Massachusetts US Attorney to resign after ethics investigation

A view of the lecture before US Attorney General William Barr holds a press conference about the release of the Mueller Report at the Department of Justice April 18, 2019, in Washington, DC.(Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN’s Roy Francis
2:05 PM – Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Massachusetts United States Attorney Rachael Rollins is set to resign after a lengthy investigation found that several ethical issues along with having “falsely testified under oath” about leaking “sensitive DOJ” information.

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The report released by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that Rollins had “violated federal regulations, numerous DOJ policies, her Ethics agreement, and applicable law.”

“We found Rollins’s conduct described throughout this report violated federal regulations, numerous DOJ policies, her Ethics Agreement, and applicable law, and fell far short of the standards of professionalism and judgment that the Department should expect of any employee, much less a U.S. Attorney,” Horrowitz said in his 161-page report.

The report showed that Rollins had made efforts to help swing an election in favor of Ricardo Arroyo who was running for Suffolk district attorney. The investigation found that Rollins had leaked “negative information” about Arroyo’s opponent, Kevin Hayden, to two major newspapers in order to paint him in a negative light.

Horrowitz also said that Rollins had “leaked sensitive information” when she gave a Boston Herald reporter an internal Justice Department memo recusing herself from an unspecified investigation into Hayden. The leak was meant to create the perception that Hayden was under a federal investigation for his handling into alleged misconduct by transit police officers.

“Rollins’s efforts to advance Arroyo’s candidacy included providing negative information about Hayden to The Boston Globe and suggesting where the Globe could look to find more information” the report said. “The evidence demonstrated that at a critical stage of the primary race, Rollins brought her efforts to advance Arroyo’s candidacy to the MA USAO, when she used her position as U.S. Attorney, and information available to her as U.S. Attorney, in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to create the impression publicly, before the primary election, that DOJ was or would be investigating Hayden for public corruption.”

After Hayden had won and was the uncontested candidate in the general election, the report said that Rollins then leaked more information in order to damage his reputation.

Horrowitz also found that Rollins had “falsely testified under oath during her OIG interview when she denied that she was the federal law enforcement source that provided nonpublic, sensitive DOJ information to the Herald reporter about a possible Hayden criminal investigation.”

Rollins had also offered Arroyo advice on how to handle the sexual assault allegation that were brought up against him while he was campaigning.

The report alleged that Rollins had violated the Hatch Act, which limits the activities of federal employees in partisan political races.

It was also revealed that she had  “attended a partisan political fundraiser without approval from the Deputy Attorney General, or her designee, as required by Department policy, and her attendance was contrary to the ethics advice she received before the event that gave permission for Rollins to meet and greet with Dr. Biden separately from the fundraiser but did not include approval from the Deputy Attorney General, or her designee, to attend the fundraiser itself.”

Rollins announced that she is resigned from her position by Friday due to the scathing reports that was released.

Her lawyer said that she “understands that her presence has become a distraction” and that the “work of the office and the Department of Justice is far too important to be overshadowed by anything else.”

Senate Judiciary Chari Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said that he welcomed her decision to step down due to her concerning behavior.

“I’m deeply concerned by Ms. Rollins’s misconduct, as detailed in the Inspector General’s and Special Counsel’s reports, and support her immediate resignation,” Durbin said.

Rollins had been sworn into office in January 2022 after her tenure as district attorney for Boston and the surrounding communities. Her team was also overseeing the investigation into Jack Teixeira, the Air National Guardsman who stands accused of leaking intelligence documents over social media.

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