Pam Bondi Toys With Axing DOJ's Public Corruption Unit [View all]
Source: Daily Beast
Updated May 18 2025 7:37AM EDT
Published May 18 2025 2:43AM EDT
Attorney General Pam Bondi is reportedly considering doing away with a critical Justice Department safeguard designed to prevent politically motivated prosecutions of elected officials, according to multiple officials familiar with a proposal circulated last week.
The change would remove the requirement of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section (PIN), a Watergate-era department responsible for reviewing and approving prosecutions of public officials and signing off on federal prosecutors’ indictments of lawmakers. Instead, Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys would have the power to bring corruption charges without centralized oversight. PIN also handles voting-related matters. In the case of a contested election, they would determine how the DOJ would intervene.
A DOJ spokesperson confirmed the proposal is under review but said that no final decision had been made, The Washington Post reports. Critics say the change could open the floodgates to politically driven prosecutions during an already deeply polarized period in American history.
“The reason you have the section is exactly what this administration says they want, which is [to] stop politicization,” said former PIN attorney Dan Schwager. “The only way to ensure that public officials on both sides of the aisle are treated similarly is to have as much institutional knowledge and experience as possible.”
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/pam-bondi-toys-with-axing-dojs-public-corruption-unit/
REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143415929
(this is broader than the recent news of Patel shutting down the FBI's D.C. office unit that handled "public corruption" )
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