司法部总法律顾问托德·布兰奇正在动摇司法部高层人事，此举正值该部门预计将与国会发生冲突，且对一系列法律和政治挫折感到日益沮丧之际。
General Todd Blanche is shaking up the Justice Department’s senior ranks ahead of an expected clash with Congress and mounting frustration over a string of legal and political failures.
周四和周五，多位高调领导人辞去司法部职务，其中包括民权司司长哈米特·迪隆、国家安全司司长约翰·艾森伯格，以及佛罗里达南区联邦检察官杰森·雷丁·基诺内斯，后者领导检察官办理了所谓的“大阴谋”案件，这是唐纳德·特朗普总统希望针对其长期对手发起的诉讼。
High-profile leaders resigned from the department Thursday and Friday, including Civil Rights Division chief Harmeet Dhillon, National Security Division chiefJohn Eisenberg and U.S. Attorney for Southern Florida Jason Reding Quiñones, who led prosecutors in the so-called “grand conspiracy” case President Donald Trump hoped to mount against his longtime adversaries.
两名知情人士在获准匿名描述内部决策的情况下表示，这些离职并不令人意外。其中一人称，布兰奇对部门部分领导层感到沮丧，因为他们在针对总统首要优先事项提起高调起诉或在诉讼中取得重大胜利方面举步维艰。迪隆、艾森伯格和雷丁·基诺内斯暂未回应置评请求。
Two people familiar with the personnel changes, granted anonymity to describe internal decision-making, said the departures were not surprising. One person said Blanche had grown frustrated with some of the department’s leadership amid struggles to bring high-profile indictments or score big wins in litigation connected to the president’s top priorities. Dhillon, Eisenberg and Reding Quiñones didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
司法部发言人基尔斯滕·佩尔斯在一份声明中表示，该部门“很幸运曾拥有那些最近宣布离职的人员，他们所有人都为让美国更安全做出了贡献。”司法部官员拒绝进一步说明离职原因。
Justice Department spokesperson Kiersten Pels said in a statement the department “was lucky to have had those who have recently announced departures, all of whom contributed to making America safer.”Department officials declined to expand on the reason for the departures.
她说：“该部门的使命保持不变：执行法律、打击犯罪、保护美国人民。”
“The Department’s mission is unchanged: enforce the law, combat crime, and protect the American people,” she said.
布兰奇的顾问、在行政权力法律斗争方面经验丰富的亨利·惠特克也将离开司法部。司法部国会联络员帕特里克·戴维斯于上月底离职。知情人士之一称，这两人的离职均在预料之中。惠特克和戴维斯均未置评。
Henry Whitaker, a counselor to Blanche and veteran of legal battles over executive power, is also leaving DOJ. Patrick Davis, the Justice Department’s liaison to Capitol Hill, left the department late last month. Both were expected departures, one of the people said. Whitaker and Davis didn’t comment.
司法部高层人员的流失，使该部门失去了一些最资深的得力干将，而正值国会民主党人因新获得多数党地位而摩拳擦掌，准备利用这一优势调查该部门在政治敏感决策上的作为，以及特朗普本人在推动这些决策中所扮演的角色。民主党人已发出信号，表明他们打算调查司法部在特朗普起诉美国国税局（IRS）泄露其税务申报表一案中达成的有争议的和解，以及司法部针对特朗普认定的政治敌人提起的“欺诈性且报复性的起诉”。
The thinning of DOJ’s upper ranks leaves the department without some of its most seasoned hands just as congressional Democrats are salivating at the chance to use their newly minted majority to probe the department’s most politically sensitive decisions, and the role Trump himself has played in driving them. Democrats have signaled they intend to probe DOJ’s controversial settlement in Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leaking of his tax returns and “fraudulent and vindictive prosecutions” DOJ brought against Trump’s perceived political enemies.
考虑到他们的顾虑，特朗普可能难以永久性地替换迪隆、雷丁·基诺内斯和艾森伯格等需要参议院批准的官员。参议院民主党人将在1月拥有拖延任何提名确认的权力，这将迫使该部门依靠代理任命者来填补这些职位。
And given their concerns, Trump could struggle to replace Senate-confirmed officials like Dhillon, Reding Quiñones and Eisenberg on a permanent basis. Senate Democrats in January will have the power to delay any confirmation, leaving the department to rely on acting appointees for those jobs.
司法部在与特朗普议程和个人利益密切相关的诉讼中接连遭遇高调败诉。法院驳回了迪隆领导的民权处提起的数十起诉讼，这些诉讼旨在强迫各州向联邦政府移交选民名册——这一连串败诉阻碍了政府在选举周期最后几周推行新的选票安全程序的最后努力。
The Justice Department has suffered a string of high-profile defeats in litigation central to Trump’s agenda and personal interests. Courts rejected dozens of lawsuits filed by Dhillon’s Civil Rights Division aimed at forcing states to fork over their voter rolls to the federal government — a series of losses that hamstrung the administration’s last-ditch effort to impose new ballot security procedures in the waning weeks of the election cycle.
雷丁·基诺内斯领导的迈阿密办公室主导了一项针对特朗普对手的广泛调查，总统指控这些人在2016年大选俄罗斯干预调查中不当针对他。
Reding Quiñones’ Miami-based office was leading a wide-ranging probe of Trump adversaries the president has accused of improperly targeting him in the investigation of Russian election meddling in the 2016 election.
尽管经过了数月的炒作和关于可能大规模起诉的猜测，但这项工作收效甚微，领导该工作的人员大多已离开部门或转向其他优先事务。
Despite months of hype and speculation about potentially sweeping indictments, little has come of the effort, and those leading it have largely either left the department or moved on to other priorities.
“这是一个极其重要的办公室，却遭到了毁灭性打击，”前联邦检察官丹·盖尔伯（Dan Gelber）表示，他目前代表所谓“重大阴谋调查”目标之一、前中情局局长约翰·布伦南（John Brennan）。“最有经验的人都离职了。这些政治调查造成的干扰令人难以置信。”雷丁·基尼奥内斯办公室的一名律师在获准匿名的情况下坦率发言，表示办公室欢迎他的离开。“他监督了大量人员离职，这里的士气极低。我认为这里人们的普遍心情是非常高兴的，”此人说道。
“It’s an incredibly consequential office that’s been decimated,” said Dan Gelber, a former federal prosecutor who now represents one of the targets of the so-called “grand conspiracy probe,” former CIA Director John Brennan. “The most experienced people have fled. The distraction posed by these political investigations has been incredible.”One lawyer in Reding Quiñones’ office, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the office welcomed his exit. “He oversaw a ton of departures, and morale has been super low here. I think the general mood of people here is very happy,” the person said.
前哥伦比亚特区联邦检察官约瑟夫·迪杰诺瓦（Joseph diGenova）曾与雷丁·基尼奥内斯共同参与这项极具政治敏感性的调查，于9月辞职，他对这位前同事给予了赞誉。
Former U.S. Attorney for D.C., Joseph diGenova, who worked alongside Reding Quiñones on the politically charged investigation before resigning in September, offered praise for his former colleague.
“杰森·基尼奥内斯是我共事过的最优秀、最专业、最讲职业道德的检察官之一，是一位真正正直的人，我愿意再次与他共事，”迪杰诺瓦周五表示。
“Jason Quiñones was one of the finest, most professional, ethical prosecutors I have ever worked with, a genuinely honorable man and I would work with him again,” diGenova said Friday.
艾森伯格办公室对前国家安全顾问约翰·博尔顿（John Bolton）提起刑事诉讼，后者与检方达成认罪协议，承认非法保留机密信息罪名。
Eisenberg’s office brought a criminal case against former national security adviser John Bolton, who struck a plea deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to retaining classified information.
一些离职人员与前司法部长帕姆·邦迪（Pam Bondi）关系密切，且均在她任期初期上任。
Some of those departing were close to former Attorney General Pam Bondi and all assumed their posts early in her tenure.