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The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has accused three former DOJ officials of leaking intel “days before an election.”

An investigation conducted by the OIG found that three former senior DOJ officials violated department policies by leaking information about a separate non-public investigation to the press “days before an election.”

The specific election in mind isn’t specified. What is specified is that the leak led to the media publishing two news articles about the non-public investigation.

The OIG investigation also found that one of the three senior DOJ officials further violated department policy by using a department social media account to share links to the aforementioned news articles.

The three officials were reportedly no longer at the DOJ when the OIG’s investigation began and declined interview requests when prompted.

“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,” a summary from the OIG’s office read.

The OIG has also forwarded the report to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel for them to check whether the three former officials committed any Hatch Act violations.

It’s possible all this may have something to do with President-elect Donald Trump. In September, Sen. Chuck Grassley penned a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray accusing the DOJ and FBI of “leaking material and information to the media” about a former probe into the then-GOP presidential nominee.

“On August 2, 2024, the Washington Post published a report based on internal Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation records about another investigation FBI officials tried to advance against President Trump which was ultimately closed for lack of evidence,” the letter reads.

That article can be seen below:

Grassley went on to note that the media’s reporting was based on “interviews with people familiar with the case as well as documents and contemporaneous notes of the investigation” and “a review of thousands of pages of government records, including sealed court filings and exhibits.”

“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,” he wrote.

“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,” he added.

The closed investigation “pertained to allegations from a ‘confidential informant’ that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi sought to boost Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign with $10 million in cash,” according to the New York Post.

Taken on by former special counsel Robert Mueller, the investigation was eventually closed over a “lack of sufficient evidence” but then suddenly made newspapers in August of 2024.

Grassley also sent another letter to Garland and Wray after the most recent presidential election demanding that all of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s records be preserved.

“[C]onsidering the Justice Department’s past destruction of federal records relevant to congressional oversight and political bias infecting its decision-making process, we request that you preserve all records related to the Justice Department’s criminal investigations of former President Trump by Special Counsel Smith,” he wrote.

“The improper conduct of the past cannot be repeated in this matter, therefore, all records must be preserved so that Congress can perform an objective and independent review,” he added.

Vivek Saxena
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