Grassley Seeks Records on Reported Findings of DOJ Leak Probe

 

 

 

WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is calling for DOJ to explain its findings in its reportedly closed investigation into the origins of a classified leak to the Washington Post.

 

“Time and again, we see examples of double standards when it comes to enforcing laws against mishandling classified information. The transcripts of Lt. Gen. Flynn’s call with the Russian ambassador were classified, so how can leaks about them be ok? It’s especially concerning when Congress is left in the dark while the Department continues to leak about its own leak probe to the press. The American people need assurances that the Justice Department will hold its employees to at least the same standard that it holds the rest of the country.”

 

In a letter today to the acting attorney general, Grassley requested records on the investigation and its findings. Full text of that letter follows:

 

January 22, 2021

 

Mr. Robert M. Wilkinson

Acting Attorney General

Department of Justice

 

Dear Mr. Wilkinson:

 

At a May 1, 2019, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, I asked then-Attorney General Bill Barr what he was doing to “investigate unauthorized media contacts by the Department and FBI officials during the Russia investigation.” Then-Attorney General Barr answered, “[w]e have multiple criminal leak investigations underway.”

 

On January 19, 2021, The New York Times reported that Operation Echo, the investigation into the leak of information relating to calls between the then-incoming National Security Advisor, Lt. Gen. Flynn, and the Russian Ambassador to the U.S, Sergey Kislyak, is now closed.[1] The report stated, “investigators ultimately found no wrongdoing[.]”[2] A January 12, 2017, Washington Post article first reported on those calls.[3]

 

On May 29, 2020, after I had requested that the Flynn-Kislyak calls be declassified in the interest of public disclosure, the Director of National Intelligence did so. Accordingly, it is clear that the information leaked to and published by the Washington Post on January 12, 2017, was sensitive information at that time and the leak was most likely designed to undermine the Trump administration in its first days.

 

In light of then-Attorney General Barr’s testimony to Congress and The New York Times report, the Department must update Congress on whether the reported finding that “no wrongdoing” was identified is in fact true and accurate.

 

Accordingly, no later than February 5, 2021, please provide all records relating to the Flynn-Kislyak leak investigation, including any report of investigation and closing memoranda.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Charles E. Grassley                    

Chairman     

Committee on Finance

 

---