Biden’s DOJ has been breaking the laws for years. Now the walls are crumbling down.
And DOJ officials were caught in a massive leaking scandal that set D.C. on fire.
Three senior officials at the Department of Justice were found to have violated internal policies by leaking non-public information about an ongoing investigation to the media just days before an election, according to a report released Monday by the agency’s inspector general.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG), led by Michael Horowitz since 2012, launched the investigation after receiving a complaint alleging politically motivated disclosures. The complaint accused the officials of sharing sensitive details about ongoing DOJ matters to influence the public in the lead-up to an unspecified election.
“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 report stated.
The investigation also revealed that one of the three officials further violated policy by using a DOJ social media account to share links to the articles containing the leaked information.
At the time the probe began, all three officials had already left their DOJ positions and declined or failed to respond to interview requests.
The OIG, lacking authority to compel testimony from former employees, provided its findings to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General and the Professional Misconduct Review Unit for appropriate action.
The report was also sent to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel for potential Hatch Act violations.
The leaked investigation remains unidentified, but similar instances have raised concerns about DOJ practices.
In September, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Horowitz, accusing the DOJ and FBI of leaking information about a closed investigation involving Donald Trump.
The probe had focused on allegations that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi funneled $10 million to support Trump’s 2016 campaign but was closed in 2020 due to insufficient evidence. Despite its closure, details emerged in an August 2024 Washington Post article citing “people familiar with the case” and sealed court records.
Grassley later urged Garland, Wray, Horowitz, and Special Counsel Jack Smith to preserve all records tied to Smith’s investigations into Trump.
Grassley highlighted the Justice Department’s history of mishandling records, pointing to previous destruction of federal documents linked to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia probe.
Trump has consistently criticized Smith, accusing him of leaking investigative details to the press. During his 2023 presidential campaign, Trump claimed Smith “illegally leaked” an audio recording of him discussing a classified document about Iran at his Bedminster, NJ, golf club.
The audio transcript was later included in Smith’s indictment against Trump in a classified documents case that was dismissed by a federal judge in July 2023.
Leaks have plagued Trump’s political career, beginning with the FBI’s probe into alleged Russian collusion during the 2016 election. Horowitz and separate investigations by Mueller and Special Counsel John Durham highlighted FBI misconduct in handling the matter.
Even former FBI Director James Comey was referred for prosecution by Horowitz in 2019 for leaking internal memos to the media, though the DOJ declined to press charges.
Leaking sensitive information is not exclusive to Trump-related investigations. A DOJ probe into Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was leaked months before his September 2023 indictment, just as he prepared to launch an independent re-election campaign. Menendez later abandoned the campaign after being convicted on bribery charges.
As of now, representatives for the DOJ OIG have declined to comment on the findings or any subsequent actions stemming from the investigation.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
