WASHINGTON (AP/Boston25) — The top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, who has announced her resignation, tried to use her position to influence the outcome of a race for Boston’s district attorney by leaking information aimed at sabotaging the campaign of her preferred candidate’s rival, the Justice Department’s internal watchdog said in a report released Wednesday.
The inspector general’s 161-page report alleges a broad array of misconduct by U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins, who previously served as district attorney for Suffolk County, which includes Boston.
It accuses her of disclosing to a journalist nonpublic information about a possible Justice Department investigation, soliciting and accepting 30 free tickets to a Boston Celtics game, and accepting payment from a sports and entertainment agency for travel and meals on two separate occasions in New York and Los Angeles. The report says she also accepted two tickets for herself and used U.S. Attorney’s Office staff to coordinate the trip to TD Garden.
Rollins’ alleged ethical failings are “among the most egregious transgressions” of the Hatch Act ever investigated by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, said the nonpartisan government watchdog agency’s head Henry Kerner. The Hatch Act bans executive branch employees from certain kinds of political activity.
In response to the findings, Rollins’ attorney said, “Most of the allegations amount to minor process fouls. Though Ms. Rollins could have raised many facts and arguments in connection with these issues, she had no interest in litigating them any further. She believed the better course was to step down and end the matter before it overwhelmed her office and DOJ.”
It is the most scathing public condemnation in recent years of a U.S. attorney, a prestigious federal post that has occasionally served as a springboard to higher office, and also details efforts to mislead Justice Department investigators during interviews in advance of the report.
The report stated, “The leak was an extraordinary breach of public trust by a senior government official, which threatens to erode confidence in the integrity of federal law enforcement actions. And her decision to attend a political party fundraiser in her official capacity as U.S. Attorney is directly contrary to one of the central purposes of the Hatch Act—to avoid even the appearance that the federal government is being used to promote a political party or its candidates. Ms. Rollins’s multiple knowing, willful, and serious violations unquestionably warrant disciplinary action.”
The watchdog said Rollins used her position to try to influence last year’s race for the Democratic nominee Suffolk County District Attorney by providing potentially damaging information to the media about her successor, District Attorney Kevin Hayden, while supporting his political rival.
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The report said that while serving as U.S. attorney, Rollins helped Hayden’s primary rival, Ricardo Arroyo, by “providing him campaign advice and direction and coordinating with Arroyo on activities to help his campaign.”
In response to the report’s findings, Arroyo said, “I find all of this incredibly sad. Rachael is someone who was a friend of mine prior to even being in elected office. Somebody I have gone to, to seek counsel. I haven’t had a chance to read this report yet.”
When asked about the findings, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said, “I’ve known her to be a strong leader in our city on many many issues and this has been quite a surprise.”
Rollins tried to convince her top deputy to release a letter implying that the department was investigating Hayden, according to the report. When that failed, she leaked sensitive department information to The Boston Herald in an effort to tank his candidacy, the report said.
A separate 105-page report by the Special Counsel said Rollins used her official authority to interfere with or affect the outcome of an election: “Ms. Rollins also leaked non-public U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) information so that news outlets would report that a political candidate she opposed was facing a DOJ investigation, which similarly implicated the Hatch Act.”
The Special Counsel investigation – which included “1,500 pages of evidence, including emails, text messages, cell phone records, and social media records” – uncovered emails from Rollins detailing efforts to hurt Hayden’s candidacy.
That includes, according to the report: a July 12 text message where Rollins identified Mr. Hayden’s endorsers. She wrote: “‘5 endorsements. 4.5 of them White. No mercy. Finish him.’”
In another text exchange on Aug. 22, Arroyo wrote: “‘Are y’all announcing an investigation into [the police misconduct case] situation with Hayden? Would be the best thing I can have happen at this moment.’”
Minutes later, Rollins texted backed: “Understood. Keep fighting and campaigning. I’m working on something.”
The special counsel says: “it is clear from the evidence that what she was working on was how to disclose that Mr. Hayden was facing a federal investigation.”
The report says Rollins tried but failed to get new outlets to write an article about a potential investigation of Hayden before the Sept. 6 primary.
In late August, Rollins told a reporter from the Boston Globe that she may be “issuing a brief investigation about [an investigation of Mr. Hayden] next week.”
On Sept. 9, Rollins sent a Boston Herald reporter a copy of a memo connected with a potential investigation into Hayden. “Off the record,” Rollins texted. “Not attributed to me.”
James Borghesani, a spokesman for Hayden’s office, declined additional comment beyond releasing a statement that said: “However, we do want to emphasize that the report in no way impacts the strong and professional relationship we enjoy with the Office of the United States Attorney in Boston.”
When asked about that under oath in an interview with the inspector general’s office, Rollins falsely denied being the source, the report said. She only admitted to it after being confronted with text messages showing she was the source of the leak.
Rollins’ lawyer told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Rollins will resign by the end of the day on Friday, saying she “understands that her presence has become a distraction.”
The special counsel noted that if Rollins does officially resign Friday, that forecloses the possibility of any disciplinary action.
The AP was the first to report in November that the inspector general’s office had opened an investigation into Rollins over her appearance last July at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser. The AP reported that the probe had expanded to examine other issues, such as Rollins’ potential use of her personal cellphone for Justice Department business.
It’s an extraordinary rebuke of a top law enforcer who twice needed Vice President Kamala Harris to cast a tiebreaking vote to be confirmed as U.S. attorney amid stiff Republican opposition.
“I’m deeply concerned by Ms. Rollins’s misconduct, as detailed in the Inspector General’s and Special Counsel’s reports, and support her immediate resignation,” said Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
It’s exceedingly rare for a U.S. attorney to resign amid ethics concerns, and Rollins’ move is an embarrassment for the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland, who pledged to restore its reputation for political independence after tumultuous years under Republican President Donald Trump.
The inspector general’s investigation began last year after Sen. Tom Cotton. R-Ark., who had tried to block her confirmation, urged the watchdog to examine whether Rollins’ appearance at the fundraiser at a home in Andover, Massachusetts, violated the Hatch Act.
The special counsel’s report found that Rollins attended the fundraiser even after an employee for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts told her not to go.
“In that meeting she was shown a copy of the fundraiser invitation and advised by a USAO‐MA employee, who had already discussed the invitation with an ethics official, not to attend the fundraiser,” reads the report. “Despite that advice, Ms. Rollins said that she wanted to go to the event.”
Rollins, who served just 16 months as a U.S. attorney, has been under investigation for the majority of that time. She acknowledged during a meeting with reporters in December that her first year as U.S. attorney had been “bumpy” and that she was “still learning the system.”
She was the first woman of color to become a district attorney in Massachusetts and the first Black woman to serve as the U.S. attorney in Massachusetts.
Her lawyer, Michael Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general, said in a statement to the AP on Tuesday that Rollins was “profoundly honored” to have served as U.S. attorney and “incredibly proud of all her office has accomplished during that limited time, especially in the areas of gun violence and civil rights.”
He said Rollins was “optimistic that the important work she started will continue but understands that her presence has become a distraction.”
Two people briefed on the inspector general’s investigation told the AP last year that it was also examining Rollins’ use of her personal cellphone and a trip that she took to California that was paid for by an outside group. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.
In response to a Boston Herald article from July raising questions about her appearance at the fundraiser, Rollins said in a tweet that she “had approval” to meet first lady Jill Biden and that she left the event early to speak at two community events, adding “nice try though.” One person familiar with discussions before that event, however, told the AP that Rollins was only given limited permission to meet Biden outside the home.
In addition to examining the fundraiser, the inspector general’s office copied the phone contents of some employees in Rollins’ office as part of their examination of Rollins’ possible use of her personal phone for department business, the AP has reported.
Rollins was elected Suffolk County District Attorney in 2018, defeating the candidate backed by the longtime incumbent and by police groups and becoming the Democratic nominee as part of a wave of progressive prosecutors.
As district attorney, she pledged to fight mass incarceration and racial disparities in the justice system and was outspoken about the need for police reform in the wake of high-profile killings of people of color by law enforcement across the United States. She also pushed ambitious criminal justice changes, most notably a policy not to prosecute certain low-level crimes such as shoplifting.
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