A congressional probe into President Biden’s suspended special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, has uncovered evidence that the State Department official may have shared classified material with people outside the US government.
The evidence found by Republican lawmakers indicates that Malley, who was quietly placed on unpaid leave last June and had his security clearance suspended two months prior, disseminated sensitive documents with allies of his in order to “advance his diplomatic efforts” related to Tehran, people briefed on the investigation told Semafor.
GOP lawmakers have learned that Malley transferred about a dozen documents, including some marked “sensitive” and “classified,” to his personal devices while tasked with leading the Biden administration’s diplomatic relations with the US adversary, according to the outlet.
The documents reportedly included “detailed notes” of his interactions with Iranian officials in the months before his suspension and material related to the US government’s response to the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests in Iran.
Earlier this month, the top Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committee asked the State Department to confirm “troubling allegations” that Malley stored classified material on his personal email account and cellphone — which was later accessed by a “hostile cyber actor.”
“Specifically, we understand that Mr. Malley’s security clearance was suspended because he allegedly transferred classified documents to his personal email account and downloaded these documents to his personal cell phone,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member James Risch (R-Idaho) and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) wrote in a May 6 letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“It is unclear to whom he intended to provide these documents, but it is believed that a hostile cyber actor was able to gain access to his email and/or phone and obtain the downloaded information,” the lawmakers said at the time.
A State Department spokesperson told The Post at the time that Malley remains on leave and that the department has provided Congress with information on personnel inquiries related to Iran policy, but would not comment on the specific allegations raised by Risch and McCaul.
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In 2015, the FBI opened a criminal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for conduct similar to the allegations against Malley.
Clinton was found to have stored tens of thousands of emails from her time at the State Department on several different unsecured private servers – including 81 email chains that discussed classified information and seven that referred to classified material determined to be at the Top Secret/Special Access Program level.
The FBI determined that Clinton was “extremely careless” and that hostile actors may have gained access to her personal email account but did not charge her with a crime.
Malley is currently under investigation by the FBI, according to McCaul and Risch.
The FBI and State Department did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
