The ax continues to fall on officials. President Trump’s Justice Department fired Adam Cohen, head of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), on March 8. His dismissal came directly from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former criminal defense attorney for Trump, who was confirmed to his position just days earlier.
Cohen shared the news, which he labeled a “shock,” in a LinkedIn post. “Putting bad guys in jail was as apolitical as it gets,” he wrote. “My personal politics were never relevant. Not until yesterday.” The outgoing OCDETF head added that he had been in regular discussions with leadership about crime initiatives and recently helped draft a memo outlining the task force’s role in combating illegal immigration under the “Operation Take Back America” initiative.
The decision to fire Cohen can be seen as part of a broader trend in which the Trump administration removes or sidelines career Justice Department officials, who traditionally hold their positions across different administrations. An internal email from acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky reveals that three assistant U.S. attorneys in the Southern District of New York were placed on administrative leave on the same day.
Two of them, Celia Cohen and Andrew Rohrbach, were involved in the corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams. These removals came after eight DOJ attorneys resigned in protest for refusing to file a motion to dismiss corruption charges against Adams, which they claimed were politically motivated.
In the email, which was seen by Reuters, Podolsky expressed his disagreement with the decision. “We were given no notice, nor asked for our views on this decision, with which I disagree,” he stated. The acting U.S. Attorney praised Cohen and Rohrbach, emphasizing that they “did the right thing, for the right reasons, in the right way—every single day.”
A third prosecutor, Alex Kristofcak, was also placed on leave after criticizing Ed Martin, Washington D.C.‘s interim U.S. attorney. Kristofcak condemned Martin’s warning to Georgetown University Law School that he would not hire its students unless the school removed diversity, equity, and inclusion from its curriculum. “This is a grotesque abuse of power,” Kristofcak wrote, adding, “I am so sorry for my colleagues in DC who have this thug of a boss.”
The OCDETF, under Cohen’s leadership, was responsible for operations targeting drug cartels and organized crime across the U.S. Experts are concerned that Cohen’s sudden firing could disrupt these investigations, potentially leaving criminal organizations with less oversight.
