The Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) released a report on Monday that revealed that three employees had leaked information to the media in an attempt to damage the electoral prospects of Donald Trump.
The IG report summary said:
The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated an investigation after receiving allegations that actions by a litigating division were politically motivated and violated DOJ policies regarding disclosing information about ongoing matters.
The OIG investigation found that three then Senior DOJ Officials violated DOJ’s Confidentiality and Media Contacts Policy by leaking to select reporters, days before an election, non-public DOJ investigative information regarding ongoing DOJ investigative matters, resulting in the publication of two news articles that included the non-public DOJ investigative information. The OIG investigation also found that one of these three then Senior DOJ Officials violated the Confidentiality and Media Contacts Policy and DOJ’s Social Media Policy by reposting through a DOJ social media account links to the news articles.
…
The OIG also provided its report to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which has exclusive jurisdiction to investigate alleged Hatch Act violations, for its consideration of whether the conduct of these officials violated the Hatch Act.
It is unclear what investigation was leaked, and what the leaks were. The New York Post points to a letter by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) that, in turn, refers to an article in the Washington Post in August that alleged that Trump was investigated for supposedly receiving $10 million from Egyptian president Abdel Fateh el-Sisi during the 2016 race.
Grassley wrote (footnotes omitted):
The reporting also refers to “classified U.S. intelligence,” indicating that Justice Department and FBI officials may have divulged classified information to the media. This appears to be yet another example of the Justice Department and FBI leaking material and information to the media while stiff-arming congressional requests for the same type of information. More than that, it also appears the Biden-Harris Justice Department and FBI intentionally leaked this information, to include potentially classified information, to the media roughly 90 days before the 2024 presidential election. This ongoing election interference by your agencies is another reason why the American people continue to lose faith in the agencies you’re responsible for leading.
The Egypt investigation was reportedly conducted by then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller and abandoned for lack of evidence.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
