By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-09 14:12:52 | Updated at 2025-03-09 22:01:49
7 hours ago
The head of a key US Justice Department task force that combats drugs and organised crime was fired on Friday, amid a move by President Donald Trump’s administration to purge or sideline career officials.
Adam Cohen, who was director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, in a social media post said he had been fired by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former criminal defence lawyer who was confirmed to the department’s No. 2 role by the US Senate on Wednesday.
Cohen’s firing came just 18 hours after Blanche released a memo that Cohen had helped him draft which announced that the task force he led would be playing a new leading role in combating illegal immigration, as part of an initiative dubbed “Operation Take Back America.”
“It was a shock,” Cohen wrote of his firing on LinkedIn, noting he had been meeting regularly with leadership to discuss violent crime initiatives.
“Putting bad guys in jail was as apolitical as it gets,” he wrote. “My personal politics were never relevant. Not until yesterday.”
Cohen’s firing is one of the latest examples of the Trump administration removing or sidelining career Justice Department officials, who typically keep their positions across presidential administrations.
Also on Friday, three assistant US attorneys in the Southern District of New York, including two who were involved in prosecuting the corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, were placed on administrative leave, according to an internal email by acting US Attorney Matthew Podolsky that was seen by reporters.
