Oh, great - moles in the DOJ?

[orangecrush]

"Attorney General Merrick Garland has set new restrictions on the political activities of some Justice Department employees, while also strongly reminding them of already established limits.

Political appointees — those workers who are hired by a presidential administration and are not building their careers in the department — are essentially barred from attending partisan political events such as fundraisers and rallies.

Garland in an Aug. 30 memo said that he was ending the long-standing policy of allowing appointees to attend those events if they participated passively and obtained prior approval from the department.



He added that from now on, appointees will be barred from attending political events during presidential election years, even if the event is for a family member, and they cannot attend political events on the evening of Election Day in a personal capacity"

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/30/1120086497/garland-doj-political-activities

I also read that Garland warned DOJ members about leaking information about ongoing investigations to congress, which right wing media seized on as "intimidating whistleblowers".Grassley was screaming about this, no doubt he is the moles contact person in the GOP.

So apparently Trump appointees have been leaking material to the GOP.

[Ocelot II]

1. I wouldn't be surprised if there are still some TFG loyalists in low-profile positions

who are still in a position to throw sand in the gears, and have been doing exactly that, but who are hard to get rid of (and maybe even to identify) because they are Civil Service employees.

[orangecrush]

2. Without a doubt.

They can also be prosecuted if caught, which is the message I believe Garland was sending.

[MichMan]

3. I didnt think political appointees were protected by civil service

[Deminpenn]

6. Hatch Act

This a little stricter than the current Hatch Act, but that's all it is.

[Ocelot II]

7. They aren't, but the political appointees could have hired them.

[AkFemDem]

4. Nothing here says this is aimed at MAGA moles

It’s just as likely someone made an official complaint about someone attending Democratic political events. I know everyone is focused on Trump here but it is election season and there are tons of races and fundraisers nationwide right now for candidates from every party. As a federal employee we sure got reminders every year at election season because some people would violate Hatch act rules or come close to doing so. Garland is not partisan in the way he runs his department, it does not surprise me he would tell his political appointees not to be either.

[orangecrush]

5. It wasn't just about attending events

It's not in the link, but he alsocwarned about not talking to members of congress about ongoing investigations.

[applegrove]

8. More of Hillary's emails being found in the days leading up to the 2016 election come to mind. Comey

was threatened with leaks if he did not step forward with the information in the last two weeks of the election. He was threatened by other FBI agents planning to leak. But Biden is President and the political FBI appointees are likely to be Democrats. Maybe this is to keep a clean slate so the FBI can't be accused of conspiracy by right wing nuts when the FBI do go ahead and prosecute Trump.

[SCantiGOP]

9. It's routine

A friend of mine worked for decades on two different Senator’s staffs.
He said it didn’t matter which party had the White House or Congress, the other party always had their sources at DOJ for information. Both sides knew it, both sides did it, and it’s just part of the process.