665 FBI personnel left to avoid misconduct investigation: Iowa Senator
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Grassley says a whistleblower provided him with documents proving that the staff left to avoid being held accountable for behavioral misconduct.
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Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley (Politico)
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa said more than 600 FBI personnel either retired or resigned to dodge final disciplinary letters following investigations of misconduct - with proof from obtained internal records from a whistleblower.
According to Grassley, the unidentified whistleblower provided an internal Justice Department report that demonstrated that between 2004 and 2020, staff including 45 senior-level employees left the agency, stating in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, "The allegations and records paint a disgraceful picture of abuse that women within the FBI have had to live with for many years."
"This abuse and misconduct is outrageous and beyond unacceptable," he cried out.
Although Grassley’s office claimed the report concerned an AP story in 2020 regarding sexual conduct claims among senior officials in the FBI, the supposed report tells that 665 employees left in light of “alleged misconduct", but sexual misconduct was not specified, even though the document's title states it.
Grassley's office believes that due to the data not taking into consideration those who departed during or before the commencement of the misconduct probes, the number of departures may be larger than the mentioned number, but the AP report found that the FBI was given the option to either allow the involved staff to retire or to transfer them. That would give the individuals leverage, however, as they would be permitted to keep their pensions and benefits and remain anonymous while investigations take their course and conclude.
According to the alleged document's content, “Recent sexual misconduct cases appear to show [the Office of Professional Responsibility]’s application of this directive has resulted in seemingly random penalties and disparate treatment, potentially compromising the consistency, fairness and due process of the FBI’s disciplinary system."
The Senator maintained that the whistleblower supplied him with an additional document that scrutinizes FBI Director Wray’s enforcement of a zero-tolerance policy on sexual misconduct, indicating “inconsistent adjudication".
In his letter to Wray and Garland, he wrote, “Congress has an obligation to perform an objective and independent review of the Justice Department’s and FBI’s failures and determine the accuracy of the data contained in the documents so that the American people know and understand what, if any, changes have been made to solve these significant problems."
