It was a shocking revelation in the profile piece done by Politico about Jennifer Ruth-Green, the Republican candidate running in Indiana’s first congressional district against Democratic incumbent Rep. Frank Mrvan. It’s one of the more contested races this cycle, with Ruth-Green raising hordes of cash in a seat that a Republican in nearly 100 years hasn’t represented. There wasn’t anything necessarily wrong with the article until it got into her military record—Ms. Green is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. Her sexual assault report was mentioned, despite Ms. Green asking Politico not to include it in their feature.
Ms. Green felt it was a smear job to denigrate her military service. Politico faced severe backlash when they said this information was obtained by a FOIA request, with all information being publicly available. That raised some eyebrows because sexual assault reports are not included in this category, prompting some to suggest that the publication could face serious legal issues. It got even worse for Politico, temporarily, when the Air Force said they had no FOIA record request about Ms. Green’s records.
These sensitive records were disclosed through malicious intent or a filing error. Ms. Green is a black conservative, which makes her a huge target for the progressive Left. She breaks all the rules of being a woman, black, and female. After days of speculation, we know who leaked the documents—it was the Air Force who apologized for the breach in protocols regarding the release of her confidential files (via The Hill):
The Air Force has taken responsibility for the improper release of Republican House candidate Jennifer Ruth-Green’s confidential military records that detailed a sexual assault during her time serving that were exposed in a news story earlier this month.
“Based on the preliminary findings of an investigation, it appears information was released to a third party by a junior individual who didn’t follow proper procedures and obtain required consent,” Ann Stefanek, chief of media operations at the Air Force, said in a statement to The Hill on Wednesday about the release of Green’s information. “The Department of the Air Force takes its responsibility to safeguard private information seriously and the matter remains under investigation.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Indiana GOP Reps. Jim Banks and Larry Bucshon released a joint statement calling on the Air Force to take responsibility for the leak. The two congressmen detailed a Tuesday call with Air Force Inspector General Lt. Gen. Stephen Davis, who confirmed the file was actually leaked to an opposition research firm, which is how they were presumably later given a Politico reporter.
“On yesterday’s call, the Air Force took full responsibility for improperly releasing Lt. Col Green’s confidential personnel records to an opposition research firm just weeks before the midterm election,” the statement said. “Lt. Gen. Davis informed us that the leaker has been identified and will be held accountable.”
It should be reasonably apparent that sexual assault reports aren’t something that you hand over to a third party. Who's the leaker?