Three senior Trump administration officials violated Justice Department rules just before the 2020 election by divulging details of an investigation into coronavirus deaths at nursing homes in New York and other Democratic-run states, according to an inspector general document obtained by The New York Times.
The inspector general, Michael Horowitz, released a summary of the report last month, concluding that the three officials, who remained unnamed, had disregarded the department’s confidentiality and media policy “by leaking to select reporters, days before an election, non-public” details of an open investigation.
The summary did not disclose what investigation was at issue, but a longer report, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows that the review centered on inquiries to state officials in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan concerning their policies toward coronavirus patients at nursing homes.
While the findings are dated, they come as many current and former Justice Department officials fear that Donald J. Trump’s incoming administration will run the department with an eye toward settling scores with those who investigated and prosecuted him, pursuing inquiries into those he considers enemies.
According to the report, on Oct. 17, 2020 a senior Justice Department official in the press office texted that the release of the information “will be our last play on them before election, but it’s a big one.”
The name of the official is redacted. Justice Department officials ultimately sent letters to New York and New Jersey officials demanding data, and told The New York Post about the requests, the inspector general concluded. The New York Post published an article about the letters on Oct. 27.
“Fine with no press release, but we are going to give it to a reporter ahead of time,” an official wrote on Oct. 23, before referring to the governor of New York at the time, Andrew M. Cuomo. “Otherwise, [New York Governor’s] office will leak it and we lose the upper hand. This is going to be a big story up there and if we are going to send the letter we are going to do press right or we may as well not do it at all.”
At the time, there was concern, particularly among conservatives, that Mr. Cuomo’s administration was obscuring the number of coronavirus cases in nursing homes and hospitals.
A separate review of the state’s handling of coronavirus data, conducted by the New York attorney general, later found that nursing home deaths because of the pandemic had been significantly undercounted, possibly by as much as 50 percent.
The issue of news coverage about federal investigations has become more controversial since 2016, when the F.B.I. made several overt moves, including less than two weeks before the election, that critics said damaged the candidacy of the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.
In the years since, the Justice Department inspector general has investigated apparent leaks of sensitive information.
The department has long sought to enforce a “quiet period” before an election, meaning it typically refrains from taking unnecessary overt investigative steps that could be viewed as trying to influence voters. That practice is generally aimed at criminal investigations, not civil ones, like the nursing home inquiry.
The inspector general concluded that the efforts to publicize the letters sent to New York and New Jersey had violated Justice Department rules against employees disseminating sensitive information about investigations that is intended to remain private.
In the coronavirus inquiry, the inspector general’s office said the evidence showed “that the upcoming election was the motivating factor” for one official’s disclosures to the news media.
Mr. Cuomo was not up for re-election in 2020, so presumably the report was referring to the national election. Federal employees are barred by the Hatch Act from using their government positions to help a candidate or campaign.
