DOJ bleeds out as another top Trump official quits amid ‘bluenami’ MAGA staff exodus

Brett Shumate, head of the US Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, has resigned, adding to a wave of senior departures after Republicans lost both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the exit and praised Shumate’s work; the change matters as Democrats are expected to use their new investigative powers to scrutinise the department’s actions.

Shumate’s departure follows that of his former boss, Harmeet Dhillon, and two other senior prosecutors: National Security Division chief John Eisenberg and Florida US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones. The article says the Civil Rights Division under the Trump administration shifted towards conservative priorities, including election integrity and challenges to diversity policies. It also faced criticism over its response to fatal shootings in Minneapolis; the reasons for Eisenberg’s and Quiñones’s departures were unclear.