Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday announced a significant update to the Department of Justice's policies regarding bans on political involvement amid allegations of bias at the agency.
"Although longstanding Department policy has permitted non-career appointees to attend partisan political events, e.g., fundraisers and campaign events, in their personal capacities if they participated passively and obtained prior approval, under the new policy, non-career appointees may not participate in any partisan political event in any capacity," Garland said in a memo.
Garland said previous DOJ policies had "Allowed non-career employees to passively attend campaign events and other partisan political events in their personal capacities on the evening of Election Day.".
"In the past, when the Department has further limited attendance at partisan political events during Presidential election years, it has allowed an exception for non-career appointees who had close family members who were running for partisan offices, or similar situations," Garland said.
He declared, "Non-career appointees may not attend partisan political events, even on the evening of Election Day.".
In a statement from Grassley Tuesday, he accused the now-departed FBI agent, Timothy Thibault, of having a political bias against former President Donald Trump.
Political appointees at the DOJ cannot "Engage in partisan political activity" or "Use their official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of an election," Lauria wrote.
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