The Justice Department is directing its federal prosecutors to charge people with the most serious crime it can prove (DOJ memo available here).
"The most serious charges are those punishable by death where applicable, and offenses with the most significant mandatory minimum sentences," Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove wrote in the three-page memo.
It is common for Justice Departments to shift enforcement priorities under a new presidential administration in compliance with White House policy ambitions. The edict to charge the most readily provable offense, for instance, is consistent with directives from prior Republican attorneys general including John Ashcroft and Jeff Sessions, while Democratic attorneys general including Eric Holder and Merrick Garland have replaced the policy and instead encouraged prosecutorial discretion in charging and sentencing practices.