Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins “willfully violated” the Hatch Act on multiple occasions, thereby exhibiting an “extraordinary abuse of her power,” the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said in a report that was sent to President Joe Biden.
The Justice Department’s watchdog report was released to the public Wednesday, less than 24 hours after her attorney announced that she would be resigning from her post. The report stated that Rollins’s alleged violations of the Hatch Act, which was established as federal law in 1939 to prevent pernicious political activities, “warrant disciplinary action.”
Rollins’s first violation arose in July 2022 when, in disregard of legal advice from her own agency, and in violation of the Hatch Act, she attended a political party fundraiser in her official capacity, according to the report.
Her second violation occurred throughout August and September 2022, when she repeatedly attempted to sabotage the campaign of a political candidate by leaking non-public U.S. Department of Justice information to the media to plant a story that the candidate she opposed was facing a DOJ investigation, OSC investigators said.
In its report to Biden, OSC characterized that particular violation as “one of the most egregious Hatch Act violations that OSC has investigated.”
“Rollins’ violations of the Hatch Act were knowing and willful,” investigators added.
The report concludes Rollins understood that leaking non-public information about a potential investigation of a candidate was wrong, yet she engaged in that wrongful activity for a political purpose. Regarding her attendance at the Democratic National Convention fundraiser, Rollins was specifically advised on how to avoid violating the Hatch Act, and the report concludes she intentionally ignored that advice and attended the event in her official capacity.
“The leak was an extraordinary breach of public trust by a senior government official, which threatens to erode confidence in the integrity of federal law enforcement actions. And her decision to attend a political party fundraiser in her official capacity as U.S. Attorney is directly contrary to one of the central purposes of the Hatch Act—to avoid even the appearance that the federal government is being used to promote a political party or its candidates. Ms. Rollins’s multiple knowing, willful, and serious violations unquestionably warrant disciplinary action,” investigators wrote.
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Rachael Rollins Report by Boston 25 Desk on Scribd
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