'Litigation is forthcoming': Top lawyer representing ex-DOJ official fired 'without explanation'
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to the media, after the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to the power of federal judges by restricting their ability to grant broad legal relief in cases as the justices acted in a legal fight over President Donald Trump's bid to limit birthright citizenship, in the Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington D.C., June 27, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
Early Thursday morning, July 17, Mark S. Zaid — an attorney known for his national security expertise — made an announcement on X, formerly Twitter: He is now representing Patty Hartman, a Philadelphia-based former journalist who U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi fired from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) without explanation.
Zaid tweeted, "We are proud to represent #PattyHartman, a former @TheJusticeDept official who was unlawfully terminated by Attorney General Bondi & Trump Administration. Litigation is forthcoming."
Zaid's announcement came a day after the Philadelphia Inquirer published an article detailing Hartman's firing.
READ MORE: 'The cover-up is so massive': Veteran journalist explains why MAGA won't let go of Epstein
Hartman, who lives in the Philly suburbs and was fired on July 7, made name for herself in the Delaware Valley Area during the 1990s with a series of jobs as a television news writer/producer in Philly and Wilmington, Delaware. The New Jersey native worked at WCAU-TV Channel 10 (the NBC affiliate in Philly) and Philly's Fox 29, but she later shifted her focus by working as a writer for DOJ, the FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
It was Hartman's press releases during Joe Biden's presidency, critics of the Trump Administration allege, that may have been problematic in MAGA World. Hartman, at DOJ, wrote press releases on the prosecutions of January 6, 2021 rioters under then-Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Hartman told the Philadelphia Inquirer, "I was fired without reason, and I'm completely perplexed. I was doing nothing more than putting out press releases, sharing public information. My job did not involve deciding what individual was worthy of a press release."
The Inquirer's Alfred Lubrano reports, "Hartman said she issued hundreds of news releases about people who had been arrested for participating in the January 6 riot, written in a 'boilerplate way, with just the bare facts' and no bias or political commentary.
In the largest prosecution in DOJ history, about 1500 people were federally charged in the riot, according to figures from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington. Of more than 1000 who pleaded guilty, about 260 were convicted, according to the office."
READ MORE: 'Are you drinking right now?' Congressmen from opposing parties get in heated exchange
Lubrano adds, "President Donald Trump, who was impeached for incitement of insurrection during the final days of his first presidency but was acquitted in the Senate, commuted sentences for 14 rioters and issued a blanket pardon for all other January 6 defendants on the first day of his second presidency."
Hartman told the Inquirer, "It's ironic you would fire the person responsible for transparency. But I’m just another faceless, dedicated federal employee being sacrificed.”
READ MORE: Jim Jordan will now have to answer questions under oath about wrestling team scandal
Alfred Lubrano's full article for The Philadelphia Inquirer is available at this link (subscription required).
