Attorney General Pam Bondi has made significant changes to the Justice Department's national security priorities, shifting focus away from initiatives that have been controversial for President Trump. These changes include limiting criminal enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and disbanding a task force dedicated to investigating foreign election interference.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, in some of her first moves on the job, is shifting the Justice Department ’s national security priorities away from initiatives that have been a source of irritation for President Donald Trump and his allies.
Bondi is limiting criminal enforcement of a foreign agents registration law that’s been used to investigate or prosecute Trump donors and allies and disbanding a foreign election interference task force that’s identified foreign meddling in US elections, including in Trump’s favor. Bondi signed a flood of directives within hours of taking office Wednesday – rejiggering priorities at the Justice Department and helping to fulfill a broader Trump administration push to direct more resources toward immigration enforcement. Bondi’s memos on national security priorities labeled the moves as an effort “to free resources to address more pressing priorities, and end risk of further weaponization and abuse of prosecutorial discretion.” The Foreign Agents Registration Act is a decades-old law that has ensnared Trump associates in recent years, from Paul Manafort, Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman, and Gen. Mike Flynn, the first national security adviser in Trump’s first term, to Russian operatives who allegedly funded pro-Trump media figures during the recent presidential election. The Foreign Influence Task Force is an outgrowth of the response by the FBI and US intelligence agencies to 2016 election interference by Russia, which worked to boost Trump’s first election victory. Trump has long decried any suggestion that Russian election interference helped him win the White House, and in the most recent campaign sought to appropriate the term “election interference” to refer to the criminal prosecutions he faced by federal and state prosecutors over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. The practical effect of some of Bondi’s changes is less certain. US law enforcement officials say that even though the task force is being disbanded, investigators will still pursue cases involving illegal attempts by foreigners to influence US elections. Bondi’s order on FARA enforcement could have a more meaningful impact, current and former US officials say, because it limits criminal enforcement of the law “to alleged conduct similar to more traditional espionage by foreign government actors.” 'It makes us less safe' The new changes, combined with a separate memo last week from Emil Bove, the acting deputy attorney general, directing the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces to focus more on immigration matters, has raised concerns that foreign adversaries and terrorist groups could take advantage of the Justice Department’s reduced attention on national security efforts, according to current and former US officials. “It makes us less safe and makes us more likely to have an international terrorism incident or a major nation-state sabotage attack,” one former senior national security official told CNN. It’s unclear if, after Bondi’s directive, the law could be used as it was to prosecute former Sen. Bob Mendendez, who was convicted last July of participating in a bribery and foreign influence scheme. The New Jersey Democrat was convicted of failing to register as a foreign agent for Egypt and sentenced last month to 11 years in prison. Bondi’s order directs the Justice Department’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, which includes the FARA unit, to focus on civil enforcement and regulatory initiatives. Bondi herself previously registered with the Justice Department under FARA for work she did with the government of Qatar at the Ballard Partners lobbying firm. In her 2020 FARA registration, Bondi said she would “provide support regarding Qatari relations with U.S. government officials, U.S. business entities and non-governmental audiences in dealing with matters pertaining to combatting human trafficking.” October 7 task force To be sure, some of the Bondi directives are being welcomed in national security circles. A separate memo establishing a task force focused on the October 7, 2023, attack in Israel, which will seek to pursue Hamas and other terrorist groups that were behind the deadly attack. Some Justice Department national security prosecutors in recent months have sought more resources to pursue cases involving people who aided the Hamas attack on Israel and other related crimes, according to a former national security official. The new task force could help amplify those efforts, the official said. The October 7 task force memo, however, also includes an order to investigate and pursue “federal crimes committed by Hamas supporters in the United States, including on college campuses.” That could run into possible First Amendment concerns about protests on US campuses
Attorney General National Security Foreign Agents Registration Act Election Interference Hamas First Amendment Justice Department
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