Legislation comes after recent court filing in Durham probe
WASHINGTON—United States Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and John Kennedy (R-LA) have introduced the No Government Contracts for Known Leakers Act.
This legislation would prohibit U.S. government employees and agencies from knowingly contracting with: (1) persons who have previously disclosed nonpublic U.S. government information to unauthorized persons; or (2) the companies that employ such persons.
“The recent revelations from court filings in the Durham probe underscore the importance of ensuring that the government is not contracting with individuals who have improperly disclosed nonpublic information,” said Senator Hagerty. “It is common sense that we should protect taxpayer dollars and information from people who have previously violated the public trust and used government information for ulterior purposes.”
“The Durham probe revealed just how quickly justice is thrown out the window for political gain,” said Senator Blackburn. “There is no question — the United States government should not be contracting with untrustworthy people with a history of disclosing sensitive information. This legislation is critical to restoring public trust and ensuring that nonpublic information is not exposed.”
“Americans don’t do business with people who refuse to protect their private information, and their government should apply the same standard to leakers,” said Senator Kennedy. “There’s no reason to pour tax dollars into people or companies that lack integrity or to give them access to sensitive information.”
A recent court filing by Special Counsel John Durham stated that a technology executive—whose company was hired by the White House to provide internet-related services—was exploiting this “sensitive arrangement” and his access to White House internet domain name information to work with Clinton Campaign operatives in 2016 to create a false narrative that rival candidate Donald J. Trump was colluding with Russia. Then, they pitched the narrative concocted with this information to the FBI, which initiated a federal investigation into the Trump Campaign and later President Trump.
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