Senate Democrats Warn DOJ ‘Partisan Hacks’ Handling Ethics (1)

Senate Democrats are warning that the Justice Department’s transfer of sensitive authorities from a career official to political aides will enable Attorney General Pam Bondi to violate ethics rules and carry out Trump-directed “retribution.”

In a thread on X Tuesday, the Judiciary Committee’s Democrats highlighted Bloomberg Law’s Feb. 16 reporting on acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove stripping ethics and employee discipline decisions from the department’s most senior career official and reassigning them to two politically-appointed DOJ newcomers.

“Stripping sensitive ethics powers from career officials and giving them to partisan hacks at DOJ is a flashing red warning light,” the Senate panel’s Democrats posted.

“Not only could this allow DOJ officials to participate in cases where they have conflicts of interest,” they added in a subsequent post, “it could supercharge Donald Trump’s grievance-fueled retribution crusade.”

Bove delegated numerous key authorities to two of his staffers—one a former criminal defense lawyer for President Donald Trump and another a 2021 law school graduate—according to a copy of his Jan. 27 memo reviewed by Bloomberg Law.

The memo listed powers, many of which were previously handled by a career veteran who the Trump administration demoted, including final determinations on “adverse personnel actions and bar referral matters"; ethics recusals and waivers; nominee financial disclosures; referrals from the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates federal employee whistleblower complaints; inspector general requests for access to grand jury material; and disclosures to Congress, including asserting privilege or appearing in response to lawmaker subpoenas.

A spokesman for Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats didn’t comment on what if any oversight actions are planned in response. A spokeswoman for the committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Neither did DOJ media representatives. A department spokesman earlier defended the decision to entrust such substantial authorities with two aides. He noted that one of the delegation recipients, Bove’s associate Kendra Wharton, spent a decade as a criminal defense lawyer, and the other occupies a role—chief of staff to the DAG—that traditionally has also received the same responsibilities in prior versions of the memo.

“The Department of Justice’s leadership is doing a great job and we look forward to working with them to restore the rule of law at DOJ,” said a Russell Dye, a spokesman for House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

The ranking member of that same House panel, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), however, called Bove’s memo a “terrible move.”

“DOJ decisions about ethics and employee discipline belong in the hands of the wisest and most experienced attorneys, not a bunch of malleable junior political appointees,” Raskin said in a statement.

The series of Senate panel posts on X, formerly Twitter, cast the memo as exacerbating concerns about Bondi’s potential conflicts of interest that the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) has been focusing on in recent weeks. That’s included her prior lobbying for Qatar, Amazon, and Uber.

As part of her Senate confirmation process, Bondi submitted paperwork pledging to recuse from participating in matters in which she has a personal financial interest unless she were to receive a waiver. Decisions on granting such waivers now rest with Bove’s two aides, the memo shows.