Justice Department office that prosecutes public corruption slashed in size, sources say

The Trump Administration is slashing the size of the Justice Department’s unit that oversees prosecutions of public officials accused of corruption, three sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told NBC News.

Only a fraction of the section’s employees — roughly a half dozen — will remain in an office that, until recently, oversaw all federal public corruption cases nationwide and housed dozens of employees, two sources said.

Prosecutors currently in the Washington-based unit, the Public Integrity Section, are being told to take details to other positions within the department.

The Public Integrity section will now be a non-litigation section and no longer directly handle investigations and prosecutions, two sources said. Its current cases will be reassigned to U.S. Attorney’s Offices around the country.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Several officials resigned from the section when the department moved to drop its corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams last month.

John Keller, the acting head of the Public Integrity Section, refused to drop the Adams case and resigned, two sources said. Three other members of the section also resigned.