Abrupt firings, senior officials demoted, and career employees left reeling -- US President Donald Trump is taking a sledgehammer to a Justice Department he accuses of unjustly prosecuting him. Across the Justice Department a number of high-ranking officials have been demoted or reassigned in moves by the new administration that have unsettled career employees.

The abrupt action targeting career prosecutors who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s team is the latest sign of upheaval inside the Justice Department. It reflects the administration’s determination to purge the government of workers it perceives as disloyal to the president.

The Trump Justice Department’s top political appointee directed officials to fire at least a dozen prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 Capitol riot cases, a memo obtained by Bloomberg Law showed.