Mass. Sen. Warren launches probe over shuttering of public corruption units at Justice Dept., FBI
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has called on the top officials at the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI to explain why they gutted and shuttered special units focused on rooting out corruption in government.
The Justice Department's "refusal to enforce anti-corruption laws betrays the public trust and will create lasting harm to Americans' faith in the integrity of government officials," Warren, joined Democratic colleagues on both sides of Capitol Hill, Democrats wrote Thursday to U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.
"By shuttering the public corruption work of both the FBI and DOJ, you and President [Donald] Trump are giving the green light to would-be lawbreakers," Warren and her colleagues wrote.
In March, the Justice Department slashed staff at the agency's Public Integrity Section , which oversees prosecutions of public officials accused of corruption, NBC News reported at the time.
And in May, the FBI folded the federal public corruption squad, which had aided then-Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into Trump.
Warren and her colleagues argued that the moves come in the midst of an "unprecedented wave of corruption in the Trump administration" that includes Trump's involvement in cryptocurrency schemes , his decision to accept a $400 million luxury jet from the government of Qatar and pardons for major donors , they wrote.
"This is just part of the Trump administration's creation of a two-tiered system of justice—one for large corporations and President Trump's wealthy friends, and another for everyone else," Warren and her colleagues wrote.
The Cambridge Democrat is leading the push with U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., a senior member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
Warren was joined on the letter by fellow Massachusetts lawmakers U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-8th District, a senior Democrat on the U.S. House Oversight Committee, and U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-6th District.
Other New England signatories to the letter included Democratic U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, and Peter Welch, of Vermont.
Democratic U.S. Reps. Becca Balint of Vermont, Maggie Goodlander and Chris Pappas of New Hampshire also signed the letter.
The lawmakers called on Bondi and Patel to answer nearly a dozen, multi-part questions about the status and staffing of the public corruption units at the Justice Department and the FBI.
The letter comes as the Trump administration has stepped up its investigations of its critics and political opponents.
Last week, the FBI raided the home and office of John Bolton, a vocal critic who served as Trump's national security adviser during his first term.
The White House, meanwhile, is in a pitched battle with Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve Board member. Cook has sued Trump over his attempt to fire her.
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