The U.S. Justice Department has dropped all federal charges against Utah plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Kirk Moore Jr. after Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered prosecutors to dismiss the case. Acting U.S. Attorney for Utah Felice John Viti filed the motion on Saturday, saying dismissal was "in the interests of justice," halting a jury trial that had begun in Salt Lake City days earlier. Moore was indicted in January 2023 on counts of conspiracy to defraud the government, destroying government property and related offenses. Prosecutors alleged he and three associates discarded more than $28,000 worth of federally supplied Covid-19 vaccine doses, injected some children with saline at their parents’ request, and provided roughly 1,900 falsified vaccination cards in exchange for cash or charitable donations. The charges carried a potential prison term of up to 35 years. In a statement on social media, Bondi said Moore "gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so" and "did not deserve the years in prison he was facing." The case, brought under the Biden administration, had become a rallying point for vaccine-skeptic figures. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. previously praised Moore, while Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Senator Mike Lee lobbied Bondi to intervene. The abrupt dismissal drew criticism from Democrats. Senator Richard Blumenthal urged the Justice Department’s inspector general and congressional committees to investigate what he called a potential "corrupt abuse of power" by Bondi. The episode adds to mounting scrutiny of the department’s handling of pandemic-related prosecutions amid shifting political attitudes toward vaccination mandates.