The Department of Justice said Wednesday it would investigate an employee caught in a Project Veritas sting bragging about using her job to help advance the political agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Allison Hrabar, a Justice Department paralegal, said in the undercover video that she found the address of a DC lobbyist by running his license plate at work, which she then used to organize a DSA protest outside his home.
She admitted that she was not permitted to do so “officially.” Other DSA members said that she used the department’s Lexis Nexis account to ferret out the addresses of protest targets.
“She uses it probably on her work computer … That’s the kind of thing that you would get fired for,” said Natarajan Subramanian, a Government Accountability Office auditor and fellow DSA member, on the hidden-camera video.
A Justice Department statement posted by Project Veritas said the matter would be referred to the Inspector General.
“These allegations are deeply concerning,” said the statement. “Department policy prohibits misuse of government resources to advance personal interests. We are looking into this immediately and have referred this matter to the Inspector General as well.”
DEVELOPING: Statement from DOJ on today’s vid: “These allegations are deeply concerning. Department policy prohibits misuse of government resources to advance personal interests. We are looking into this immediately and have referred this matter to the Inspector General as well.” pic.twitter.com/cb6x1g8tu6
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) September 19, 2018
The video, released Wednesday as part of the group’s Deep State series, also showed Jessica Schubel, formerly with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, talking on hidden camera about her efforts to undermine the Trump administration.
Ms. Schubel, now an analyst with the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, said her former coworkers pass along confidential government information in what she described as a “kind of like the Nixon Deep Throat thing.”
Mr. Hrabar, who drew headlines in June for helping chase Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen from a Mexican restaurant, had no concerns about losing her job.
“What’s kid of lucky is at the DOJ, we can’t really get fired,” she said.
Her comments echoed those of Stuart Karaffa, a State Department analyst and DSA activist who said in a video released Tuesday that he wanted to “f— s—up” and that, “I have nothing to lose. It’s impossible to fire federal employees.”
The State Department declined to comment on Mr. Karaffa specifically, but said in a statement that, “We take seriously any allegation of a violation of the Hatch Act and financial disclosure rules and are closely reviewing this matter.”
Project Veritas president James O’Keefe described the sting results as “the Deep State incarnate.”
“This may be the largest case of unaccountability in our government that has ever been exposed,” said Mr. O’Keefe. “Through our undercover reports, we now have proof of government employees leaking confidential information and using government resources to advance their resistance of official government policies they disagree with.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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