US Senator Chuck Grassley obtained internal records from a whistleblower that 665 FBI employees had resigned after being involved in sexual misconduct investigations to avoid receiving final disciplinary letters.
According to the network “PBSGrassley said the whistleblower – who was not named – submitted a report to the Department of Homeland Justice that indicated employees left between 2004 and 2020 and included 45 high-level employees.
“The allegations and records paint a disgraceful picture of the 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. and unacceptable.”
Grassley’s office said Justice Department officials prepared the report after an Associated Press story in 2020 that exposed allegations of sexual behavior among senior officials in the office.
The report states that 665 employees left after “alleged misconduct,” but did not specify this as sexual misconduct, although the document is titled as such.
The Associated Press investigation that appeared to create the report concluded that the office chose to move those facing charges or allow them to retire.
Grassley also said he received a second whistleblower document that analyzes Ray’s implementation of a zero-tolerance policy for sexual misconduct, and details “inconsistent provisions.”
The document reads: “Recent cases of sexual misconduct appear to show that [مكتب المسؤولية المهنية] This directive has resulted in seemingly arbitrary penalties and differentiated treatment, which could jeopardize the consistency, fairness and due process of the FBI’s disciplinary system.”
“Congress is obligated to conduct an objective and independent review of the failures of the Department of Justice and the FBI and to determine the accuracy of the data contained in the documents so that the American people know and understand what changes, if any, have been made to solve these significant problems,” Grassley wrote in his letter.
The FBI said in a statement that employees who commit sexual harassment have no place in the office, pointing to new resources such as a 24/7 hotline, and said it is working with lawmakers on the issue.