Whistleblower Alleges Hundreds of FBI Employees Left Following Sexual Misconduct Investigations

“Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he obtained internal records from a whistleblower alleging 665 FBI employees retired or resigned following misconduct investigations to avoid receiving final disciplinary letters,” The Hill reports.

Grassley said the whistleblower provided an internal Justice Department report that noted the employees left between 2004 and 2020.

The report included 45 senior-level employees.

“The allegations and records paint a disgraceful picture of abuse that women within the FBI have had to live with for many years,” Grassley wrote in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“This abuse and misconduct is outrageous and beyond unacceptable,” Grassley continued.

Whistleblower: 665 FBI employees left the agency after sexual misconduct probes from 2004 to 2020 before facing disciplinary action. https://t.co/nR5SAKmMSj

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) October 7, 2022

Whistleblower: 665 FBI personnel have resigned, retired to avoid accountability in misconduct probes https://t.co/FNya1ZO6n0

— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 7, 2022

From The Hill:

Grassley’s office said Justice Department officials created the report following an Associated Press story in 2020 that revealed sexual conduct allegations among senior officials in the bureau.

The alleged report states the 665 employees left following “alleged misconduct,” but it did not specify it as sexual misconduct, although the document is titled as such.

His office suggested the actual figure could be larger, because the data doesn’t include departures that occurred during or just prior to the start of misconduct investigations.

The Associated Press investigation that apparently spawned the report’s creation found that the bureau opted to transfer those facing accusations or allow them to retire.

A news release from Sen. Chuck Grassley states:

Hundreds of FBI employees under investigation for sexual misconduct quit their jobs before facing discipline from 2004-2020, according to internal Justice Department records obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). The records, provided via whistleblower disclosures, also illuminate concerns that senior officials are facing lighter penalties than line employees for similar misconduct, and call into question the effectiveness of the FBI’s response to sexual misconduct by its employees.

The first document, produced by the Justice Department’s Office of Disciplinary Appeals and titled “Retirements and Resignations During Unwelcome Sexual Conduct Adjudications” found that from 2004 to December 23, 2020:

“665 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 Responsibility’s (OPR)] issuance of a final disciplinary letter.”

The data doesn’t include resignations or retirements that occurred prior to the initiation of or during an ongoing misconduct investigation, so the actual number of employees who departed the FBI following allegations of sexual misconduct could be much higher. This report was generated following a 2020 Associated Press article revealing sexual misconduct in FBI’s senior ranks.

The second document, produced this year by the Justice Department and titled “Inconsistent Adjudication of Non-Consensual Sexual Misconduct” analyzes the implementation of FBI Director Wray’s “zero tolerance” directive from December 2020, which sought to address sexual misconduct at the FBI. The document notes that:

“[r]ecent sexual misconduct cases appear to show OPR’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.”

In a Wednesday letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Grassley wrote: “Simply put, these two documents show a systemic failure within the Justice Department and FBI to protect female employees from sexual harassment and sexual misconduct in the workplace and a failure to sufficiently punish employees for that same misconduct. FBI employees should not have to suffer under daily abuse and misconduct by their colleagues and supervisors.

“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.”