Ex-federal prosecutors in Chicago taking on Trump's 'troubling' DOJ: ‘We feel compelled to speak and act'

Fearing President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is “ignoring its founding principles,” a prominent group of former Chicago federal prosecutors invited more than 300 fellow alums this week to join them in moving “from handwringing to action” to preserve the agency’s integrity.

The 14 signatories on this week’s “Call to Action” email include three former Chicago U.S. attorneys: Dan Webb, Scott Lassar and Patrick Fitzgerald. They're calling for a non-partisan effort led by former department officials acting as “private citizens," according to a copy obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

“As lawyers who cherish the role DOJ should play in our criminal justice system, we feel compelled to speak and act against the troubling events underway at the Department,” the email states, “and we invite you to participate in those efforts.”

It appears to be the first Chicago-specific group of its kind, formed to push back against Trump’s Justice Department. However, the group’s email acknowledges that “many like-minded non-partisan organizations” already exist that could serve as partners.

Their efforts could involve litigation aimed at protecting the “integrity of elections” and a push to ensure federal prosecutors can still be held accountable for misconduct, according to the email.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a message from the Sun-Times seeking comment. But current U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said in a statement that his office is "busy doing the people's business, which means prosecuting criminals who commit serious crimes."

"We recognize the immense power we wield over life, liberty, and reputation, and therefore, we strive every day to exercise that enormous responsibility with integrity, fairness, decency, and humility," Boutros said. "We are not interested in anything that distracts us from our mission."

The email follows more than a year of Justice Department controversies, including claims that Trump has used the agency to retaliate against political foes like ex-FBI Director James Comey.

Fitzgerald represented Comey in court after Trump’s Justice Department secured an indictment against the former FBI boss. That indictment, in the Eastern District of Virginia, was tossed after a judge found the top prosecutor there acted as U.S. attorney without authorization.

Former federal prosecutor Ron Safer sent this week’s email and is among its 14 authors. They describe themselves as “Republicans, Independents, Democrats and everything in between.” Webb, Lassar and Fitzgerald were nominated to be U.S. attorney by Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, respectively.

The other signatories include Sergio Acosta, Sean Berkowitz, Patrick Collins, John Gallo, Kathy Murdock, Lawrence Oliver, Andrew Porter, Julie Porter, Mark Rotert and Andrea Zopp.

Acosta, Collins, Gallo, Lassar and Safer confirmed their involvement but declined to comment further. The other signatories either did not respond to messages or could not be reached for comment.

Former President Joe Biden once considered Acosta as a finalist to be Chicago’s U.S. attorney. Berkowitz prosecuted top Enron executives in the 2000s. Collins helped put ex-Gov. George Ryan in prison. And as a defense attorney, Gallo once represented former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Former federal prosecutors have pushed back in myriad ways against the direction of the Justice Department since Trump’s return to office 14 months ago. Several left the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago, including most criminal section chiefs. Others have played prominent roles defending criminal defendants or in litigation against government agencies.

The new Chicago effort is also reminiscent of the Fight Against Federal Overreach, a national coalition of state court prosecutors who say they’ve come together “to ensure federal officials are held accountable when they exceed their lawful authority.”

But the authors of the Chicago email simply describe themselves as “a very informal group of former colleagues … who have chatted about whether we could move from handwringing to action.” They’re now at law firms of various sizes, and some are retired.

They say they’ve done “preliminary research” into three specific ways the group might push back against the Justice Department. One involves litigation revolving around what the group called “core issues.”

“One particular issue is potential litigation to protect the integrity of elections,” they wrote. “There are many like-minded non-partisan organizations who are already at work with which we could partner in these efforts.”

The group might also craft a comment pushing back against a Justice Department proposal that appears designed to help its attorneys avoid discipline for ethics violations.

Under a proposal published in the Federal Register, ethics probes by state bar authorities into Justice Department lawyers could be suspended while the Justice Department conducts its own investigation.

“We believe that is a dangerous precedent,” the former Chicago prosecutors wrote in their email.

Finally, they wrote, “there are current efforts to encourage individual lawyers to sign onto statements of principles that represent the core values of our system of justice.”

The group’s members said they were “privileged” to once serve in the Justice Department.

“Today’s email is an invitation to serve the public again in tangible ways as private citizens, but private citizens who are alums of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago, who share common values about the Department of Justice from our prior service,” they wrote.