Donald Trump wants to control the Justice Department and FBI. His allies have a plan
Item
1 of 3 Former president Donald Trump attends his trial at Manhattan
Criminal Court for falsifying documents related to hush money payments,
in New York, NY, U.S., May 16, 2024. Victor J. Blue/Pool via
REUTERS/File Photo
[1/3]Former
president Donald Trump attends his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court
for falsifying documents related to hush money payments, in New York,
NY, U.S., May 16, 2024. Victor J. Blue/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights WASHINGTON,
May 17 (Reuters) - Some of Donald Trump's allies are assembling
proposals to curtail the Justice Department's independence and turn the
nation's top law enforcement body into an attack dog for conservative
causes, nine people involved in the effort told Reuters.
If
successful, the overhaul could represent one of the most consequential
actions of a second Trump presidency given the Justice Department's role
in protecting democratic institutions and upholding the rule of law.
It would also mark a dramatic departure from the department's
mission statement, opens new tab, which identifies "independence and impartiality" as core values.
Trump,
who has been indicted on dozens of criminal charges by the Justice
Department, has vowed on the campaign trail to overhaul the agency if he
wins the
presidential election on Nov. 5 and pledged to use it to pursue his own opponents, including Democratic President Joe Biden.
The
plan is essentially twofold, according to the nine people interviewed
by Reuters, some of whom requested anonymity to discuss internal
deliberations.
First:
flood the Justice Department with stalwart conservatives unlikely to
say "no" to controversial orders from the White House. Second:
restructure the department so key decisions are concentrated in the
hands of administration loyalists rather than career bureaucrats.
The
FBI - which many Republicans see as biased against them - would have
new constraints on its authority, with many of its responsibilities
shifted to other law enforcement agencies, those people said.
"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 policy initiatives
such as dismantling hiring programs meant to boost diversity in the
workplace and ending federal oversight of police departments accused of
racist practices.
In
response to questions from Reuters, the Trump campaign pointed to a
December statement from co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris
LaCivita.
"Unless
a message is coming directly from President Trump or an authorized
member of his campaign team, no aspect of future presidential staffing
or policy announcements should be deemed official," they said.
The
campaign itself has few full-time policy staffers. Trump and his team
are in frequent contact with outside groups, such as those formulating
recommendations on the Justice Department.
With
Trump holding a lead in most swing states likely to decide November's
election, the former president's advisers may have a shot at putting
their ideas into practice.
Trump's
promises to remodel the Justice Department have been well documented,
but less attention has been given to identifying the specific measures
his allies and advisers are advocating.
Two
prominent Trump allies told Reuters they support eliminating the FBI's
general counsel, an office that enraged Republicans during Trump's
2017-2021 term for its role in approving an inquiry into contacts
between his 2016 campaign and Russian officials.
The
general counsel provides legal advice to FBI employees regarding
ongoing probes and other matters. 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, according to several
Trump supporters and legal professionals with knowledge of the
department's workings.
Biden
campaign spokesperson Ammar Mousa said in a statement that Trump and
his allies "were putting Trump's own revenge and retribution ahead of
what is best for America." The FBI did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
'NOT STANDARD POLITICS'
Trump's
allies argue that, as head of the executive branch, the president
should have broad powers to command and oversee the Justice Department
as he or she sees fit.
Most
Democrats and even some Republicans reject that view. They say the
Justice Department requires an unusual amount of independence because
it's responsible for administering justice in a non-partisan fashion. At
times, that mandate includes investigating a president's close
political allies.
"There
are always enforcement disputes ... That is standard politics," said
Kristy Parker, a former federal prosecutor who is now at Protect
Democracy, a non-profit legal advocacy organization.
"What
is not standard politics is somebody basically coming in and saying we
are going to jettison the idea that the Department of Justice should
have a wall of separation between it and the personal political agenda
of the president."
Many
Trump allies making these proposals are affiliated with a consortium of
conservative think tanks known as "Project 2025", which has been making
detailed plans for a second Trump presidency. In a statement to
Reuters, Project 2025 said it could not speak for the Trump campaign.
These
allies are also combing through federal regulations for novel ways to
bring stalwart conservatives into the Justice Department at the start of
a potential Trump term, according to two people with knowledge of those
deliberations.
These
detailed preparations contrast with Trump's chaotic 2016 transition,
which involved relatively little policy planning, several people
involved have acknowledged.
The
former president spent the opening months of his first administration
butting heads with his attorney general and FBI director, both of whom
angered the president by failing to halt inquiries into his 2016
campaign.
It's an experience, according to several associates who speak to Trump, that he's determined not to repeat.
Trump
currently faces a total of 88 charges in four criminal cases - two of
which have been brought by the DoJ - over efforts to subvert the 2020
election, retaining classified documents after leaving office, and
alleged efforts to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star.
The
77-year-old denies wrongdoing in all the cases and points to the
charges as proof the Justice Department is biased against him. The
department denies this and says it conducts all of its probes
impartially.
Attorney
General Merrick Garland on Thursday deplored what he called "a series
of unprecedented and frankly unfounded attacks on the Justice
Department."
While
promising to establish a non-partisan justice system, Trump has called
for many of his political opponents to be arrested. Last June, he
pledged in a post on Truth Social to have a "special prosecutor" probe
the 81-year-old Biden.
CONTROL OVER FBI
Some
allies stop short of embracing Trump's rhetoric of revenge. But they
agree Trump should have greater control over the Justice Department and
FBI.
"Whenever
you have power centers ... that have enormous resources, coercive power
and investigative tools at their disposal, and they are presumed to be
independent of any control down the chain of command from the president,
that is a recipe for abuse of power," said Steve Bradbury, a former
Justice official who briefly served as Trump's acting Transportation
Secretary.
In
interviews with Reuters, Bradbury and Gene Hamilton, a senior Justice
Department official under Trump, both endorsed the measure to eliminate
the FBI's general counsel.
They
said they do not speak for Trump, but both are contributing ideas to
Project 2025. Hamilton is a trusted lieutenant of Stephen Miller, one of
Trump's closest policy advisers. Miller did not respond to requests for
comment.
Both
Bradbury and Hamilton also endorsed changing the Justice Department's
chain of command so the FBI director reports to a pair of politically
appointed assistant attorneys general.
The
director currently reports to the deputy attorney general, a more
senior official who in practice is too busy and has too large a
portfolio to oversee and guide FBI probes, Bradbury said.
Bradbury
and other legal experts said that change could be done without
congressional authorization. He said these steps are necessary to ensure
that the bureau's enforcement priorities align with the White House's
policy preferences. Detractors say these measures will undermine the
independence of the Justice Department and the FBI.
Some
Trump allies and advisers also want to narrow dramatically the types of
crimes the FBI can investigate, arguing the bureau's focus is too
sprawling for political appointees to oversee effectively.
In
a publicly available policy memo, which was published last July but
received little attention, Bradbury said other law enforcement agencies,
like the Drug Enforcement Administration, could take the lead where
their jurisdiction overlaps with the bureau.
The
remnants of the bureau, Bradbury wrote, could focus exclusively on
"large-scale crimes and threats to national security" that require a
federal response.
PERSONNEL IS POLICY
As
important as restructuring the department, Trump allies argue, is
ensuring it is stacked with allies unlikely to slow-walk Trump's
demands.
Trump
has publicly embraced a potential executive order known as "Schedule F"
that would give him the power to replace thousands of civil servants
with conservative allies.
That
would allow his administration to expand the number of political
appointments in the Justice Department, which sits in the low hundreds,
though allies have not settled on precisely how many positions could be
created.
Some
Trump allies at Project 2025 also want to expand the use of the
Intergovernmental Personnel Act, an obscure statute that allows
departments to bring in outside experts with the help of non-profits,
several people with knowledge of those deliberations said.
AFSCME
Local 2830, a union representing some Justice Department employees,
said in a statement to Reuters it is "concerned that Trump officials
will fill positions to further their partisan agenda instead of
impartially carrying out federal laws and regulations and upholding the
Constitution."
With
the right structure and personnel in place, Trump will be better
prepared to pursue conservative policy goals, his supporters say. While
his allies have floated dozens of ideas, many relate broadly to how the
federal government polices civil rights.
For
instance, Hamilton argued that the Justice Department should examine
whether corporations are discriminating against whites by instituting
programs designed to boost the number of people of color in the
workplace.
The
department could derive its authority, he said, from the 1964 Civil
Rights Act, which bars hiring or compensation decisions based on "race"
or "sex."
Hamilton
also called for radically curtailing court-monitored settlements known
as "consent decrees" between the Justice Department and local police
departments, which are used to help curb civil rights abuses against
people of color, the disabled and the mentally ill.
Conservatives
portray these agreements as heavy-handed federal actions that interfere
with local agencies trying to fight crime. Rights advocates say such
arguments ignore centuries of documented inequities.
Christy
Lopez, a Georgetown professor who formerly served as a Justice
Department Civil Rights Division official, said the department reduced
its police accountability work during Trump's first term.
"There's no reason to believe that his administration won't double down," she said.
Sign up here.
Reporting by Gram Slattery, Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Ross Colvin and Daniel Flynn