Inside Trump’s gutting of the Justice Department unit that enforces voting laws

CNN —

The Justice Department’s unit tasked with enforcing federal voting laws is down from roughly 30 attorneys to about a half-dozen, as most of its career staff has departed in the face of escalating pressure tactics from the Trump administration.

The mass exodus that has whittled the voting section down to a fifth of its normal size came after a relentless campaign by the department’s political leaders to smear the work of the longtime attorneys, dismiss noncontroversial cases, and reassign career supervisors.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the Trump appointee who oversees the civil rights division, which houses the DOJ voting section, has joked about how the division has emptied out. More than 200 attorneys from the division, often called the “crown jewel” of the depa