A senior Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent made contact with a subordinate’s rear end while making an animated and inappropriate joke involving sex and religion while on duty, according to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The DOJ OIG substantiated an allegation that an FBI official, who was serving as an acting deputy assistant administrator at the time of the incident, had violated agency policies on sexual harassment, according to a summary of its findings. The OIG did not reveal the identity of the official in question or the specific context in which the inappropriate incident occurred beyond saying that it happened “in the workplace.”
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“The OIG investigation substantiated the allegation that the then-Acting Deputy Assistant Director harassed a subordinate in violation of the Department’s zero tolerance policy on sexual harassment and FBI policy, harassed the subordinate based on religion, in violation of DOJ and FBI policy, and engaged in unprofessional conduct on duty, in violation of FBI policy, when the then-Acting Deputy Assistant Director made a sexual and religious joke and gesture, physically simulating a sex act while holding the subordinate’s arms,” the DOJ OIG stated in the summary of its findings. “The OIG investigation further found the then-Acting Deputy Assistant Director, when making the joke and gesture, physically touched the buttocks of the subordinate.”
The OIG stated that it has completed its probe of the matter and provided the FBI with its report for further action as of Tuesday. Notably, the DOJ OIG, unless specified otherwise, “applies the preponderance of the evidence standard in determining whether DOJ personnel have committed misconduct,” according to the OIG’s summary.
“The FBI takes all allegations of misconduct seriously. The DOJ Office of the Inspector General recently completed their investigation into these allegations and presented the findings to the FBI,” an FBI spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The FBI disciplinary process has begun. During this process, the individual has been removed from any supervisory role and placed in a role performing administrative duties.”
The DOJ referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to the FBI when contacted for comment.
Nick Pope on January 3, 2024
