By Hannah Rabinowitz, Evan Perez and Kara Scannell, CNN

(CNN) — New leaders at the Justice Department, which has been a center of President Donald Trump’s ire, have moved quickly to reassign at least 20 career officials, effectively sidelining them from senior-level positions where they’ve worked for years, according to multiple sources briefed on the changes.

There has also been a shake-up at key US attorney offices in New York and Washington, DC.

Trump has promised to overhaul the Justice Department, which filed two criminal prosecutions against him, and the FBI, which conducted a search of his Mar-a-Lago resort. The shakeups come as several new civilian hires have been made at the FBI since Trump took office Monday.

Those who have been sidelined at the DOJ headquarters in Washington include senior lawyers in the criminal division, as well as the national security division, which in the past has been insulated from shifting political winds, and prosecutors who work on international affairs, which handles extraditions and immigration matters, the sources said.

In some instances, seasoned career prosecutors were ordered to report in the coming weeks to a new task force. The move is viewed by Justice Department officials as a way to push some of the career lawyers, who are normally protected during transitions between administrations, to consider leaving the department.

Federal civil service regulations generally protect career employees at the Justice Department and other agencies from being reassigned for at least 120 days after new leadership takes over.

However, Trump administration officials appear to be interpreting the 120-day rule to not apply in this instance because the DOJ is currently led by an acting attorney general and deputy attorney general while Pam Bondi, the attorney general nominee, awaits confirmation. Therefore, they reason, new leadership hasn’t yet started, one of the sources said.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

The changes could become subject to complaints before the Merit Systems Protection Board, a quasi-judicial agency that is supposed to protect civil servants from political retribution in changes of administrations.

Meanwhile, in the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, a hardline, socially conservative activist and commentator, is now the acting US attorney.

Martin was an organizer with the “Stop the Steal” movement and was involved in the financing of the January 6, 2021, Trump rally on the Ellipse that occurred directly before the attack on the Capitol. He has also publicly advocated for a national abortion ban without exceptions for rape or incest and has raised imposing criminal penalties on women and doctors involved in abortions.

In the Eastern District of New York, career prosecutor John Durham was tapped as interim US attorney. Durham, the son of the former special counsel by the same name who investigated the origin of the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign, was the head of the district’s Long Island office. He joined the US attorney’s office in 2005 and has extensive experience prosecuting and overseeing cases involving MS-13 gang members.

And Danielle Sassoon was tapped as the interim head of the Southern District of New York. Sassoon was part of the team that successfully prosecuted FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried for fraud and Lawrence Ray, who was convicted of sex trafficking of students at Sarah Lawrence college. Before she joined the office in 2016, Sassoon clerked for two federal judges including Justice Antonin Scalia on the US Supreme Court.

Former Jim Jordan aide among new hires shaping Trump FBI

Paving the way for promised changes at the FBI, the Trump administration has assigned Tom Ferguson, a former FBI agent who served as an aide to Rep. Jim Jordan, to return to the agency, according to people briefed on the matter.

Jordan has stood as one of the FBI’s harshest critics and led a subcommittee focused on so-called weaponization in the bureau and other agencies.

Ferguson is among several new civilian hires at the FBI since Trump took office Monday that officials say are expected to help prepare for the arrival of Kash Patel, whose nomination for FBI director is awaiting Senate confirmation.

It’s unclear what Ferguson’s specific position would be, but he is expected to serve as an adviser to Patel, the sources said.

In a post on his LinkedIn profile last week, Ferguson thanked Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, for his “faith and Trust.” He added that he was “humbled and excited to see what the Lord has in store for me serving in the new administration.”

Ferguson worked at the FBI for more than 22 years, according to his LinkedIn profile, including as a supervisory special agent. He left the agency in 2022, and since then, he has worked as a senior advisor on the House Judiciary Committee for almost two years, his LinkedIn profile shows, and assisted the House task force investigating the first Trump assassination attempt.

Other posts on Ferguson’s account show him railing against socialism, “woke” ideology, and what he says is political overreach from leftist politicians and activists. In one of those posts, a bullet point list entitled “I Remember When…”, Ferguson writes that the FBI was once “an esteemed national treasure and hadn’t forgotten their oath to remain apolitical.”

Senior FBI special agent Brian Driscoll was installed as acting director of the FBI in recent days, following the resignation of FBI director Christopher Wray and subsequent retirement Monday of FBI deputy director Paul Abbate.

Wray, the FBI director Trump hired in his first term, resigned after Trump made clear he planned to fire him. And Abbate announced his retirement after the incoming administration said it planned to appoint new acting leaders in the top two jobs.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Manu Raju contributed to this report.

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