A new investigation summary by the Inspector General for the Department of Justice reveals an FBI deputy assistant director was caught making “unauthorized contacts with the media” and “disclosing sensitive information.”
Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, wants to know who that was.
As Democrats in Washington insist on continuing to investigate alleged Trump collusion with Russia, the summary from the IG went almost unnoticed.
But not by Collins, who has written to Attorney General William Barr and DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz asking for more information.
He explained he was asking about the “Investigative Summary issued by the Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) titled Findings of Misconduct by an FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Unauthorized Contacts with the Media, Disclosing Law Enforcement and Other Sensitive Information to the Media, and Accepting a Gift from the Media (Summary).”
The report, he noted, says the FBI deputy assistant director “disclosed to the media the existence of information that had been filed under seal in federal court, in violation of 18 USC § 401, Contempt of Court.”
But the “prosecution … was declined.”
“As you are aware,” Collins wrote, “the dissemination of material filed under seal with a federal court is a serious offense especially when the person engaging in the unauthorized dissemination is a law enforcement official. It undermines a fundamental underpinning of our justice system and can put lives in jeopardy. Leaking classified material is also a dangerous, illegal action. The department’s declination to prosecute leaks only serves to embolden leakers to continue their reckless actions over time.”
Collins’ letter noted that former Attorney General Jeff Sessions previously told Congress, “Members of the committee, we had about nine open investigations of classified leaks in the last three years. We have 27 investigations open today. We intend to get to the bottom of these leaks.”
One move was that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut began conducting a criminal investigation into former FBI General Counsel James Baker for leaking information to reporters, he noted.
Collins pointed out that last April “it was reported the Inspector General referred former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia due to McCabe’s lack of candor.”
“As the OIG reported, McCabe disclosed confidential investigative details to a media outlet ‘to advance his personal interests at the expense of Department leadership.’ McCabe subsequently lied under oath to the FBI’s Inspections Division and the DOJ OIG,” Collins wrote.
“Separately, last June the Inspector General testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee his office was investigating former FBI Director James Comey’s leaking of memos he wrote regarding his conversations with the president,” he wrote.
He asked for information about who was investigated for leaking secrets to the media, whether or not charges were justified, why prosecution was declined, whether or not the investigation into Baker is still going on and what McCabe did.
Also, he wants to know if the department investigated former FBI Director James Comey criminally.
Collins said either written answers or an in-person briefing would be adequate.
