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DOJ Employee Donations Overwhelmingly Favor Democrats

83 percent of donations from agency this cycle have gone to Democrats

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May 24, 2018

Political donations from those who work at the Department of Justice (DOJ) overwhelmingly favor Democratic candidates so far this cycle, data shows.

Individuals at the DOJ have contributed a total of $192,534 so far this election cycle, with $159,800 (83 percent) of this amount going to Democrats. Republicans, on the other hand, have been the recipients of just 14 percent of the total contributions from those at the agency, pulling in $27,129 in donations.

Throughout the 2016 election cycle, employees at the DOJ also overwhelmingly favored Democrats.

DOJ workers handed out nearly $950,000 in total political donations in 2016. Of this amount, $818,985 went to Democrats, or 87 percent of the total donations. Republicans garnered $108,882 in donations from those at the agency in 2016, or 12 percent of all the money given.

Government agencies as a whole shunned President Donald Trump during the 2016 election cycle while giving big to Hillary Clinton's campaign. Federal employees from 14 agencies gave roughly $2 million in donations, with $1.9 million of that amount going to Clinton, the Hill reported at the time.

Political giving from individuals at the DOJ to Republicans dipped below 20 percent during the 2012 election cycle for the first time since 1990 and has since remained below that level.

The last—and only—time Republicans received more donations from DOJ employees came during the 2006 election cycle when $151,486 (56 percent) of the donations went to Republicans while $117,565 (44 percent) went to Democrats.

The DOJ declined to comment.

The FBI, which falls under the jurisdiction of the DOJ, has consistently come under fire from President Donald Trump for the Russia investigation, which he has described as a "witch hunt." As of February, almost every prosecutor known to be working directly with special counsel Robert Mueller on his investigation were Democrats, the Daily Caller reported.

The FBI Agents Association, which represents former and current agents, also previously experienced an influx of contributions as Trump regularly attacked the agency.

The donations given to the association goes to two charitable funds, which received more than $140,000 from more than 2,000 donors in December. The money would be used to send the children of deceased agents to college and help FBI families in need.

The DOJ recently asked its internal watchdog for an expanded probe into any "irregularities" used by the FBI to investigate the Trump campaign.