Washington, United States:
The Justice Department is making changes to its approach in policing foreign interests operating in the United States, specifically ending criminal enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) that was previously used to target individuals influencing politics and elections on behalf of foreign governments.
In a memo issued to staff on Wednesday, US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the disbandment of the Foreign Influence Task Force, a unit dedicated to investigating violations of FARA that required foreign agents to register with US authorities.
The decision was made to prioritize resources towards more urgent matters and to prevent potential misuse of prosecutorial discretion.
Ms. Bondi did not provide further details, but there have been accusations from certain factions on the far right of the Republican Party that FARA was being misused to target political figures like Paul Manafort, who was indicted in connection with Russian influence in the 2016 US election.
On her swearing-in day, Ms. Bondi also disbanded Task Force KleptoCapture, an initiative aimed at enforcing sanctions on Russia amid allegations of interference in the 2016 election in favor of then-candidate Donald Trump.
Despite denials from Moscow, US intelligence agencies found evidence of Russian involvement in the election. Manafort, who faced multiple charges including FARA violations, was later pardoned by Trump.
FARA has been used in cases involving individuals like Mike Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor, and former Democratic senator Bob Menendez, who was convicted on charges related to bribery and failure to register as a foreign agent for Egypt.
Ms. Bondi, a former FARA registrant for her work with Qatar, stated that criminal enforcement of the law will focus on activities resembling traditional espionage by foreign government entities.
Additionally, in her initial actions as Attorney General, Ms. Bondi established a unit to address the 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, targeted diversity programs for elimination, and resumed federal death penalty enforcement, which had been halted during the previous administration under President Joe Biden.
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