The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has reportedly reassigned several senior officials across divisions ahead of the president’s expected confirmation. Donald Trump‘s nomination for U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Fox News is told that multiple staffers in the DOJ’s criminal and national security divisions have been removed from their current posts and reassigned.
While it’s hard to fire a career person “just because,” a new job is possible, and appears to have happened.
Of those moving to other positions within the DOJ was Bruce Schwartz, head of the Internal Affairs Bureau, which handles extradition cases, a person familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press. The same person reportedly told the telephone service that approximately 20 officers had been reassigned.
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Pam Bondi, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, is sworn in before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 15. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Also reportedly moved was George Toscas, a veteran deputy assistant attorney general at the National Security Department who not only helped oversee major terrorism and espionage investigations but was also a key figure in politically motivated investigations over the past decade.
Toscas was involved in the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information and in the investigation into Trump’s possession of classified documents. Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Toscas’ reinstatement was confirmed to The Associated Press by another person familiar with the matter.
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“He has seen it all in counterterrorism and counterintelligence,” a former colleague of Toscas, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Washington Post. “There is no one in the department who knows as much about prosecuting and investigating terrorists and spies as George Toscas.”
The Washington Post also learned from sources familiar with the matter that Eun Young Choi, another deputy assistant attorney general at the National Security Division, was reassigned within the department and was notified via email Monday afternoon of the change.
The DOJ declined to comment on the changes.
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The Department of Justice in Washington, DC (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Hours after Trump took the oath of office, the DOJ removed at least four senior officials from the division that runs the nation’s immigration courts, which are currently backlogged.
The Washington Post reported that there is a 120-day moratorium on some staff reassignments after newly confirmed leaders begin their appointments, per federal guidelines. Bondi hasn’t been confirmed yet; therefore, the moratorium is not yet in effect in the DOJ.
Currently, James McHenry leads the DOJ as acting U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland left the department on Friday.
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The reasons for these moves were not immediately known, although it is common for a new administration to appoint its own staff to run the DOJ.
The moves could also be a harbinger of further changes given Trump’s interest in the department, which investigated him during his first term and charged him twice last year in separate cases that never went to trial and were dropped after Trump’s election victory in November.
