Ex-DOJ official goes public with blistering criticism of his former bosses

A former political appointee at the Trump Justice Department has emerged as one of its most outspoken critics, accusing his former bosses, particularly acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, of "very sloppy" work, "sabotage," careerism and betrayal of the Trump agenda.

Attorney Jonathan Gross is also revealing new information about the inner workings of the department's "Weaponization Working Group," an internal effort launched by former Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate claims that federal law enforcement was politicized under the Biden administration.

His public break with the department comes at a delicate time for the Trump administration. As the president gears up for the midterm elections some members of the MAGA base have expressed frustration at what they see as a failure to deliver on promises of accountability.

The Justice Department did not respond to NPR's request for comment.

Gross joined the Justice Department's civil rights division last summer after representing defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Before taking on those cases, the rabbi-turned-lawyer had no criminal defense experience. He nonetheless became a strident critic of the prosecution effort, at one point comparing it to the Holocaust. His work on Jan. 6 cases helped raise his profile among Trump allies, drawing the attention of former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and, ultimately, senior Trump-appointed officials at the Justice Department.

"We're lucky to have you on the team," wrote Leo Terrell, a former Fox News contributor and current DOJ official, announcing Gross' appointment in June 2025. "A great day for justice!"

Gross, as NPR first reported last year, soon began working with the newly-formed "Weaponization Working Group."

The small working group also included Jared Wise, a former FBI agent who was also criminally charged for his actions on Jan. 6. Wise entered the Capitol building during the riot and was captured on police bodycam video urging rioters to "kill" police officers defending the building. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and his case was dismissed when Trump returned to office. Like Gross, Wise joined the administration a few months later.

Both men expected the working group to expose what they considered grave abuses by the FBI agents and prosecutors involved in the Jan. 6 investigation, the largest in the department's history.

Those expectations quickly faded.

'They just don't care.'

The working group had "no budget, no staff" and "didn't meet as much as you would think," Gross told conservative activist and former Jan. 6 defendant Brandon Straka in an interview posted on YouTube this week. Gross did not respond to NPR's interview requests.

The group's work has largely unfolded in secret, but, as NPR previously reported, both Gross and Wise participated in discussions about drafting a report on alleged abuses of Jan. 6 defendants by the Justice Department under President Biden.

Prosecutors who worked on the massive Jan. 6 investigation have denied all wrongdoing. They have argued that the "Weaponization Working Group" is a partisan effort to punish officials for prosecuting Trump supporters and effectively rewrite the history of the violent attack, which injured 140 police officers and threatened the democratic process.

More than a year later, however, the department has released no report or findings on the Jan. 6 prosecutions. Both Gross and Wise, who also recently left the administration, have indicated that the "Weaponization Working Group" is no longer working on investigating the people who handled the Capitol riot cases.

"This DOJ and FBI don't comprehend the damage they're doing to J6 defendants and their families by refusing to investigate the abuses of the Biden DOJ and FBI," Wise posted on X.

"They comprehend," Gross responded. "They just don't care."

A source familiar with the activities of the "Weaponization Working Group" told NPR that the group is currently focused on reports of alleged anti-Christian bias and "targeting" of people who protested local school board meetings.

The lack of action on the Jan. 6 inquiry has frustrated many former riot defendants. They continue to press for what some call the three Rs: "reparations," in the form of financial settlements; "revenge" against prosecutors and judges; and "revelations," they believe would validate conspiracy theories that the Capitol riot was a "setup" by the federal government.

Earlier this month, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, posted a video praising efforts to rescue 1,500 dogs allegedly mistreated at an animal testing research facility.

"Pirro is concerned about dogs, but completely ignores the 1500+ J6ers that her office was weaponized against," former Jan. 6 defendant Will Pope responded on X. "Aren't my constitutional rights more important than a beagle?"

'You can't do this.'

Gross says his short tenure at the Justice Department unraveled because of his advocacy for Jan. 6 defendants and others he believed had been targeted by a politicized justice system.

He told Straka that he repeatedly emailed superiors about cases he thought deserved renewed scrutiny.

"I never got a response to any of those emails until I was told to stop," Gross said.

The final straw, he said, was when he brought former Jan. 6 defendants into Justice Department headquarters.

Gross did not identify specific people he escorted into the building, but suggested their presence raised eyebrows in the building.

"They have security measures to make sure that I'm not bringing in real terrorists," Gross said. "But I brought in people who have been designated as terrorists, that's for sure."

Gross said he took his guests around the building so they could talk to Trump officials about their cases.

"But at a certain point, I guess, I went too far or did [it] too many times or maybe went into the wrong person's office," Gross said.

Eventually, Gross said, his boss, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, called him in for a meeting.

"She called me in and she said, 'You can't do this,'" Gross said. "And I said, 'These people are victims of weaponization. This is what I'm here for.'"

At that point, according to Gross, he was placed on paid leave, moved to a different office, and "basically demoted" and assigned "menial" tasks, before he eventually left the Justice Department altogether.

'Don't be fooled'

Since leaving the administration, Gross has leveled his sharpest criticism at Todd Blanche, who was the department's No. 2 official before becoming acting attorney general after Pam Bondi's ouster.

In the top job, Blanche has overseen a burst of activity at the department, including the indictment of the nonprofit civil rights group the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) over its use of paid confidential informants in extremist groups, as well as the indictment of former FBI director James Comey over his Instagram post of seashells in the shape of the numbers "8647." The department alleges the post constituted a criminal threat against Trump. Comey has denied all wrongdoing.

"Todd Blanche was in charge for over a year and sabotaged Pam Bondi so he could swoop in and take her job," Gross posted on X. "Nothing stopped Blanche from dropping these indictments while Bondi was there."

"He's auditioning for AG. Don't be fooled. We need to go in a different direction," Gross wrote in another post.

Blanche has denied the allegation.

"I don't audition for this job," Blanche told CBS News last month. "I've been the deputy attorney general for over a year, OK? This is not an audition."

Gross has also criticized the merits of the SPLC case.

"This is a very sloppy job," Gross told the conservative network Real America's Voice, predicting that the charges would ultimately be thrown out. The SPLC has said it will "vigorously defend" itself against the charges.

Even as he continues his public campaign against Blanche, Gross has said he also fears that his former colleagues may retaliate against him.

"I just think it would be very ironic if they came after me," Gross told Straka. "But I'm willing to do it."

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