Nashville Standard

United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on State Department Management, issued a statement following the release of a report by the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The report addresses the Department’s handling of the suspension of U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley’s security clearance.

The Inspector General’s report is in response to a July 13, 2023 letter led by Senator Hagerty and signed by 17 other senators. The letter requested an investigation into whether State Department officials complied with all appropriate laws and regulations when suspending Malley’s access to classified information. News reports have indicated that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating Malley for mishandling classified information, including moving "classified information onto his personal email, where it may have fallen into the hands of a foreign actor."

"We see growing evidence of Iran collusion by members of the Biden-Harris Administration amid the FBI’s reported ongoing investigation into Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley’s mishandling of classified information and news reports that Malley and other Biden-Harris Administration officials were part of the Iranian regime’s malign influence network known as the ‘Iran Experts Initiative’," said Senator Hagerty. "The Inspector General’s report today includes new damning revelations about the cover-up, politicization, and systemic lack of accountability in the Biden-Harris Administration’s State Department amid the Malley scandal. If the Trump Administration had done anything like this, this story would be leading the news on a daily basis."

The State Department's OIG report reveals several key findings related to this matter.