Key career officials at Justice Department reassigned to different positions, AP source says
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has reassigned key senior officials across multiple divisions as part of a leadership shakeup ahead of the expected confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi.
Among those moved to other positions inside the department is Bruce Swartz, the longtime head of the Justice Department’s office of international affairs, which handles extradition matters, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press to discuss personnel moves. The person also said that as many as 20 or so officials had been reassigned.
Another affected official is George Toscas, a veteran deputy assistant attorney general in the department’s national security division who, in addition to helping oversee major terrorism and espionage investigations, has also been a key figure in politically charged probes over the last decade including into Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information and Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. His reassignment was confirmed by another person familiar with the matter.
A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The reasons for the moves were not immediately known. Though it is standard for a new administration to appoint its own political hires at the top of the Justice Department, career lawyers serve the department across administrations and typically retain their positions even when control of the agency changes hands.
The moves could foreshadow additional changes given Trump’s keen interest in the Justice Department, which investigated him in his first term through a special counsel and then indicted him twice last year in separate cases that never reached trial and were withdrawn after Trump’s November election win.
Trump’s fury over the investigations has raised alarms that he could seek to use the law enforcement powers of the department to pursue retaliation against his adversaries.
On his first day in office Monday, he pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including people convicted of assaulting police officers. The reassignments were first reported by the Washington Post.