'It Sure Looks Like This Administration Is Colluding With Iran': Lawmaker Calls for Probe Into State Department Following Robert Malley Revelations
The Biden-Harris administration intentionally sought to "cover up" the suspension of embattled Iran envoy Robert Malley, according to Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), who is calling for further scrutiny into the State Department after an explosive inspector general report found that the agency grossly mishandled the affair.
In a Monday letter, Banks, a House Armed Services Committee member, instructed the State Department to explain how Malley was permitted to continue accessing classified information after his security clearance was pulled in 2023. Malley was placed on indefinite leave from his post when it became clear the FBI was investigating him for keeping classified information in his personal email account. Banks said the move allowed that information to be "compromised by a foreign actor."
"Many of Malley’s colleagues were not aware of the suspension and may have continued to share classified information with him," Banks wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. "Malley’s deputy was instructed not to tell anyone about the suspension but was given no guidance on when to include or exclude Malley from sensitive matters."
Banks's letter follows a bombshell inspector general report released last week that details how the State Department breached multiple federal protocols after it suspended Malley, including by keeping the revocation of his security clearance a secret from senior staff and Malley himself. This allowed Malley to participate in a "secure telephone call" with the White House after his clearance was yanked. Malley continued to handle sensitive information well after he should have been cut off, the report found.
"Instead of immediately putting Malley on leave or relieving him of his position, the State Department tried to keep Malley’s suspension quiet and allow him to continue his work as if nothing had changed, likely in violation of the law," Banks wrote. "This decision to spare Malley of ‘potential embarrassment’ reportedly came from top department officials at State."
Additionally, "the allegations of Malley’s mishandling of classified information were not reported to the State IG’s office, violating the Department of State Authorities Act."
Banks also pressed the State Department to explain why Malley remained employed "full-time through June 2023 and, while officially barred from classified information, he had constant access to highly sensitive unclassified information."
"Why has the State Department not formally removed Malley from his position, nearly 15 months after he was placed on leave and 17 months after his clearance was suspended?" Banks asked, posing a question that has baffled lawmakers and congressional insiders for more than a year.
The inspector general determined that Malley’s "access to Sensitive But Unclassified information systems" was restored at the behest of senior U.S. officials after his clearance was initially revoked. This decision was highly unusual, given that most officials facing similar investigations are banned entirely from the State Department’s internal networks.
"At every stage of this embarrassing saga, the State Department has bent the rules and prioritized Rob Malley’s comfort over transparency and America’s national security," Banks wrote. "This failure fits with a shameful pattern of behavior by your administration to appease the Iranian regime and to hire, promote, and protect those in your administration with dangerous ties to the Islamic Republic’s regime."
Malley’s suspension is particularly noteworthy given his cozy relations with the Iranian regime and works with policy analysts now known to have been members of an Iranian-government-run influence group. This includes Ariane Tabatabai, who was hired at the State Department before moving to the Pentagon, where she currently holds a top-secret security clearance.
"When Iran hacked the Trump campaign, the Harris-Biden gang covered it up. When the Biden-Harris State Department's chief Iran appeaser lost his clearance for mishandling classified information that fell into adversary hands, they covered it up and let him keep accessing classified information," Banks told the Washington Free Beacon. "It sure looks like this administration is colluding with Iran."
The State Department has until Oct. 10 to inform Banks exactly how its senior officials concluded that "Malley’s misconduct was not ‘serious,’ given his many relationships with Iranian regime sympathizers." The State Department must also name all the officials who failed to properly inform the inspector general about the allegations against Malley, as required by the law.
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