Trump Attorney General Orders FBI to Shut Down Foreign Election Interference Task Force: Report

A team within the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tasked with investigating foreign interference in U.S. elections will reportedly be disbanded soon in accordance with an order made by incoming Attorney General Pam Bondi.

"To free resources to address more pressing priorities, and end risks of further weaponization and abuses of prosecutorial discretion, the Foreign Influence Task Force shall be disbanded," Bondi stated in a memo released on Wednesday.

Founded by former FBI Director Christopher Wray in 2017, the Foreign Influence Task Force investigated a plethora of foreign operations that were directed toward U.S. elections, including Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election in which Donald Trump emerged victorious.

According to Wray, the task force was established "to identify and counteract the full range of malign foreign influence operations targeting our democratic institutions and our values. The task force now brings together the FBI's expertise across the waterfront—counterintelligence, cyber, criminal, and even counterterrorism—to root out and respond to foreign influence operations."

The memo issued by Bondi also overarchingly diminished the Department of Justice's (DOJ) foreign lobbying transparency laws.

It refocused the Criminal Division's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unit towards foreign bribery cases aiding in cartel operations, including "human smuggling and the trafficking of narcotics and firearms."

Effectively, prosecutors will "shift focus away from investigations and cases that do not have such a connection," said Bondi.

Furthermore, the Foreign Agents Registration Act will be enforced to focus on "instances of alleged conduct similar to more traditional espionage by foreign government actors."

Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have expressed concerns about Bondi's ties to lobbying for Qatar, indicating that her past experience may represent a conflict of interest as she reduces the DOJ's involvement in white collar enforcement.

"The American people deserve an Attorney General who avoids even the appearance of impropriety, and they deserve an Attorney General who will put them ahead of any wealthy special interest or foreign government," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

"Taken together these changes are an invitation to foreign actors to interfere in American affairs," Aaron Zelinsky, a former DOJ national security prosecutor, told Bloomberg Law. "Even worse, it's an invitation to Americans to help them do it."