Trump vowed to rid the Justice Department of what he says is partisan bias. Ex-officials say he's using retaliation and intimidation to thwart potential investigations of his second term.

The Justice Department fired more than a dozen officials who worked on the special counsel team that investigated Donald Trump in two separate criminal cases, citing a lack of trust in them, a department spokesman said Monday.

The termination of more than a dozen lawyers who worked with the special counsel, Jack Smith, came hours after the department’s most senior career official was reassigned.