Donald Trump’s administration quietly abandoned more than 23,000 criminal cases within the first six months of his presidency, including 11,000 within Attorney General Pam Bondi’s first month in office alone, according to a sweeping analysis from ProPublica.
While the Department of Justice retreated from thousands of cases — from drug trafficking and terrorism to fraud, money laundering and white-collar crimes — federal prosecutors launched 32,000 new immigration-related cases, nearly triple the amount pursued under Joe Biden’s administration, the investigation found.
Among the cases shut down by Trump’s Justice Department were investigations into alleged cryptocurrency fraudsters, nursing homes accused of patient abuse, and nearly 1,000 cases concerning fraud and abuse of federal programs and federal contracts despite pledges from Trump and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department told the outlet that the historic number of declined cases follows “an effort to clean, remediate, and validate data in U.S. Attorneys’ case management system,” including a review of all pending criminal cases opened prior to the 2023 fiscal year.
The revelations also follow the president’s historic number of pardons for white-collar criminals and political allies accused of fraud, bribery and corruption after Trump campaigned on ending what he called the “politicization” of the Justice Department under his predecessor.
