Trump DOJ Assigns Sensitive Ethics Powers to Political Aides (1)

The Trump Justice Department has assigned politically appointed newcomers decisionmaking power over sensitive matters, including ethics, employee discipline, and release of information sought by inspectors general and Congress, stripping these authorities from the longstanding oversight of a senior career official.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, in a Jan. 27 memo reviewed by Bloomberg Law, handed the authorities to two of his staffers — one a former criminal defense lawyer for President Donald Trump and another a 2021 law school graduate.

The two political appointees will be able to make final determinations on “adverse personnel actions and bar referral matters,” ethics recusals and waivers, nominee financial disclosures, and a variety of other delicate professional responsibility decisions that have historically been handled instead by the department’s highest-ranking career official.

The political appointees will also have decisionmaking authority regarding 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, the memo said.

Delegating such weighty tasks to political aides — both first-time DOJ employees — without a career official’s involvement is a dramatic departure from past practice.

Previous versions of the delegation order assigned many of the same powers to a career associate deputy attorney general. That person’s involvement helped insulate thorny matters affecting the department’s integrity from partisan influence and ensured that the experience of the most senior non-political official was brought to bear, former DOJ officials said.

But the most recent holder of that post, Bradley Weinsheimer, was removed from the job, several people familiar with the decision told Bloomberg Law. News reports first circulated on Weinsheimer’s demotion Jan. 27, the same day as Bove’s signature line on the order.

Transferring Weinsheimer’s portfolio to far less experienced political aides can make the department vulnerable to controversies akin to Bove’s handling of the New York Mayor Eric Adams dismissal, the former officials said.

Weinsheimer had been at the department for three decades, and his predecessors had substantial DOJ experience as well.

“Transferring the authority over ethics and employee discipline from a career stalwart like Brad Weinsheimer to partisan loyalists could further expose employees to political retribution, and exacerbate the culture of fear at the Department,” said Stacey Young, who resigned after 18 years as a DOJ attorney Jan. 31 to launch Justice Connection, an organization supporting DOJ employees by linking them with alumni and other advocates. “This move should outrage anyone concerned about the rule of law.”

Authority Holders

Instead, the delegations are now reserved for Jordan Fox and Kendra Wharton, the memo said. Fox, who is Bove’s chief of staff and former law firm colleague, is a 2021 graduate of Seton Hall University Law School.

Wharton is an associate deputy attorney general who graduated law school in 2014 and previously worked at the same law firm as Todd Blanche, Trump’s nominee to be deputy attorney general. Wharton went on to join Blanche and Bove on Trump’s defense team, serving in a more junior capacity in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.

Reached by phone Sunday, a DOJ spokesman said Wharton’s decade of experience as a criminal defense lawyer provides the requisite experience for this role. He declined to comment on other questions.

One of the career leaders best known for retaining those delegations, David Margolis, was an institution at the department for more than 50 years until his death in 2016.

In previous delegation memos, including in the Biden administration, DOJ’s No. 2 official has also assigned those authorities to a chief of staff and sometimes a principal associate DAG alongside the senior career official, former department officials said.

While some of the less controversial duties would be handled by the political aides, the ethics and employee discipline matters would always be reserved strictly for the career leader, they added. That included in Trump’s first presidency.

But since retaking office, the president’s Justice Department—and other federal agencies—has moved aggressively to target the civil service by firing, reassigning, and limiting the functions of non-political staffers Trump and allies have referred to as the “deep state.”

Bove’s memo offers further indications of how previously nonpartisan functions could be redirected under Trump-aligned control. The employee disciplinary power may be particularly relevant to Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s initiatives to stamp out “weaponization” in government.

For instance, on Feb. 13 Bove ordered Manhattan’s resigning interim US attorney and two of her prosecutors to be investigated by the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility over their refusal to drop charges against Adams.

That’s sparked broader concerns about politicizing OPR to seek retribution against those deemed anti-Trump employees. And Bove’s Jan. 27 order could pave the way for those fears to be realized, former officials said.

Among the other responsibilities Bove delegated to Fox and Wharton are approving exemptions that would allow employees—including Blanche, Bove, and Bondi—to participate in matters in which they’d otherwise be recused for having a personal financial interest.

The pair also gained authority over permitting employee travel expenses from outside government or free attendance at events; reviewing requests for closure of judicial proceedings; appointing consultants to advise on confirmations of presidential nominees; and employee details to positions outside of DOJ.