What shady contacts do Democrats have with Iran?
Leaked Biden official suspension memo raises questions of a possible U.S. government leak to a sworn enemy
By Chuck Warren
In June, the press reported that President Joe Biden’s special representative for Iran, Rob Malley, had been suspended because he mishandled classified information and was under FBI investigation. Reportedly, it had been two months since he had left his post, and the Department of State had kept it a secret. Over the two months after the news became public, Congressional leaders asked for an explanation, and the Department of State denied it. Finally, four months after Malley’s removal, there finally might be some new light—and it comes from a U.S. government possible leak to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Over the weekend, an Iranian state newspaper published a memorandum which the FBI had sent to Malley informing him of his suspension. Assuming that the memorandum is authentic, which it looks to be, there are only more concerns to have.
The newspaper published pictures taken by a camera of the original paper memorandum—it is not a digital copy. It raises the question: How did Iran get its hands on it? There are two explanations: Either the picture comes from a hacked phone or computer, or it was deliberately given to Iran. Neither is comforting.
If the origin is a hack, then we must wonder what else Iran has found out that it shouldn’t know. While the memorandum is not classified, hacks shouldn't only concern us when they expose state secrets. In fact, there are worse exposures. Gaining access to private details of U.S. government officials exposes them to potential blackmail by foreign enemies. The administration and Congress must investigate whether there is an exposure risk in this case. They should also work to mitigate this problem in the digital age with enemies all around us, from Iran to Russia and China.
If the origin is a deliberate leak, then we must wonder why a U.S. government official chose to give it to Iran instead of sharing it with U.S. Congress, which has been seeking an explanation, or with U.S. media. Are there Iranian agents within the U.S. government?
In July, Michael McCaul, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, finally managed to get officials from the Department of State to appear in a classified setting before him and his Democratic counterpart—but not the full committee—to answer questions. However, the briefing left McCaul, known for being an honest broker rather than a partisan operator, unsatisfied. He later wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken he was “concerned that some officials at the Department, including yourself, knew about Mr. Malley’s situation for months but did not communicate to Congress about it, even as the Committee expressed bipartisan interest in receiving testimony or a briefing from Mr. Malley on Iran policy.” The letter added, “We asked the briefers that the Department keep us regularly informed on this matter going forward, and we were told that they would take our request under consideration. We are sure you understand why we are not satisfied by that response.”
Joe Biden’s Department of State is doing its best to protect Malley, a childhood friend of Blinken’s, against Congressional oversight mandated by the Constitution. There remain many questions about this scandal, including that he remains a Department of State employee and is currently on leave from the agency (Comically, having mishandled classified information, Malley is now teaching at Princeton and Yale. One must wonder what people who hired him said after they saw the news that Donald Trump had mishandled classified information). Now ask the question again why Iran might have had access to this memorandum before the American public—and likely Congress.
If this leak came from inside the administration, it won’t be the first time. For one, Malley was fired from Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign because he had privately met with the leaders of Hamas terrorist organization, only to be hired by the Obama administration later. For two, in 2021, Iran’s then-minister of foreign affairs, Javad Zarif, known for his close relationship with John Kerry, told a journalist that Kerry had tipped him off about Israeli strikes against Iranian targets in Syria. Kerry denied the allegation, but there never was an investigation into them. At the time, Democrats controlled the Congress. By the time Republicans took the House, everybody had forgotten that it ever happened.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is a sworn enemy of the United States, aspiring to finish the project which Adolf Hitler couldn’t complete, and has the blood of many on his hands—including the Iranian people. We don’t know what shady contact there might be between Democrats and Iran, and it is concerning that we are not getting any answers, either. Congressional Republicans should demand answers from the administration, both on the Malley saga and the allegation against Kerry, even if it is two years old.
Note: the opinions expressed herein are those of Chuck Warren only and not his co-host Sam Stone or Breaking Battlegrounds’ staff.