DOJ cracks down on employees’ political involvement ahead of midterms

Trump hasn’t shied away from accusing DOJ management of bias prior to now. Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe attended marketing campaign occasions for his spouse, Jill, when she ran a failed marketing campaign for Virginia state workplace in 2015. Trump and his allies for months attacked McCabe and accused him of bias for refusing to recuse himself from the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal e mail server after his spouse had accepted a donation from a Clinton ally.

Previous DOJ coverage allowed non-career political appointees to attend political occasions of their private capacities so long as they participated passively and obtained prior approval. But the brand new restrictions make non-career political appointees topic to the identical guidelines as DOJ’s profession workers, who’re prohibited from attending such occasions in any capability.

Non-career appointees will now be unable to attend any partisan fundraisers or marketing campaign occasions, even when they’ve shut relations operating for workplace. They will even not be allowed to passively attend marketing campaign occasions on the night of Election Day, which was beforehand permitted.

“I know you agree it is critical that we hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards to avoid even the appearance of political influence as we carry out the Department’s mission,” Garland stated. “It is in that spirit that I have added these new restrictions on political activities by non-career employees.”