{"id":1677452,"date":"2022-10-07T07:02:54","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T11:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1677452"},"modified":"2022-10-07T07:04:27","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T11:04:27","slug":"internal-memos-fbis-out-of-control-sexual-misconduct-yields-little-punishment-especially-for-top-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/internal-memos-fbis-out-of-control-sexual-misconduct-yields-little-punishment-especially-for-top-officials\/","title":{"rendered":"Internal Memos: FBI\u2019s Out-Of-Control Sexual Misconduct Yields Little Punishment \u2014 Especially For Top Officials"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Finternal-memos-fbis-out-of-control-sexual-misconduct-yields-little-punishment-especially-for-top-officials%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1677452&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>The FBI is allowing senior agency officials accused of sexual impropriety to face lighter penalties than line employees for similar misconduct, according to records provided to Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley\u2019s office by agency whistleblowers. The same records also show that FBI employees under investigation for sexual misconduct quit their jobs before they could face any form of disciplinary action over a period of nearly two decades.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/grassley_to_doj_fbi_sexual_misconduct_allegations.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">letter<\/a> addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, Grassley claims that protected whistleblower disclosures provided to his office reveal that from 2004-2020, \u201chundreds of FBI employees have retired or resigned because of sexual misconduct allegations against them and that they did so in order to avoid accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor example, according to an internal unclassified Justice Department document from the Office of Disciplinary Appeals titled \u2018Retirements and Resignations During Unwelcome Sexual Conduct Adjudications,\u2019 as of December 23, 2020, the Justice Department reviewed the FBI\u2019s disciplinary case database, Javelin, \u2018to observe patterns and offer recommendations,&#8217;\u201d the letter reads. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Justice Department reviewed 8,686 summaries in Javelin and found that from 2004 to December 23, 2020, \u2018665 FBI employees, including 45 [Senior Executive Service (SES)]-level employees have retired or resigned following an FBI or [Justice Department Office of Inspector General (OIG)] investigation into alleged misconduct, but prior to [the Office of Professional<br \/>Responsibility\u2019s (OPR)] issuance of a final disciplinary letter,&#8217;\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<p>The document allegedly goes on to note that \u201c[o]f those 45 SES-level employees, there is only one instance where an SES-level employee retired or resigned after the FBI or DOJ-OIG completed an investigation into an alleged violation \u2026 but before OPR issued a final decision letter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo make matters worse, some of the SES-level employees could have received bonuses before retirement,\u201d Grassley wrote. \u201cImportantly, the document also notes, \u2018[t]his dataset does not include retirements or resignations which occurred during an ongoing misconduct investigation or prior to the initiation of a formal investigation.\u2019 In other words, it appears that the number of retirements and resignations could be much higher than 665 individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among the more stunning revelations found in the purported memos provided to Grassley\u2019s office is a second unclassified Justice Department document showing that the FBI offers disparate treatment for sexual misconduct depending on the seniority of the official in question.<\/p>\n<p>According to Grassley, the document shows that in recent instances of sexual misconduct, employees have received what appear to be random consequences without much explanation, from week-long suspensions to termination. This \u201cdisparate treatment\u201d could \u201ccompromis[e] the consistency, fairness, and due process of the FBI\u2019s disciplinary system.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only discernable pattern appears to be that higher-graded employees, especially supervisors, are more likely to have their sexual misconduct case adjudicated under Offense Code 5.22, and therefore subjected to lesser penalties; whereas, lower-graded employees are seemingly more likely to be adjudicated under Offense Code 5.20, and have a statistically greater likelihood of being dismissed for their sexual misconduct,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the Justice Department and FBI can\u2019t ensure the equal application of the law within its own ranks, how can they be trusted to apply the law equally against the American people?\u201d Grassley wrote. \u201cCongress and the American people would like to know what Director Wray and Deputy Director Abbate have done to solve this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The FBI is allowing senior agency officials accused of sexual impropriety to face lighter penalties than line employees for similar misconduct, according to records provided to Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1677452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1677452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1677452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1677452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1677452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1677452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1677452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}