Donald Trump allies are assembling proposals to curtail the Justice Department's independence and turn the agency into an attack dog for conservative causes, people involved in the effort told Reuters. If successful, the overhaul could be one of the most consequential actions of a second Trump presidency given DOJ's role in protecting democratic institutions and upholding the rule of law. It would mark a dramatic departure from the department's mission statement, which lists "independence and impartiality" as core values. Trump has vowed to overhaul the agency if he wins the presidential election and pledged to use it to pursue his own opponents, including President Biden.
The plan includes flooding the Justice Department with stalwart conservatives unlikely to say "no" to controversial orders from the White House and restructuring the department so key decisions are concentrated in the hands of administration loyalists rather than career bureaucrats. The FBI would have new constraints on its authority, with many of its responsibilities shifted to other law enforcement agencies. "Trump feels that the DOJ has institutional problems," said Steve Bannon, a prominent Trump ally who was prosecuted by the Justice Department and convicted for contempt of Congress. "It's not just personnel: you do need to purge the DOJ, but you also need to reform it." Overhauling the Justice Department would allow the Trump administration to pursue conservative initiatives such as dismantling hiring programs meant to boost diversity in the workplace and ending federal oversight of police departments accused of racist practices. Two Trump allies support eliminating the FBI's general counsel, an office that enraged Republicans during Trump's term for its role in approving an inquiry into contacts between his 2016 campaign and Russian officials. Closing it would force the bureau to receive legal guidance from people closer to Trump's attorney general in the chain-of-command and limit the FBI's ability to conduct investigations without close political oversight.
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