Matt Zapotosky

The proposed rule also includes new definitions for what constitutes a firearm and its related parts — a first since 1968, the Justice Department said.

The Trump-appointed federal prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, as well as the prosecutor reviewing the FBI’s 2016 investigation of Trump’s campaign will be allowed to continue their work, a Justice Department official said.

The review comes on the heels of a revelation that then-President Trump considered replacing his acting attorney general with an official more amenable to his unfounded claims of voter fraud.

The president had seized on the case to support his unfounded claims of a rigged election.

The Justice Department recently issued guidance giving federal prosecutors more leeway to take public action on suspected election fraud before ballots are in.

The department filed notice Tuesday, moving the case from New York state court to federal court and seeking to make the U.S. government the defendant instead of the president.

Legal analysts say that while the department has broad authority to enforce federal laws, officers’ actions seemed to be pushing the boundaries and pulling DHS into a domestic policing role.

U.S. Attorney John Durham has been trying to determine if the FBI’s intelligence activities in the Russia probe were lawful.

The bipartisan group signed a statement saying an obstruction case did not present a “close professional judgment.”

The roughly half-hour, televised event cemented the view among wary Democrats and some in the legal community that the attorney general is more politically motivated and protective of Trump than they realized.

Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said Tuesday that officials briefed a bipartisan group of lawmakers after the bureau opened an investigation into President Donald Trump in May 2017.

Jeffrey Rosen of the Transportation Department is expected to be nominated to succeed Rosenstein, according to those familiar with the discussions.

William Barr has occasionally been critical of the Mueller investigation and wrote in a memo to Justice Department leaders last year that Mueller’s apparent theory of possible obstruction of justice by the president was “fatally misconceived.”

The charges reflect the latest move in the Trump administration’s effort to root out leakers within the government.

Friday’s battle over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was a stunning turnaround in an emotional battle over sexual assault allegations that has shaken the Senate and reverberated across the country.