A federal prosecutor mishandled sensitive government information by transmitting it to a personal email account, the Justice Department’s inspector general has found.
In addition to sending the information — which was deemed sensitive but unclassified (SBU) — the prosecutor, an assistant U.S. Attorney, engaged in other misconduct, according to the watchdog.
The prosecutor, who was not named in the report, also allegedly misused government time, resources, equipment and databases to conduct personal business. The prosecutor also allegedly misused their position to provide a letter of recommendation for a relative and also engaged in pro bono legal work without authorization from the Justice Department.
The matter — which is an investigation into administrative misconduct and not a criminal prosecution — has been referred the matter to the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and to the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility. A spokesman for the inspector general’s office declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation into the U.S. Attorney.
The inquiry comes as the Justice Department is looking into another case of mishandled sensitive information.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is under intense scrutiny from both the public, Congress and the FBI for her use of a personal email account and a private email server.
But not only did Clinton send and receive reams of sensitive but unclassified information through her off-the-books email account, much of the correspondence contained classified material.
The FBI is looking into the Intelligence Community inspector general’s finding that Clinton received two emails which contained information that was “Top Secret” at the time it was sent. Clinton also sent and received hundreds of emails that contain information that the State Department has retroactively deemed to be “confidential” — the lowest classification category.
The FBI seized Clinton’s email server last month. There have been mixed reports about whether the investigation is criminal in nature. Clinton’s presidential campaign has said that the agency is on a fact-finding mission. Others claim that all of the FBI’s investigations are criminal in nature.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Tuesday asking her to appoint a special counsel to investigate Clinton’s homebrew email arrangement.
