The Trump administration fired at least four federal prosecutors and released a report accusing the Biden Justice Department of unfairly targeting anti-abortion protesters. The firings and the report came on the same day, and the DOJ made clear that the timing was intentional. The report was produced by the DOJ’s “Weaponization Working Group,” which was set up early in Trump’s second term to review law enforcement actions taken during the Biden years.
The group looked specifically at how the Biden administration used the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, known as the FACE Act, a 1994 law that makes it illegal to block access to abortion clinics, reports CNN. The law also protects places of religious worship from similar obstruction. The report claims that Biden prosecutors asked for much harsher sentences for anti-abortion defendants than for pro-abortion ones.
According to the Justice Department, Biden-era prosecutors recommended an average sentence of 26.8 months for anti-abortion activists, compared to 12.3 months for pro-abortion defendants. Acting Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” and added that the selective prosecution that happened under Biden “will not happen again.”
The Biden DOJ really did seem to go harder on one side than the other
The report focuses heavily on Sanjay Patel, a longtime prosecutor in the Civil Rights Division who handled many of the FACE Act cases. It accuses him of having an inappropriate relationship with the National Abortion Federation, a pro-abortion group.
According to the report, Patel was asked to speak at a National Abortion Federation fundraiser and also helped the group apply for a financial grant, all while he was actively prosecuting anti-abortion activists. The report also says he looked for ways to stack extra charges on defendants to make their prison sentences longer.
The report also criticizes how the Biden DOJ handled the arrest of Mark Houck, a Catholic father of seven and anti-abortion activist. Houck was accused of pushing a clinic escort outside a Planned Parenthood. The Trump administration says the FBI carried out a heavy-handed, coordinated arrest instead of simply allowing Houck to surrender peacefully.
This kind of aggressive approach is not unlike the political pressure Trump himself has faced and applied, which mirrors broader debates about how far a sitting administration can push its political agenda. Patel and at least three other prosecutors were fired on Monday. The Justice Department confirmed the firings, saying it “terminated the employment of personnel responsible for weaponizing the FACE Act.”
Critics of the firings pushed back hard. Stacey Young, a former Civil Rights Division lawyer, said that firing attorneys for enforcing the law is “unconscionable” and that it “politicizes the department’s enforcement actions.” The Biden administration’s former top civil rights official, Kristen Clarke, also defended the department’s record. She said the DOJ “enforced the law even-handedly and put public safety at the center” of its work.
It is worth noting that the report carries no legal weight. It cannot overturn any convictions or lead directly to criminal charges. However, it does say that “appropriate internal referrals have been made” for possible prosecutorial misconduct, without giving further details. The DOJ also left open the possibility that some current or former employees could be referred for criminal prosecution.
Trump had already pardoned many of the anti-abortion activists convicted under the FACE Act when he returned to office and directed the Justice Department to only bring civil abortion-related cases in “extraordinary circumstances.” His administration has shown a pattern of using bold public moves to shape political narratives, much like when Trump posted an AI image of himself as Jesus after attacking the Pope.
Published: Apr 14, 2026 03:15 pm