In a memo addressed to all department personnel, Mr. Garland said the Justice Department “will not advise the White House concerning pending or contemplated criminal or civil law enforcement investigations or cases unless doing so is important for the performance of the President’s duties and appropriate from a law enforcement perspective.”
The memo said those limits—which it said didn’t apply to matters of national security or foreign relations—were necessary to “promote and protect the norms of Departmental independence and integrity.”
That language closely tracked a 2009 memo issued by then-Attorney General Eric Holder, which remained in effect throughout the Trump presidency, according to a former Justice Department official. But Mr. Trump’s repeated public comments and criticism about pending criminal investigations and cases involving his allies—some of which the Justice Department appeared to heed—led Joe Biden to stress restoring independence to the department in his successful campaign for the presidency.