GOP Legislators Demand DOJ Answer For Russia Hoaxer Susan Hennessey’s Appointment

Jordan Davidson reporting for The Federalist

Republican Reps. Jim Jordan, Andy Biggs, and Mike Johnson penned a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland opposing President Joe Biden’s appointment of Russian collusion hoaxer Susan Hennessey to the National Security Division citing “concerns about potential political bias and perceived conflicts of interest.”

Shortly before her appointment, Hennessey deleted hundreds of tweets boosting lies about the Trump administration and the GOP. “The Justice Department must ensure all NSD employees—and especially those in senior positions—demonstrate objectivity, impartiality, and fairness in all national security matters. Ms. Hennessey’s prejudiced statements and her effort to erase her past comments show that she cannot meet this important standard,” the letter states.

In addition to being a “partisan critic of Republicans,” the GOP legislators noted that she willingly boosted Christopher Steele, who authored the discredited Steele dossier, as a “person whose work intelligence professionals take seriously.”

“Although the Mueller investigation and declassified transcripts from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s investigation showed no evidence of collusion—even the Obama-Biden Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, testified that he saw no such evidence—Ms. Hennessey prejudiced the public narrative and continually peddled a malicious fiction,” the letter continued.

She also criticized Lieutenant General Michael Flynn and prematurely spoke on the Durham report which the representatives say should automatically discount her participation in the “supervisory functions over this investigation.”

“Her previous statement seriously undercuts any perception of her impartiality,” the letter explains. “But Ms. Hennessey’s statement also suggests her willfulness to disregard serious allegations of misconduct, including findings by the Justice Department Office of Inspector General (OIG) that an FBI attorney altered evidence to support an application to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The OIG also found that this same attorney expressed anti-conservative and anti-Trump bias.”

The legislators also found fault with her willingness to suddenly delete “her controversial comments about high-profile NSD matters” and potentially “weaponize” the Justice Department and intelligence agencies just as the Obama-Biden administration did.

Lawmakers said the “timing and volume” of her deleted tweets show she “took such drastic steps to erase her past controversial statements about national security matters and hide her political bias.”

“It is equally problematic for a Justice Department employee to exhibit a knowing and concerted effort to conceal inconvenient information. Ms. Hennessey’s deletion of these tweets raises serious questions about her commitment to transparency and accountability as a Justice Department employee,” they wrote.

The legislators concluded the letter by asking Garland if the DOJ played any role in urging Hennessey to delete her tweets.