Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) opened a new investigation into the Trump administration’s gutting of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) teams that investigate public corruption. 

“By shuttering the public corruption work of both the FBI and DOJ, you and President Trump are giving the green light to would-be lawbreakers. This is just part of the Trump Administration’s creation of a two-tiered system of justice—one for large corporations and President Trump’s wealthy friends, and another for everyone else,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the DOJ and the FBI. 

DOJ’s Public Integrity Section (PIN) plays a critical role in investigating and prosecuting public officials who engage in corruption. The Section operates with prosecutorial independence and brings cases without regard to political parties. But since President Trump took office earlier this year, PIN’s staffing has been slashed from more than 30 attorneys to just a handful. The division has also been stripped of its authority to open new cases, leaving a gap in enforcement of federal anti-corruption laws.

The work of PIN has long been complemented by the FBI’s “elite” squad of federal agents who investigate public corruption. The team has helped uncover corrupt and unethical acts by elected members of both parties, as well as other government employees and lobbyists. But now the squad is being dissolved and its members fired or reassigned to other units that do not focus on public corruption—including entirely unrelated topics such as immigration.

Cuts to these teams come in the midst of an unprecedented wave of corruption in the Trump Administration, including President Trump’s blatant abuse of the presidency to enrich himself through crypto schemes, accepting a $400 million giftfrom a foreign government, issuing pardons to major donors, and more.

“Robust, independent investigations into public corruption are needed now more than ever to shore up Americans’ waning trust in the integrity of their representatives and public officials,” wrote the lawmakers. 

The members of Congress requested the DOJ and FBI provide, by September 5, 2025, a list of the public corruption cases that remain open under their departments, along with information about potential partisan enforcement of federal anti-corruption laws. 

Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) joined in signing the letter. 

Representatives Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), Donald Beyer (D-Va.), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), André Carson (D-Ind.), Troy Carter (D-La.), Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Yvette Clark (D-N.Y.), Emmanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), Cleo Fields (D-La.), John Garamendi (D-Calif.), Jesus Garcia (D-Ill.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Glenn Ivey (D-Md.), Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Henry Johnson (D-Ga.), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Dave Min (D-Calif.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Deborah Ross (D-N.C.), Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), Eugene Vindman (D-Va.), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) joined in signing the letter. 

The full text of the letter can be found here.

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