Democrats are calling for an investigation after the National Archives admitted it had wrongfully released the military records of New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill.
The release revealed that Sherrill, a veteran, did not walk at her 1994 Naval Academy graduation because she did not report classmates had cheated on an exam. More than 100 midshipmen were implicated in the cheating, but the candidate was not herself accused of cheating.
The records were almost completely unredacted and were reportedly given to Nicholas De Gregorio, an ally of Sherrill’s opponent Republican Jack Ciattarelli, according to CBS News. De Gregorio — who had filed a Freedom of Information Act request at the behest of a Republican consultant in the Garden State — denied the Trump administration released the records to meddle in the campaign. A new poll shows Sherrill and Ciattarelli tied.
The release also included her Social Security number, home addresses, life insurance information, other sensitive details — and may have violated the federal Privacy Act of 1974. Her former superiors’ SSNs were the only redacted information.
A spokesperson for the National Personnel Records Center, a division of the National Archives, told Axios a staffer “did not follow NPRC’s standard operating procedures” and released them “in error.”
The NPRC “immediately initiated a thorough review of all internal controls” and “will hold our staff accountable for failing to follow proper administrative procedures,” the spokesperson said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries demanded a “criminal investigation” into the matter while decrying the president.
“I support a criminal investigation into the unauthorized and illegal release of Mikie Sherrill’s records,” Jeffries said at a press conference Thursday.
“Mikie Sherrill is a patriot and a hero who has served this country, graduated from the Naval Academy, helicopter pilot, tours of duty in dangerous places overseas in the Middle East,” he said. “It’s outrageous that Donald Trump and his administration and political hacks connected to them continue to violate the law, and they will be held accountable.”
“This is an illegal and dangerous weaponization of the federal government,” Sherrill wrote on social media. “That [Ciattarelli] and the Trump admin are breaking the law and exposing private records for political gain is a violation of anyone who has ever served. No veteran’s record is safe.”
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