DOJ Fires Head of Organized Crime Task Force

Other Justice Department officials were placed on leave.

The Department of Justice in Washington on Feb. 12, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has fired the official who directed an organized crime task force and placed other officials on leave.

Adam Cohen, who directed the DOJ’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, said that he was informed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche of his firing.

A letter from Blanche “stated that I had been removed from my Senior Executive Service position and that pursuant to Article II of the Constitution, my employment with the U.S. Department of Justice was terminated,” Cohen wrote on LinkedIn on March 8.

Blanche was confirmed by the Senate on March 5.

Cohen said he was shocked, recounting how he had recently met with Emil Bove, who was serving as acting deputy attorney general before Blanche’s confirmation, and drafted a memo with Blanche’s signature just 18 hours before he was terminated.

Cohen worked for the DOJ for nearly 27 years, across five presidential administrations.

“My personal politics were never relevant. Not until yesterday,” he said.

He added later: “Putting bad guys in jail was as apolitical as it gets. Who they voted for never came up.”

Blanche’s office and the DOJ did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

Other career department officials fired on Friday included pardon attorney Liz Oyer and Bobak Talebian, who oversaw the handling of Freedom of Information Act requests.

Oyer wrote on LinkedIn that she was sad to share the news of her firing, posting a screenshot of a letter from Blanche notifying her that she was fired effective immediately.

Talebian on LinkedIn marked his 14-year tenure at the DOJ as having ended in March but has not otherwise commented on the development. He did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

DOJ officials previously reassigned several veteran national security and criminal prosecutors to a newly created immigration office. The top career ethics official left the Justice Department after facing a similar reassignment.

“I am honored and blessed to have served our country and this department for the last 23 years,” Corey Amundson, who had been in charge of the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, said in his resignation letter.

The DOJ also terminated officials who worked on the team of former special counsel Jack Smith, who resigned just before President Donald Trump took office.

“In light of their actions, the Acting Attorney General does not trust these officials to assist in faithfully implementing the President’s agenda,” a DOJ spokesperson said in explaining the move.

Reuters contributed to this report.