Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday demanded the Justice Department turn over information related to the hiring of former CNN analyst and Trump critic Susan Hennessey.
Ms. Hennessey, a former National Security Agency staffer, joined the Justice Department’s National Security Division (NSD) last month. She previously worked at the Brookings Institution and the blog site Lawfare.
As a CNN analyst, Ms. Hennessey frequently criticized former Attorney General William P. Barr’s handling of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. She also pushed conspiracy theories linking then-President Donald Trump to Russians who meddled in the 2016 election and promoted the discredited dossier compiled by Christopher Steele.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the GOP lawmakers said the move “raises serious concerns about political bias.”
“The Obama-Biden Justice Department weaponized the NSD and our intelligence community to target the Trump campaign. Ms. Hennessey played a large role in promoting and legitimizing these attacks,” the letter states.
“Your decision to hire Ms. Hennessey to a senior position within the NSD suggests that rather than execute the law impartially and without fear or favor, you intend to continue the Obama-Biden Administration’s politicization and weaponization of our national security laws,” the letter says.
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the committee’s ranking Republican, wrote the letter, which was signed by GOP Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Mike Johnson of Louisiana.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letter asks the Justice Department to clarify Ms. Hennessey’s role within the National Security Division and explain if any member of the Biden-Harris administration requested her hiring.
Lawmakers also asked Mr. Garland if any member of the administration asked Ms. Hennessey to delete her tweets.
Fox News reported last month that Ms. Hennesssey deleted thousands of tweets ahead of the announcement of her new position. Her Twitter account currently shows 242 tweets, but the internet archive Wayback Machine shows she had more than 39,000 tweets in November 2020.
“From the timing and volume of deletions, we can only conclude that Ms. Hennessey took such drastic steps to erase her past controversial statements about national security matters and hide her political bias,” the lawmakers wrote.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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