The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has come under fire following reports that some of its staff have apparent political bias toward their investigation targets.
OIG states its mission is to “detect and deter fraud, waste, abuse, and misconduct by conducting objective, independent, and effective oversight of agencies, their programs, and the actions of their employees.”
OIG officials are nonpolitical and do not change with changes in the executive branch. Inspector General Michael Horowitz was confirmed by the Senate in 2012.
But recent reports and documents reviewed by Fox News Digital suggest some OIG officials, including the person in charge of overseeing investigations into Trump administration political appointees, appear to harbor partisan bias.
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Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz speaks at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, September 15, 2021. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
America First Legal (AFL) on Wednesday sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Justice to investigate “whether there are politically motivated employees in positions requiring impartiality.”
“The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General stated:[i]”Given today’s climate of distrust and negativity toward government, a key aspect of the Department’s mission to strengthen public trust is ensuring that Department employees can perform their jobs free from actual or potential political influence or partisan considerations,” the FOIA request states.
“Despite this explicit obligation to avoid the appearance of political or partisan considerations, there is evidence of deep partisan involvement in the Office of the Inspector General,” the report said.
One of the OIG’s attorneys, Deborah Falk Zerwitz, has made 35 donations totaling $6,466 to Democrats or Democratic-related groups since 2007, according to documents viewed by Fox News Digital.
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The Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General has come under fire following reports that several of its staff members have serious political bias. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnick)
Zerwitz currently oversees the OIG’s investigations into 2020 investigations into deaths at state nursing homes in New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
On his X account, Mr. Zerwitz liked dozens of political posts, including ones disparaging then-Attorney General Bill Barr and other Trump appointees, including one that said all White House lawyers who draft executive orders should be “disbarred” and another that accused Mr. Barr of promoting “the myth of the unaccountable career prosecutor.”
Another post that she appeared to have liked said, “We need to get rid of Donald Trump, but that’s not the end of it. We need to get rid of Republicans who support him from all levels of government.”
She also liked posts that referred to “Trump and his racist, homophobic cult members,” as well as one that read “BEWARE QANON, MAGAT FASCITS” and ended with “SO GO AWAY.” She also liked a post accusing Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) of “undermining our democracy.”
Jennifer Lamela, another OIG attorney handling the Justice Department’s nursing home death investigation, made 33 donations totaling more than $300 between 2020 and 2022 to the Democratic political action committee Act Blue.
The other is Christina Monta, a former OIG counsel who led the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania’s investigation into reports of potential problems with a small number of mail-in ballots cast by the Luzerne County Board of Elections in 2020.
Monta has made multiple donations to ActBlue and Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Senate campaigns, giving a total of $1,014.50 between 2019 and 2020, according to FEC data.
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Monta was an advocate in one of the first cases brought by the Department of Justice in 2015, challenging the right of biological men to use women’s restrooms. He also participated in the Department of Justice’s lawsuit challenging Texas’ voter ID law around the same time.
“As we approach a presidential election, it is essential that the American public know whether these views persist within the Department of Justice, and certainly meet the Department’s standard of ‘pervasive and exceptional media concern that may affect the public’s confidence in the integrity of government,'” the AFL’s FOIA request read.
“It is vital to our democracy and trust in our government that government officials who are mandated to remain impartial do not use their power to target political opponents,” they said.
“In accordance with the First Amendment, Citizens United and federal law, OIG respects the constitutional rights of its employees and all citizens,” an OIG spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
“OIG’s work is fact-based and objective, as evidenced by our reports on FISA abuses, Operations Fast and Furious, and other oversight over decades. Our ongoing work meets the same standard,” the spokesperson said.
In 2019, the OIG released a report on the FBI’s abuse of FISA in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, outlining the investigative process.
“As part of our standard practice in our investigations, we provided a draft of this report to the Department of State and the FBI to conduct a factual accuracy review. Also, consistent with our standard practice, we contacted individuals interviewed as part of our investigations and whose conduct is covered in this report, as well as certain other witnesses, to offer them the opportunity to review those portions of the report relevant to their testimony to the OIG. With limited exceptions, these witnesses took advantage of this opportunity, and we, consistent with confidentiality rules, provided those who conducted such reviews with the opportunity to comment orally or in writing directly to the OIG regarding the portions they reviewed.”
The Civil Service Reform Act also prohibits the OIG from discriminating against employees on the basis of political affiliation.
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“If the ‘watchdog’ is nothing more than a partisan bulldog then it has no worth existing,” AFL general secretary Gene Hamilton said in a statement.
