Trump’s DOJ took its anti-corruption unit from more than 30 lawyers to 2
What’s new
An FBI bribery probe involving members of Congress went dark after its agents were pushed out, ProPublica reported. No one is now examining the allegations.
The lawmakers were never named as subjects, and their offices deny wrongdoing.
Why it matters
The unit built to prosecute corrupt officials barely exists.
- June 2025: DOJ stripped its Public Integrity Section of the power to bring cases and cut it from more than 30 lawyers to 5, Reuters reported.
- September 2025: 2 lawyers were left, NOTUS found.
- DOJ’s side: it says it is rooting out the “weaponization” of the Biden years.
Also on the record
- A $50 million job, then a pardon: That same unit charged banker Julio Herrera Velutini with bribing Puerto Rico’s governor. His daughter gave $3.5 million to Trump’s super PAC. Her only earlier federal donation was $20. She then hired Trump’s former lawyer Alina Habba on a deal worth more than $50 million, the New York Times reported. Two weeks after Habba started, Trump pardoned him. Habba and the White House deny any link.
- Oil stock, then an oil deal: Trump’s accounts bought up to $10 million of Chevron and ConocoPhillips on August 21, his biggest buys of either this year. A week later he announced a Venezuela oil deal. ProPublica has the terms. The White House says the accounts are independently managed.
By the numbers
Trump family: $2.5 billion and counting. His wider circle: a $193 billion pool.
What to watch
An FEC complaint says the $3.5 million really came from Herrera Velutini, a foreign national barred from giving. It is still pending.