This Republican was also running against a Democrat for a congressional seat.

He lost by 1.5%.

The firm is the one the DCCC paid $100,000 for just this kind of background dirt -- Due Diligence.

This illegal, fraudulent request for National Guard files failed. Most succeeded, this one was stopped.

A Democratic-aligned firm made a failed attempt to obtain personal information from the Army National Guard on at least one House Republican candidate, according to a document obtained by POLITICO.

It's the same firm that the Air Force has identified as securing the unauthorized release of multiple House GOP candidates' records last year.

Abraham Payton of the research firm Due Diligence Group attempted in August to obtain the personnel records of Colin Schmitt -- a GOP member of the New York state assembly -- from the Army National Guard, according to a copy of the request form that Payton filed. Schmitt, who's still an active National Guard sergeant, lost by less than 1.5 percentage points to Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) in their November battle for New York's 18th District.

This scumbag is the former research director for the Democratic group American Bridge -- which is the scumbag David Brock's fundraising group.

The attempt to obtain Schmitt's personnel file comes as House Republicans dig into a broader investigation of military records handling after Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) revealed the "unauthorized release" of their Air Force records to Due Diligence last year. The firm's pursuit of documents on GOP candidates from a separate military branch indicates that Due Diligence cast a wider net than previously known.

And Schmitt is pointing a finger directly at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the attempt to obtain his personnel data. The House Democratic campaign arm paid Due Diligence just over $110,00 between January 2021 and December 2022, according to Federal Election Commission records.

"It appears that a coordinated campaign to target myself and other Congressional Republicans across the country who serve or have served our nation was for political gain," Schmitt said in a statement, blaming the DCCC for "the illegal use of my social security number to attempt to gain access to my private military records."

Question: The Air Force knew these fraudulent records requests were being made by this firm.

Why is the military not making an issue of this? Why did they only start conducting their own investigation when Republicans started to scream about this?

They alerted the actual people affected -- and that's as far as they went.

It sure seems like the military is consciously covering up for their Democrat pals. It sure seems like they believe that they routinely hand over sensitive personnel records to Democrat smear groups, and don't want to probe too hard into it.

But don't worry: Merrick Garland's DOJ is on the case, boyyyy!

"We're aware of the concerns raised, and the Department of Justice has been communicating with the U.S. Air Force about this matter," a DOJ spokesperson in a statement Sunday.

Then they refused to comment on the status of any investigation. I'm sure they gave it to their Top Men.

Here's how the scumbags attempted to create a legal defense for themselves, should they ever be prosecuted:

Payton indicated on the form requesting Schmitt's records that he sought them for benefits and employment purposes. The form also indicates that Payton had Schmitt's social security number at the time of his request.

...

According to a copy of the military records request Payton filed, he sought to obtain Schmitt's "releasable/redacted copy of Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF)" in August of last year.

Payton sought the information for the stated purpose of "Benefits," "Employment," and "Other," to which he explained in the line below: "Services, awards, disciplinary history/records relevant to applicant's qualifications for (potential) position's duties, pay, and benefits."

You see? He can say, "I wasn't lying, I was trying to get these records to see if he was eligible for employment. In the US Congress, I mean. I was just conducting my own citizens background check on a potential US Congressional 'hire.'"

Not sure how that defense is going to hold up about obtaining and then using Schmitt's social security number to purloin the records.

Jazz Shaw points out that Schmitt wasn't the only Republican whose social security number the group obtained and used:

The group had also somehow obtained the social security numbers of at least three of the candidates and used them when requesting the records. This form of data piracy is something weve come to expect from hackers and scammers. But having the DCCC funding activity such as this takes it to an entirely new level.