The U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins tried to “sabotage” another political candidate’s campaign, according to an Office of Special Counsel (OSC) report published on Wednesday.
The report found that Rollins violated the Hatch Act twice in 2022, abusing her power as U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, according to the report. She committed the first violation in July 2022 when she went to a “political party fundraiser in her official capacity,” and the second violation took place throughout August and September when she “repeatedly attempted to sabotage the campaign of a political candidate by leaking non-public U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) information to the media to plant a story that the candidate she opposed was facing a DOJ investigation.”
The report describes the second violation as “one of the most egregious Hatch Act violations that OSC has ever investigated.”
Part 2. With a new second case, Rollins resigns with pending charges and other Hatch Act issues that are being looked in to but not charged.
A Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts is expected to resign following a lengthy ethics probe conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general regarding her political ties, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
Rachael Rollins, who was sworn into the role in 2022 after being appointed and confirmed in 2021, will submit her official resignation to President Joe Biden before the end of the day on Friday, her attorney told AP. The DOJ launched its investigation after Rollins attended a Democratic National Committee fundraiser featuring First Lady Jill Biden in July 2022, during which investigators also looked into her travel history and use of a personal cellphone for business purposes, the AP reported.
The DOJ examined a trip Rollins took to California paid for by an outside group, AP reported in November. The investigation is the second into Rollins, as the U.S. Office of Special Counsel was investigating whether her appearance at the fundraiser violated the Hatch Act — which limits the political activity of federal employees.