Schiff Urges Bondi to Explain ‘Egregious’ Firing of Ethics Chief

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is demanding Attorney General Pam Bondi explain her firing of the Justice Department’s ethics director and square it with her commitments under oath.

In a letter sent Wednesday, Schiff and five other Democratic senators warned Bondi that she’s created a “dangerous vacuum in ethics expertise at a time when the Department and its officials face unprecedented ethical challenges.”

They asked her to reconcile her confirmation hearing promise to seek the advice of career ethics officials with her removal of ethics director Joseph Tirrell—as first reported in Bloomberg Law—along with earlier reassignments of career leaders overseeing employee conduct.

The letter comes one day after President Donald Trump called for a criminal mortgage fraud prosecution of Schiff, Trump’s adversary dating back to his investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia.

The letter co-signed by Schiff’s fellow Judiciary Committee members including Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), requested a legal justification for Tirrell’s July 11 termination and for Bondi to describe how Tirrell’s functions directing the department’s ethics program would be replaced.

The July 11 termination of Joseph Tirrell, who counseled Bondi, her deputy Todd Blanche, and other senior political appointees on financial disclosures, conflicts of interest and other ethics matters, is “particularly egregious” because the veteran career attorney received no explanation for his abrupt removal, they wrote.

Tirrell, who was ousted after nearly 20 years at DOJ and the FBI, has posted his letter from Bondi on LinkedIn.

Schiff’s letter comes as the first-year senator has been active in attempts to hold the Trump administration DOJ accountable.

Trump’s long-running feud with Schiff going back to his tenure in the House escalated Tuesday when the president posted on Truth Social that “Fannie Mae’s Financial Crimes Division have concluded” that Schiff engaged in a “sustained pattern of possible Mortgage Fraud.”

The accusation is tied to Schiff’s ownership of homes in Maryland and California, and has been referred to the Justice Department for potential criminal investigation, according to a letter from the Federal Housing Finance Agency published by Fox News Wednesday.

Schiff released a video statement Tuesday that denied the allegation. “What really is going on here is this is Donald Trump trying to bring about political retribution, retaliation—trying to distract from his Epstein files problem,” he said.