek elected office -- some to fight policies enacted by Trump

Source: CBS News

August 3, 2025 / 3:06 PM EDT


Ryan Crosswell's campaign for a U.S. House seat features the hallmarks of many traditional political operations. His website shows him in shirtsleeves talking about his military service and growing up in a coal town. His campaign video features images of the nearby Pennsylvania community of Pottsville, festooned in red, white and blue bunting. His campaign advisers circulate copies of a political advocacy group's endorsement.

Crosswell talks about knocking on doors and meeting voters, one of whom Crosswell said is "struggling and may need to sell her house." But, unlike many congressional candidates, Crosswell has no campaign experience and has never worked in politics. He's one of several former Justice Department attorneys and officials seeking public office after resigning from an agency they say has been contaminated by politics.

Among the wave of resignations and firings of Justice Department prosecutors, administrators and career staffers who have resigned or been fired in the first six months of President Trump's second term, some want to resume public service, and now they're exploring different avenues to achieve that.

Crosswell, a longtime federal prosecutor, resigned from the Justice Department on Feb. 17, in protest of the controversial department decision to drop the criminal corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams and a purge of the agency's public integrity division.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-justice-dept-attorneys-seek-elected-office-fight-trump-policies/