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In a bombshell revelation, three senior officials at Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) were found to have violated internal policies by leaking sensitive, non-public investigative details to the media just days before an election, according to a report released by the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) on Monday.
The OIG launched its investigation after receiving complaints alleging politically motivated disclosures.
The leaked information, pertaining to ongoing DOJ matters, was shared with select reporters, resulting in two news articles containing confidential details.
The Inspector General’s investigative summary paints a damning picture of the senior officials’ actions. The report reads:
Findings of Misconduct by Three then Senior DOJ Officials for Violating the Department’s Confidentiality and Media Contacts Policy; and by one of these Senior Officials for Violating the Department’s Social Media Policy
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 three Senior DOJ Officials were not employed by DOJ when the OIG contacted them for interviews and either declined or did not respond to the OIG’s interview requests. The OIG has the authority to compel testimony from current DOJ employees upon informing them that their statements will not be used to incriminate them in a criminal proceeding. The OIG does not have the authority to compel or subpoena testimony from former DOJ employees.
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 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.
This isn’t the first time the DOJ has been embroiled in allegations of leaks.
According to the New York Post, in September, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) accused the DOJ and FBI of leaking information about a previously closed investigation into then-President-elect Donald Trump.
The investigation, related to alleged Egyptian funding of Trump’s 2016 campaign, was closed in 2020 due to insufficient evidence but resurfaced in an August 2024 Washington Post report, citing leaked court documents and confidential sources.
Grassley, a longtime watchdog of DOJ misconduct, has demanded that Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray preserve all records related to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into Trump.
Grassley’s concerns stem from the DOJ’s past destruction of federal records, including those tied to the Mueller probe and Smith’s use of personnel involved in prior controversial investigations.
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