In a little-known directive on his first day in office, Attorney General Pam Bondy suspends years of federal law enforcement efforts to combat a campaign of secret influence by China, Russia and other enemies. I ordered it. American politics.
The order, buried on page four of one of the 14 policy memos issued Wednesday, disbanding the FBI’s Foreign Impact Task Force, bringing an impact operation by foreign intelligence agencies that will affect foreign malignancy. Despite years of warnings that it includes, it backs back the enforcement of the FBI’s Foreign Agent Registration Act. It was a dangerous threat to grow up.
“The foreign impact task force must be dissolved to free resources to address more pressing priorities and to end weaponization risks and mistreatment at the discretion of the prosecutor,” the order states. There is.
Additionally, criminal charges in violation of the Foreign Registration Act require people to register when lobbying on behalf of a foreign country, which is “similar to more traditional spying by foreign government actors.” It is limited to cases of conduct.” The order adds instead that DOJ prosecutors will “focus on civil enforcement, regulatory initiatives and public guidance.”
Another Bondi directive also dissolved efforts to seize Russian oligarch assets, including the Task Force’s Klepto Capture and the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery initiative.
The order said officials working on these projects will be reassigned to target drug cartels and cross-border criminal organizations. The already underway forfeiture cases will continue to be pursued, officials said.
A team of three of around 50 FBI agents and a supporter from the Foreign Impact Task Force are looking for other challenges, an FBI official with knowledge of the issue told NBC News.
A Justice Department spokesman said Bondi was traveling Thursday and the order speaks to itself.
Created under Trump
The FBI Task Force, founded in the Trump administration in 2017 and efforts to call for foreigners to misinformation, were announced in a standing ovation by then-at-general Rod Rosenstein in a speech to the National Security Council.
“The American people have the right to know if foreign governments are targeting them with propaganda,” Rosenstein said at the time.
Former Justice Department and FBI officials who worked on national security expressed shock at this week’s order.
“That’s amazing,” said Frank Figlizzi, former head of anti-intelligence at the FBI and a contributor to NBC News. “Now it’s free for everyone to foreign Intel services looking for influence.”
David Raufman, who headed the Obama administration’s DOJ anti-intellectual clause, said, “Supports serious questions about the new Attorney General’s commitment to criminal execution, when appropriate under long-standing law, and also the impact of foreigners. Her commitment to malignant tactics is in the US.”
The first FBI director, Trump, appointed Christopher Ray, long warned of the dangers of a secret foreign influence campaign, saying it was often designed to deepen America’s political divisions. .
“The Chinese government is engaged in a wide variety of campaigns of theft and malicious impact, allowing it to run with authoritarian efficiency,” Wray said in 2021.
Last year, Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents revealed a scheme in which Russian-backed media allegedly poured $10 million into a conservative US media company that hired prominent right-wing influencers.
They are related, but the government’s efforts to tackle foreign influence and prosecute violations of the Foreign Agent Registration Act have garnered the rage of President Trump and Republicans for a variety of reasons.
The law required that people “engage in political activities” be “regularly made public of their relationships with foreign principals.”
The Justice Department has indicted both Democrats and Republicans under the Foreign Lobbying Act.
Three recent prosecutors took place during the Biden administration. It was linked to Democratic politicians – New York mayor Eric Adams, Texas Rep. Henry Culler and New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez were convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison . They acted fraudulently on behalf of Türkiye, Mexico and Egyptian organizations and did not register as foreign agents.
Adams and Kuerer, both awaiting trial, have denied the charges.
Republican skepticism about detective Farah’s prosecutor first admitted that his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was caught up in a criminal investigation and eventually lied about his work for the Turkish government. It goes back to the early days of the Trump administration.
Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort has also pleaded guilty to a Farrah violation involving Ukraine. Both men were later forgiven by Trump.
The Justice Department continues to pursue prosecution of Farah, including some of those with ties to Trump.
Last month, former GOP House Speaker Bob Livingston published the OP-ED in the Wall Street Journal. There, he described the painful process of being a target for a Farrah investigation that ultimately resulted in no charges.
Republicans also expressed anger that Hunter Biden was not charged with a Farrah violation, despite not registering as a foreign agent during his beneficial work on behalf of the foreign government. His lawyers argued that he was not lobbying and that he didn’t need to register.
Discussions regarding foreign disinformation
Trump and some of his allies have long disrespected or false statements about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. This was documented by a bipartisan report by special advisor Robert Mueller and the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Trump’s allies have vehemently opposed the efforts of the FBI’s Foreign Impact Task Force, warning social media companies that they are giving disinformation to their platforms. This is an important aspect of the FBI’s work in this field.
The dispute was found by a federal Missouri judge who violated the initial amendment by urging the FBI and other government agencies to flag social media companies and defeat foreign influence and disinformation. He became the chief in 2023.
The ruling prompted the task force to stop explaining foreign impact campaigns on social media companies’ platforms. The Supreme Court later rejected the view that it would overturn the Missouri judge’s decision, and explanations resumed.
Hunter Biden is also working on this conflict. Republicans complained that the FBI left a impression on social media companies that during the 2020 campaign that Biden’s laptop story might have been the product of Russia’s foreign influence operations. Real thing.
Andrew Bakazi, a former US intelligence agent who reported Trump’s attempts to seek support from Ukraine to influence the 2020 US election, said Trump himself or accused his party of opening the door to foreign countries to support future campaigns.
“Voters and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle should stand up to defend our democracy when they unilaterally dismantle teams accused of preventing one side of the team,” Bakazi said. “To blind our law enforcement to these threats is a public invitation to foreign forces to help the President and his allies win future elections.”
