Michael Gates, the former Huntington Beach city attorney who left to join the Trump administration in February, was fired from the U.S. Department of Justice “for cause,” personnel records obtained through a records request show.
Gates, who spent the last 10 months as a deputy assistant U.S. attorney general in the Civil Rights Division, announced on social media on Sunday, Nov. 9 that he had resigned his position in the Trump administration and was returning home to work for the city once more. He said he was “very conflicted” about leaving because the job was “the honor of a lifetime,” but the months felt like years as he missed his family and their events.
Gates, in a call Friday morning, maintained he resigned.
Gates, in his initial announcement and subsequent interview Monday with a Register journalist, did not disclose that he was fired from his job. However, Gates was “terminated for cause” from the position, according to his SF-52 form, an employment document utilized by the federal government. The form said the action was authorized by Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general who oversees the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Gates was accused of creating a hostile work environment for multiple women in the office with whom he worked, according to a Justice Department source who was not among those who complained about Gates. He allegedly had a “consistent pattern” of referring to female colleagues by derogatory and demeaning names, the source said, and complained about the employment of a woman who was pregnant.
On Friday morning, Gates maintained that he resigned.
“They were angry I resigned, and I know this because it was well known throughout the office for months that anybody resigning would make them look bad,” Gates said. “When other people resigned, they were so mad. I’ve seen it with my own eyes because they thought it would make them look bad.”
A spokesperson for the department declined to comment, as is policy, because it is a personnel matter.
Gates’ resignation announcement caught many people in Huntington Beach by surprise, especially considering the enthusiasm he showed when he took the role in February. On social media, fans welcomed Gates home, while detractors moaned “Noooooooooo! Not him again!”
Huntington Beach has emerged as Orange County’s bastion of MAGA Trumpism, doing battle with California on voter identification and affordable housing mandates. Gates has been a crusader and said he was looking forward to re-entering the fight.
“The particular, and frankly, unique, battles Huntington Beach has been engaged in against the state, and how meaningful those can be, how high-impact those can be, I really did miss those,” he said in an interview on Monday.
Gates was elected as Huntington Beach’s city attorney in 2014 and won reelection twice more. He said he’ll run for his old post again next year, but meantime, he said he has accepted the city’s offer to be “chief assistant city attorney” starting Nov. 24.
The city already has a city attorney, Mike Vigliotta, who was appointed to serve the remainder of Gates’ term after he joined the Justice Department.
A spokesperson for the city has not responded to questions about the terms of Gates’ new employment with Huntington Beach or if Vigliotta plans to run for the office in 2026.
Gates announced in February that he was leaving his post as Huntington Beach’s city attorney to join the Justice Department.
“I am profoundly humbled and honored for this opportunity to serve the American people at a time like this — to advance President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda, fight to restore law and order throughout the country and fight to restore faith in the nation’s justice system,” he said at the time.
He had been one of the more outspoken elected officials in Huntington Beach and the county, leading his office to fight the state on multiple local control issues, including challenging the state’s sanctuary law, fighting for the city’s voter ID law, and preventing California from mandating the coastal city to build more housing.
But it was work on election-related issues that Gates said he was especially proud of during his short tenure at the Justice Department.
Gates was involved in the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page, alleging that Page did not turn over full records related to the removal of non-citizens from voter registration lists. Page, through attorneys, has maintained he followed state and federal law and could not give sensitive personal information of registrants without a subpoena or court order.
The lawsuit was among numerous challenges the Trump administration launched against multiple states as part of an effort to ensure they comply with federal requirements for maintaining voter rolls.
In what Gates said on social media was his resignation letter, addressed to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Gates said, “My decision to resign was not made easily — but, in light of many circumstances, and after my experiences working at the Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C., this year, I believe this is the best decision for me and my family.”
Since posting that letter on Sunday, Gates has shared on social media multiple news reports, including a television appearance, about his “resignation” from the Justice Department.
Staff writer Claire Wang contributed to this report.
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