The Justice Department is investigating a former staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee who allegedly made an unauthorized disclosure of information.
The probe came to light after the Senate quietly passed a resolution this week that would allow the committee to provide records to the Justice Department, which requested documents as part of the investigation.
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“The Select Committee on Intelligence has received a request from the Department of Justice for records pertinent to a pending investigation arising out of allegations of the unauthorized disclosure of information by a former employee of the Committee,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement in the Congressional Record.
“This resolution would authorize the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, acting jointly, to provide records in response to this request from the Department of Justice,” McConnell added.
Neither the resolution nor the scant public comments from senators on the Justice Department probe, disclose who the former committee aide is, or what information they allegedly disclosed.
“As noted in the Senate Resolution, the Department of Justice has sought the assistance of the Committee in a pending investigation. The Committee is cooperating with the Department on this matter,” Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) said in a joint statement Wednesday night.
Burr and Warner — the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, respectively — added that “any questions about the investigation should be directed to the Department of Justice.”
Similar to McConnell’s statement, the Senate-passed resolution notes that the investigation arises “out of allegations of the unauthorized disclosure of information.”