House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul believes the suspended Biden administration’s special envoy to Iran, Rob Malley, “compromised classified information” related to US adversaries.
Malley was placed on unpaid leave by the State Department in June and his security clearance was suspended amid an investigation into his possible mishandling of classified material. The FBI is also conducting an “ongoing” investigation into the matter, according to the State Department.
“It’s very troubling,” McCaul (R-Texas) said of the allegations against Malley during an interview with Fox News host Martha MacCallum on Thursday. “He is a special envoy for Iran. He was the main architect, the negotiator on the Iran deal – to revive the Iran deal.”
McCaul explained that congressmen only learned of Malley’s suspension after he “basically went AWOL” when asked to brief Congress on Iran.
McCaul called the allegations against Malley “deeply troubling.” REUTERS The FBI is conducting an “ongoing” investigation into Biden administration officials, according to the State Department. AFP via Getty Images
“We found out he was suspended without pay because of a problem with his security clearance. He compromised classified information, we think with Iran, and now there is a broader investigation into this,” McCaul said.
“You can’t make this up,” added the Texas Republican.
McCaul’s concerns have been echoed by other lawmakers, including Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who told The Post Wednesday that Malley “deserves thorough scrutiny” in light of a Wall Street Journal report that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers planned and signed off on this weekend’s Hamas terror attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,000 people in the Jewish state.
“These reports could not be more troubling, and they foreshadow what could be the worst State Department scandal since Alger Hiss,” Issa said.
Malley was suspended by the State Department in June.AP
Malley, a controversial figure in the Biden administration because of his willingness to engage with unsavory Middle Eastern figures, including members of Hamas, was appointed by President Biden to the post of special envoy for Iran on January 28, 2021.
He was previously president and CEO of the International Crisis Group and worked in several capacities at the White House under former President Barack Obama, where he was deeply involved in the Obama administration’s construction of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Omri Ceren, national security advisor to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), recorded on Sunday that “Malley was so entangled with Hamas that Obama had to drop him as an adviser [sic] during the 2008 campaign — before then bringing him back to do Middle East policy.”
Malley also served on the National Security Council and was a special assistant to former President Bill Clinton.
Last month, a batch of leaked files revealed that three of Malley’s top aides were tied to a covert influence operation by Tehran’s Foreign Ministry, according to internal Iranian government correspondence and emails reviewed by Semafor.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
