“Jack Ciattarelli and his campaign, along with the Trump administration, must cooperate fully with this federal investigation. This scandal began when the Ciattarelli campaign first attempted to smear Mikie’s military service. Now, there are serious, unanswered questions about Nick De Gregorio’s call to the National Archives on June 12 — after his request was initially rejected — when the Archives then accessed Mikie Sherrill’s Social Security number and fulfilled the request without her signature or a notification to the U.S. Navy. The Trump administration and Ciattarelli campaign owe the people of New Jersey answers and we expect a thorough investigation so this never again happens to any military veteran or any American,” said Mikie Sherrill for Governor Communications Director Sean Higgins.

Last week, CBS News reported that the Trump administration illegally released Mikie Sherrill’s unredacted Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) to Nick De Gregorio, an agent of the Ciattarelli campaign working at the direction of their chief strategist Chris Russell. De Gregorio was on the short list to be Jack’s Lieutenant Governor and is a major donor to Jack’s campaign.

Following the news, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for a criminal investigation into the matter. Also calling for investigations were the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation and Navy veteran Pete Buttigieg, and every member of the New Jersey Democratic Congressional Delegation.

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Politico: Inspector general to investigate Rep. Mikie Sherrill military records release

• The national archives’ inspector general is launching an investigation into the release of Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s (D-N.J.) military records, according to an email obtained by POLITICO.
• Will Brown, the acting inspector general for the National Archives and Records Administration, said Tuesday he has “initiated an investigation into the matter,” which has become a focus of the New Jersey governor’s race. Sherrill is running to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, and her campaign has alleged that the release of the documents is the Trump administration “targeting political opponents” in concert with the Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli’s campaign.
• Brown’s investigation comes in response to a request last week by the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who called the release of the information about Sherrill a “stunning failure” to protect the privacy of a veteran and member of Congress.
• Garcia called the release an “illegal and likely politically motivated disclosure” that “raises serious questions about whether NARA, currently headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, released the comprehensive record in a politically motivated effort to aid Rep. Sherrill’s gubernatorial opponent.”
• The archives have said the material was inadvertently made public in response to a records request by Nicholas De Gregorio, a Marine veteran and ally of the Ciattarelli campaign. Sheridan said that Chris Russell, a Ciattarelli adviser, asked De Gregorio to “see if he could find out anything about Representative Sherrill from his military buddies…”
• National Personnel Records Center Director Scott Levins acknowledged in an email last week that a staffer made a “serious error” in releasing Sherrill’s comprehensive record to De Gregorio.