Air Force docs on GOP candidate’s sexual assault leaked to Democratic research firm: lawmakers
The Air Force will “hold accountable” whoever leaked confidential records holding private information about the sexual assault of a Republican House candidate and former officer, two GOP congressmen said Wednesday.
Reps. Jim Banks and Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) said in a joint statement that Air Force watchdog Lt. Gen. Stephen Davis had told them the service took “full responsibility” for the release of Jennifer-Ruth Green’s confidential personnel records to an unnamed political research firm.
“On yesterday’s [Tuesday’s] call, the Air Force took full responsibility for improperly releasing Lt. Col. Green’s confidential personnel records to an opposition research firm just weeks before the midterm election,” the congressmen said. “Lt. Gen. Davis informed us that the leaker has been identified and will be held accountable.”
The document also made its way to Politico reporter Adam Wren, who published the information in an Oct. 7 profile of Green despite her pleas to keep the assault private. Politico spokesman Brad Dayspring told The Post Tuesday that the documents were “obtained by a public record request and provided to Politico by a source.”
“We said, ‘No, please don’t [publish the assault] – and they did it anyway,” Green said of Politico and Wren during an interview with Fox News Digital earlier this month. “At one point in my life I said to my assailant, ‘No, please stop, don’t’ and he did what he wanted to do. This is the exact same situation all over again, all because there was a man who wanted some sort of gratification.”
The assault happened while Green was assigned to a special investigations unit in Iraq working to neutralize terrorist and espionage threats, Politico wrote. An evaluation of the incident faulted Green for “wandering away” from the group, the report added, and the criticism hindered her ability to rise in the ranks.
The Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Bucshon and Banks called on them to “publicly take responsibility for mishandling Lt. Col. Green’s service records.”
“No service member should have to fear their confidential service records will be used against them,” the congressmen said. “The Air Force must take immediate steps toward transparency for the sake of all veterans and service members.”
After Green was outed, she accused incumbent Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan of “fishing” her assault story to news outlets, “asking them to share misinformation to portray me as a failed military officer who lacks integrity.”
The day after the information was published, Green told Fox News Digital she suspected Politico would have handled the situation differently if she were a Democrat.
“If I were on the other side of the ticket, they would weep for me; they would mourn for me,” she told the outlet. “Only because I’m a Republican do they feel this is acceptable – but it’s unacceptable for every vet. It’s unacceptable for every woman. It’s unacceptable for everybody who has ever been a victim of sexual assault.”
Banks and Bucshon said an investigation has been launched to determine “whether the leaker had a political or financial motive” or had an accomplice in the report’s dissemination.
“The Air Force completed its preliminary investigation and is currently investigating whether the leaker had a political or financial motive, whether the leaker acted alone, and if the Air Force needs to strengthen policies related to its handling of confidential records,” they said in their statement.
News of the investigation comes after Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sent an Oct. 13 letter to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Chief of the National Guard Bureau General Daniel Hokanson requesting a full accounting of how Politico obtained Green’s protected records.
“Of additional concern is the appearance that the party responsible for releasing these Air Force documents may be exploiting private matters, including a sexual assault, for partisan purposes to interfere in the democratic process just weeks before an election,” Cotton wrote.
