The Justice Department is considering scrapping a key safeguard that prevents politically motivated prosecutions of Congress members.
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.
The damage has mostly been done already as the office effectively has been gutted:
Since Trump took office, PIN has already been hollowed out, as have other DOJ offices. The 30 prosecutors working in the office at the end of the Biden administration have been cut to fewer than five. Several have resigned, been reassigned, or were fired after clashing with Bondi and other Trump appointees.
Pam Bondi Toys With Axing DOJ’s Public Corruption Unit
The Justice Department is considering scrapping a key safeguard that prevents politically motivated prosecutions of Congress members.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/pam-bondi-toys-with-axing-dojs-public-corruption-unit
