Special counsel Hampton Dellinger faced President Trump head-on and lost, resigning his post on Thursday rather than fighting his firing from the outside.

His departure marks a major legal victory for Mr. Trump, removing someone who had emerged as a major impediment to the president’s agenda.

Mr. Dellinger led the Office of Special Counsel, which acts as a watchdog for federal employees who face adverse personnel decisions. This week alone, he secured a delay in firing more than 5,000 Agriculture Department employees.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday allowed the Trump administration to remove a top federal ethics watchdog from his office while a lawsuit challenging his termination plays out.

The order permitting the removal of Hampton Dellinger as head of the Office of Special Counsel came four days after a federal district court judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s attempt to boot Dellinger was “unlawful, and as the special counsel opposes the terminations of probationary employees throughout the government by the Trump administration.

Special Counsel Jack Smith resigned Friday from the Department of Justice as President-elect Donald Trump and others continued efforts to block the release of Smith’s final report on his criminal investigations of the Republican.

Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022, left his post 10 days before Trump’s inauguration.

Former President Trump’s legal team is back in court on Monday after a Friday hearing in which both sides argued the legality of Special Counsel Jack Smith's appointment in the classified document case against the former president.

The hearing continues Monday when the two sides again discuss matters related to Smith’s appointment as well as a limited gag order that prosecutors have requested to bar Trump from comments they fear could endanger the safety of FBI agents and other law enforcement officials involved in the case.

Donald Trump continues his legal assault Friday on the criminal case accusing the former U.S. president of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, when his lawyers challenge the appointment of the prosecutor in the case.

I’ve pointed out time and again (including yesterday) that Biden Justice Department AG Merrick Garland’s “special counsel” appointment of Biden Justice Department Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss in the Hunter Biden case is a fraud on the public.