In the months since President Donald Trump’s second term began, about 70 government officials have publicly resigned in protest after being asked to do something they believed to be illegal or in violation of their oath of office. Eight executive agencies and five independent agencies have been impacted by these resignations, with many resignations coming from senior officials. In total, the 72 officials have nearly 450 years of civil service experience, with some having served up to six presidential administrations, according to a CREW analysis of resignation letters, news reports and other public information. At least nineteen of those who have resigned in protest have a decade or longer tenure at their agencies, with some nearing 40 years. Every administration sees resignations, but this level of resignations in protest is without known precedent. 

Within three months of Trump 2.0 beginning, the IRS had gone through four different commissioners. Acting IRS Commissioners, Doug O’Donnell, who served at the IRS for nearly four decades, and Melanie Krause, both resigned in protest after refusing to provide the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to IRS data of undocumented residents to share with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. Sharing the personal information of undocumented residents with ICE departs from the IRS’ decades long practice of carefully protecting taxpayer data. In the wake of DOGE infiltration of the IRS, the agency lost the chief financial officer, chief privacy officer, chief of staff and chief risk officer. In total, these departures represent nearly 70 years of expertise lost.

DOJ officials who have resigned after being asked to follow an order they believed was inappropriate served in the department for a collective total of 124 years. Danielle Sassoon, former interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, was one of the first DOJ officials to make headlines for resigning in protest. Following a directive from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to drop the historic federal corruption charges against New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams, Sassoon sent her resignation letter, explaining that dropping a case where federal crimes were committed beyond reasonable doubt goes against the oath of office. 

In the days following Sassoon’s resignation came the resignation of at least six other prosecutors including the lead prosecutor on the case. One of the six attorneys who resigned claimed that were they to follow Bove’s directive to sign the motion to dismiss the case, they would be rewarded with a leadership position. Three additional Assistant U.S. Attorneys also resigned, after being asked to express and admit wrongdoing regarding their refusal to dismiss the Adams case.

One assistant U.S. attorney who was part of the section investigating the January 6th, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol signed off his resignation letter with a damning, “You serve no man.” Another notable federal prosecutor with over two decades of service at the DOJ resigned in protest of the administration asking her to open a criminal investigation into environmental grants and to issue grand jury subpoenas without sufficient supportive documentation. The resignation letter stated that because they did not fall in line with what the administration requested, they were asked to resign. 

On February 25, 21 employees of the former United States Digital Service (USDS) now known as U.S. DOGE Service, resigned en masse. In a joint resignation letter, they wrote, “We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations. However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments at the United States DOGE Service.” They additionally cited being asked inappropriate questions about political loyalty, the termination of other staff and mishandling of sensitive data. 

The letter ends, “We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services. We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE’s actions.” 

The loss of expertise from the 72 officials who have publicly resigned in protest is striking and a serious blow to government functioning, especially since it may represent just a fraction of those pushed out. But even more notably, the second Trump administration is sending a clear message to get in line or get out. This approach to dissenters who refuse to obey orders that are illegal, unconstitutional or unethical has chilling authoritarian characteristics, and stands to reshape the federal government in dangerous ways.

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