Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland in response to Garland’s August 30 memorandum to Department of Justice (DOJ) employees about direct communications with Congress. Grassley mentioned statutory provisions that Garland failed to note in his memorandum, causing concern that the memo will chill and undermine the importance of whistleblower protections.
“I write this letter to make clear to you that whistleblowers are the most patriotic people I know and they play an integral part in ensuring that inappropriate influences, political influence, and improper conduct within the Department and its components, such as the FBI, are exposed. Under your leadership, the Department and FBI have failed to be responsive to congressional oversight requests. Accordingly, it is often only because of whistleblowers that Congress and the American people are apprised of the type of wrongdoing that your memo seeks to protect against,” Grassley wrote.
“Even with your whistleblower caveats, and due to the timing of your memo, I remain concerned about the chilling effect it may have on whistleblowers who wish to approach Congress with information relating to fraud, waste, abuse, and gross mismanagement.” Grassley’s letter continued.
Grassley is a strong advocate for government whistleblowers and he frequently hears from current and former government employees who come forward to shine a light on fraud, waste, abuse and gross mismanagement in government agencies or by government contractors. He protects the identities of these sources and frequently promotes policies that shield whistleblowers from retaliation. Individuals wishing to call attention to mismanagement or misconduct within the Justice Department and its component agencies, such as the FBI, should contact Sen. Grassley’s investigations unit at (202) 224-3738 or email [email protected].
Full text of the letter can be found HERE.
