A group of Senate Democrats is imploring Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz to probe communications between presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani and the department.
As reported by The Epoch Times, a group of 10 Democrats have sent a letter to Horowitz demanding to know if Giuliani had “improper communications” with top officials of the DoJ.
The group, led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), expressed concerns “that Mr. Giuliani’s interactions with senior DOJ officials may have unduly influenced or created conflicts of interests with regard to DOJ activities.”
According to the letter, “At a minimum, Mr. Giuliani’s access creates an appearance of impropriety that could undermine trust in the agency.”
“If his contacts do not violate one or more of these provisions, further internal guidance may be needed to ensure that DOJ delivers ‘fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans,’” they added.
Nine other Democrats on Judiciary Committee, including Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Christopher Coons (Del.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Cory Booker (N.J.), and Kamala Harris (Calif.), signed the letter.
The group also referenced media reports making references to alleged contacts between Giuliani and Justice Department officials.
“These reports suggest that Mr. Giuliani has used his relationship with the President, including his representation of the President as a private citizen, to gain improper access to attorneys and investigators in the agency, particularly political appointees who serve at the President’s pleasure,” they wrote.
The group added that that some federal laws and regulations were put in place to prevent conflicts of interest.
During congressional testimony last year, Horowitz told the Senate Judiciary Committee he had concerns that some FBI field offices are leaking information to Giuliani.
“We are investigating those contacts. We’ve issued a couple of public summaries so far about people we’ve found violated FBI policy. We have other investigations ongoing,” Horowitz said.