Wire report

Veteran conservative lawyer quits Trump’s interior department and warns of ‘assault on the rule of law’

John Murdock had been working for the agency for 18 years and his resignation comes during an exodus of longtime federal workers and scientists An 18-year veteran of the US Department of Interior has resigned in protest from the sprawling federal agency, denouncing “a deeply troubling assault on the rule of the law” that took place at the department under Donald Trump. John Murdock, an attorney and self-described conservative Christian, began working for the agency’s legal office in 2002. In his resignation letter, first sent to his supervisor earlier this year and obtained exclusively by the Guardian and Public Domain, Murdock cites “glaring legal flaws” he witnessed within the agency during the course of the Trump administration, as well as concerns over offshore oil and gas drilling, the aggressive push to expand fossil fuels and the flouting of environmental regulation. Continue read

Image from linked report: Veteran conservative lawyer quits Trump’s interior department and warns of ‘assault on the rule of law’
Image from the linked report: Veteran conservative lawyer quits Trump’s interior department and warns of ‘assault on the rule of law’.Credit: The Guardian Thumbnail shown with attribution and outbound source link; VINI does not claim ownership or republish the original article body. Image source Image shown with attribution and an outbound source link; VINI does not claim ownership or republish the original article body.
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John Murdock had been working for the agency for 18 years and his resignation comes during an exodus of longtime federal workers and scientists An 18-year veteran of the US Department of Interior has resigned in protest from the sprawling federal agency, denouncing “a deeply troubling assault on the rule of the law” that took place at the department under Donald Trump. John Murdock, an attorney and self-described conservative Christian, began working for the agency’s legal office in 2002. In his resignation letter, first sent to his supervisor earlier this year and obtained exclusively by the Guardian and Public Domain, Murdock cites “glaring legal flaws” he witnessed within the agency during the course of the Trump administration, as well as concerns over offshore oil and gas drilling, the aggressive push to expand fossil fuels and the flouting of environmental regulation. Continue read

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What happened

According to The Guardian’s source item, Veteran conservative lawyer quits Trump’s interior department and warns of ‘assault on the rule of law’, John Murdock had been working for the agency for 18 years and his resignation comes during an exodus of longtime federal workers and scientists An 18-year veteran of the US Department of Interior has resigned in protest from the sprawling federal agency, denouncing “a deeply troubling assault on the rule of the law” that took place at the department under Donald Trump. John Murdock, an attorney and self-described conservative Christian, began working for the agency’s legal office in 2002. In his resignation letter, first sent to his supervisor earlier this year and obtained exclusively by the Guardian and Public Domain, Murdock cites “glaring legal flaws” he witnessed within the agency during the course of the Trump administration, as well as concerns over offshore oil and gas drilling, the aggressive push to expand fossil fuels and the flouting of environmental regulation. Continue read

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The development sits in VINI’s Culture file for readers following arts, entertainment, fashion, film, music, celebrity, and the business of culture. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The source item is dated 2026-10-06T13:00:15+00:00.

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Primary source: Veteran conservative lawyer quits Trump’s interior department and warns of ‘assault on the rule of law’ via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

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