Bondi rescinds policy banning some DOJ employees from attending partisan events

2 hours ago 6

Attorney General Pam Bondi has rescinded a argumentation that prohibited governmental appointees astatine the Justice Department from attending run events oregon fundraisers, according to a memo seen by CBS News connected Wednesday.

The determination undoes restrictions that were antecedently implemented by erstwhile Attorney General Merrick Garland starting successful 2022.

Federal employees are already taxable to restrictions connected governmental activities nether the Hatch Act, a instrumentality that aims to support the authorities escaped from partisan influence.

Prior to Garland's policy, however, governmental appointees were allowed to be definite partisan events successful their idiosyncratic capableness with support from the department. Under Garland's 2022 amendments, governmental appointees were banned from participating successful immoderate partisan governmental lawsuit successful immoderate capableness — adjacent connected Election Day.

His argumentation besides prohibited politically appointed section officials from attending run events involving adjacent household members who are moving for office. Bondi's caller memo volition fundamentally let governmental appointees to erstwhile again be specified events.

Garland tightened the argumentation surrounding governmental events aft the Office of Special Counsel, a authorities bureau that enforces the Hatch Act, opened an probe into whether then-Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins violated the instrumentality by attending a Democratic fundraiser featuring archetypal woman Jill Biden.

Rollins was aboriginal forced to resign from her station amid investigations into her behaviour by some the DOJ's inspector wide and the Office of Special Counsel. The inspector wide recovered she had engaged successful a wide scope of unethical behaviour that not lone included attending the fundraiser but besides making mendacious statements successful her interrogation with the bureau and misusing her position successful aggregate different ways.

In: