3 'Politically Motivated' Senior DOJ Officials Leaked Non-Public Investigation Details Prior To Election

The Department of Justice stands in the early hours of Friday morning, March 22, 2019 in Washington, DC.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently released a report finding that three senior DOJ officials leaked information regarding a non-public investigation just days before the election.

The Office of the Inspector General released a report on Monday, December 30th, detailing an investigation into the officials following a complaint alleging that DOJ officials were “politically motivated” to disclose information pertaining to a private investigation.

“The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated an investigation after receiving allegations that actions by a litigation division were politically motivated and violated DOJ policies regarding disclosing information about ongoing matters,” the statement began.

All three of the individuals involved violated the DOJ’s confidentiality and media policy by leaking the information to reporters, and one of the individuals shared articles including the leaked information to an official department social media account, violating the department’s social media policy.

“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 report continued.

The three officials in question declined to respond to interview requests, as they are no longer DOJ employees, meaning the “OIG does not have the authority to compel or subpoena testimony from former DOJ employees.”

It is currently unclear which investigation was leaked, as well as what information was leaked in the news reports.

“The OIG has completed its investigation and provided its report to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General and, because the report contained misconduct findings against attorneys, provided its report to the Professional Misconduct Review Unit for appropriate action,” the report added.

The report concluded by stating the report was provided to the office of the special counsel to investigate whether the former employees violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits DOJ employees from “engaging in partisan political activity while on duty, in a federal facility or using federal property.”

“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,” the report stated.

Additionally, Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor stated that the DOJ has an explicit “long standing ‘60 day rule’ not to take prosecutorial steps that could influence an upcoming election.”

“Unfortunately, some prosecutors violate these rules for personal or political reasons, which leads to further distrust of federal law enforcement. Prosecutors need to be careful about the information they share with the media, especially before an election. That is why these DOJ policies exist,” he stated, according to Newsweek.

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