Actually the person who has full Constitutional authority over them is Trump. DOJ is an executive agency and the SES’s and those with “excepted service” government ratings
serve at the chief executive’s pleasure.
“..
The primary common denominator of many of these agencies and positions is that they have national security and/or intelligence functions, such as the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of State, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Secret Service, and the NCIS. Attorney positions, Presidential Management Fellows, Presidential Innovation Fellows, and Foreign Service positions are examples of positions excepted across-the-board in all Federal agencies.
..”
(From wiki but it’s not too wrong here!)
So Trump has the legal constitutional right to fire them immediately. (Certainly pull their clearances & accesses!)
He is not doing this for I think the following reasons.
1. Their antics service his political needs. The more partisan (anti-Trump) they act the more politically powerful Trump becomes. It’s actually sweet! All their obstructionist acts have the opposite effect of what they want, they don’t weaken Trump they make him stronger. Trump knows this! (What’s sweet is they’re too stupid to see that!. Remember what Trump said in the campaign we are governed by the stupid!)
2. He doesn’t have a guaranteed 5-4 on the USSC yet. All his actions & I mean everything will end up in federal court. He is chipping away at the lower courts with his appointments but there are still too many anti-constitutional left wing judges out there (Still too easy to find one!) We need 1 or possibly 2 more USSC appointments. So please no more Alabama debacles!
Appreciate your comments. And I do see the validity of your points.
My concern, however, is that the the politicization and weaponization of federal agencies like DOJ, FBI and IRS is of the utmost gravity in that this undermines people’s confidence in the rule of law and erodes the very foundation of our democratic principles.
This is like having termites in your home and doing nothing about it. Eventually, the entire structure will crumble.
Trump really needs to clean out the infestation and shore up the house to make it stronger. While there are some political advantages to giving these people the rope to hang themselves, there is a risk of destroying confidence in our governmental institutions and processes. I trust you can see the seriousness of that.