Trump administration reassigns close to 20 Justice Department officials, sources say

(This Jan. 22 story has been refiled to fix a typographical error in paragraph 11)

By Andrew Goudsward and Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump's administration has reassigned about 20 senior career Justice Department attorneys, two sources familiar with the moves told Reuters, as the new president moves swiftly to shake up an arm of government that has long drawn his ire.

The group included at least four officials who have each served in the Justice Department for 12 years or longer, the first two sources and two additional sources said.

The four officials had kept their roles as control of the White House shifted repeatedly between the Democratic and Republican parties, underscoring the unusual nature of the shakeup.

Several of the attorneys were reassigned to a newly created Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group, as Trump moves to try to stop state and city government officials from resisting his plans to crack down on illegal immigration, the sources said.

The sanctuary cities office was tasked with challenging local and state laws and policies that conflict with Trump's immigration agenda, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.

The department brought two criminal cases against Trump during his four years out of power, one for his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and another over retaining classified documents after leaving office.

"The prior administration and allies throughout the country engaged in an unprecedented, third-world weaponization of prosecutorial power," an executive order Trump signed Monday read, requiring a review of law enforcement and intelligence activities during the Biden administration for indications they were improperly deployed against political opponents.

The reassignments are in addition to this week's firings of four senior career officials who worked in the Executive Office of Immigration Review, including its director Mary Cheng and Chief Immigration Judge Sheila McNulty, two sources said.

The moves go against typical department practice, former Justice Department officials said. 

"These are career people. They are not political. They are people who have been in these positions often many, many years or even decades. They have developed a real expertise, and that's a great resource for the government," said Randall Eliason, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches law at The George Washington University.

He called the moves "part of a broader assault on expertise in the government."

One of the reassigned career officials is Corey Amundson, the chief of the Public Integrity Section, which advised the attorneys leading the prosecutions of Trump, according to three of the sources.

Amundson declined to comment.

"Corey Amundson is as talented a federal prosecutor and Department leader as I know,” said a former senior Trump DOJ official. “It’s a difficult job managing Public Integrity, and he’s done it admirably for more than six years across two Administrations with absolute integrity and without regard to politics.”

The second reassigned official is George Toscas, a senior official in the National Security Division, who oversaw counterintelligence investigations, according to three sources. In court documents, Trump's lawyers named Toscas as a supporter of the FBI's search of Trump's Florida property for classified documents.

Toscas could not immediately be reached for comment.

The third is Eun Young Choi, who led the Justice Department’s cryptocurrency enforcement initiative and was also on the team that prosecuted Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, whom Trump pardoned on Tuesday.

Choi could not immediately be reached for comment.

The fourth is Bruce Swartz, a deputy assistant attorney general who worked on international law and treaty negotiations. He could not be immediately reached for comment.

Reuters was not able to identify the other transferred officials, but the sources said they were all career officials who have held somewhat senior roles in the department.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward, Sarah N. Lynch and Brad Heath; Editing by Alistair Bell)