Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon told Tucker Carlson on Wednesday during a podcast that Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers held “crying sessions” after President Donald Trump won the election in 2024.
Following Trump’s November win, Democrats and media pundits quickly melted down over the president securing a second term. Appearing on “The Tucker Carlson Show,” Dhillon told Carlson how Trump’s anti-discrimination and anti-DEI agenda “catalyzed hundreds of lawyers to quit the civil rights division.”
“Wait, they quit because you informed them of the law?” Carlson asked.
“Yes, and the law and the priorities. Their pet projects had changed. They weren’t going to be able to do those the way that they wanted,” Dhillon said.
Between Trump’s inauguration in January and May, an estimated 250 attorneys in the DOJ’s civil rights division, which is roughly 70%, resigned, according to NPR.
Carlson asked Dhillon if the lawyers who were upset about Trump’s victory believed that the DOJ “was just immune to democracy” and if elections “just had no bearing” on the department.
“There were career lawyers there who were doing the same thing, no matter who is the president. Suddenly, their little fiefdom that had remained untouched, like Shangri-La, was suddenly having to be responsive to elections.”
“So that’s the definition of the deep state, what you just described? Elections have no effect? It’s like there’s no way to control these people. They act totally independently from the democratic system. That’s the problem,” Carlson said.
In December 2024, Dhillon was tapped by Trump to take up the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. Her track record includes taking on physicians who performed transgender surgeries.
“That’s what I found,” Dhillon said. “In response to my memos, it began leaking to the press. They began having unhappy hours, which they would invite supervisors, political supervisors, to make their point that they were unhappy. We got the point. And they had crying sessions, struggle sessions, crying sessions in the DOJ.”
Carlson appeared shocked.
“Oh, there was open crying in the halls,” Dhillon said. “Crying, yes. Then one of my colleagues described to me — it was the last day a couple of weeks ago for some of them — they lined up in a phalanx and approached the elevator together, and then they left the building together, to show their solidarity for one another there, as if they were persecuted.”
READ: Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson Launches Probe Into Biden’s Health
“How old are these [people] — high school students or adults?” Carlson asked.
Dhillon said they were “30, 40 and 50-year-old career attorneys in the Department of Justice” who were a part of the “sessions” and pushback against Trump’s agenda.
“It’s pathetic,” Carlson said.
Since taking up her position in the DOJ, Dhillon’s division has aided in religious liberty. The DOJ has launched a task force to “eliminate” anti-Christian bias and opened an investigation into Washington’s “anti-Catholic” law. In May, Dhillon’s division also began to probe Chicago officials over potential racial discrimination in their hiring. This was due to Democrat Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson touting his diverse administration.
Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.
Connect with us: Follow the Tampa Free Press on Facebook and Twitter for breaking news and updates.
Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox.
First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
