In a memorandum to her employees, Bondi announced that she had dissolved the Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) of the FBI, which had examined hidden foreign interference. This should release “resources for more urgent priorities”, explained President Donald Trump’s confidant. In this way, “the risks of further instrumentalization and abuse of the public prosecutor’s discretion” should also be ended.
At the same time, Bondi limited the criminal enforcement of a law that previously served as the basis for the investigation into foreign manipulations in US politics. She also closed the “Task Force Kleptocapture”. It was founded in March 2022 by the government of former President Joe Biden to enforce sanctions against Russian oligarchs after the Russian aggressive war on the Russian war of aggression.
The now dissolved fit had a thorn in the side – even if it was founded in 2017, i.e. during his first term. The unit examined violations of a law with the abbreviation Fara, the “foreign agent” obliges to register with the US authorities.
Bondi has now restricted the investigation based on this law. It limits the criminal enforcement of the law to “alleged behavior that resembles traditional espionage by foreign government actors,” she said.
The Minister of Justice did not explain this in more detail. However, right-wing hardliners had accused that Fara had been abused for politically motivated investigations against Trump employees. Due to the law, Trump’s former national security advisor Mike Flynn had been targeted.
During his first term (2017-21), Trump had seen himself faced with the accusation that he had benefited from hidden help from Russia in his election victory against the democrat Hillary Clinton. The ex-FBI boss Robert Mueller, who was used as a special investigator, came to the conclusion in 2019 that Russia had “systematically” interfered in the presidential election.
However, Mueller said no evidence of illegal agreements between the Trump team and Moscow. At the same time, he emphasized that this was not the same as Trump’s relief from the allegations. At the time, Trump explained that he had been relieved “totally” by the Mueller report.
Justice Minister Bondi issued further decrees to take office: So she launched a department to deal with the major attack by Islamist Hamas on October 7, 2023. In addition, programs to promote diversity in staff were abolished. She also ordered that the execution of the death penalty at the federal level will be resumed. So far, a moratorium issued under bidden.
