It would be ‘treason’ if Robert Malley leaked secrets, GOP leader says

Friction between the White House and Republicans over the Biden administration’s top Iran policy official heated up over the weekend, with a key GOP member of the House saying it “would be treason” if special State Department Iran envoy Robert Malley is found to have leaked classified secrets to foreign adversaries.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul made the comment amid mounting speculation over the actions and status of Mr. Malley, who was at the center of the administration’s outreach to Iran before being placed on unpaid leave and having his security clearance suspended on June 26.

“I can’t tell you how important this is because if he somehow, you know — worst-case scenario — transferred intelligence and secrets to our foreign nation adversary, … that would be treason in my view,” Mr. McCaul told CBS’ “Face the Nation” program on Sunday.

State Department officials have said Mr. Malley was the subject of an investigation into the mishandling of classified information, according to The Associated Press, which reported in late June that the Iran envoy’s whereabouts were raising questions since he had skipped a classified congressional briefing on Iran on May 16.

Mr. McCaul has for weeks sought answers from the administration on Mr. Malley’s status. On Thursday, the congressman sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking for a classified briefing on the reason Mr. Malley’s clearance was revoked.

Mr. Malley told Politico via text message on June 29 that he had been informed his security clearance was under review but had personally “not been provided any further information.

“I expect the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon,” the envoy wrote at the time. “In the meantime, I am on leave.”

Mr. Malley has been a high-level behind-the-scenes Middle East policy adviser to successive Democratic administrations. He played a key inside role in the inking of the 2015 international nuclear deal that gave Tehran relief from U.S. and European sanctions relief in exchange for limits to Iranian nuclear enrichment activities.

Following former President Trump’s withdrawal of the U.S. from the nuclear deal, Mr. Malley was tapped by President Biden to head up the current administration’s thus far failed attempts to revive the Obama-era accord.

Efforts to lure Tehran to the table broke down last year, although Mr. Malley has reportedly sought to revive the effort by meeting multiple times behind the scenes with Iran’s U.N. ambassador in recent months.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, asked Sunday whether the Iran envoy will be reinstated, praised Mr. Malley as “someone who a lot of us, including myself, have deep respect for.”

But, he added, “I can’t speak to the current circumstances,” referring all questions to the State Department.

While a favorite of some in the U.S. foreign policy establishment, Mr. Malley has long been scrutinized by Republicans.

The Washington Times reported in 2021 that Mr. Malley, along with former Secretary of State John Kerry continued to meet with Iranian officials after former President Obama had left office. Some of the meetings were with then-Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in an apparent bid to undermine the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” policy on Iran.

Despite its outreach to Iran, the Biden administration has upheld the State Department’s long-standing designation of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism and kept in place a Trump-era designation of the Iranian military’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. Officials have also said Mr. Biden would use force if necessary to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.