A bombshell DOJ report alleges U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins improperly used her position by influencing the Suffolk DA’s race and broke agency rules by attending a fundraiser last summer.
The report calls her out for attempting to tip the scales in last year’s Suffolk District Attorney race — where the Boston Globe ran stories she leaked to them before the primary. The Herald received similar information and refused to publish before the primary, according to the report.
“We found Rollins’s conduct described throughout this report violated federal regulations, numerous DOJ policies, her Ethics Agreement, and applicable law, and fell far short of the standards of professionalism and judgment that the Department should expect of any employee, much less a U.S. Attorney,” the report issued by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General today concluded.
The report adds: “We also concluded that Rollins falsely testified under oath during her OIG interview when she denied that she was the federal law enforcement source that provided nonpublic, sensitive DOJ information to the Herald reporter about a possible Hayden criminal investigation.”
The report goes on to list other infractions — from receiving free Celtics tickets and more.
“We have provided a copy of this report to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, and the Professional Misconduct Review Unit for any action they deem appropriate,” the DOJ states.
The OIG investigation “began with allegations concerning the presence of U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Rachael Rollins at a Democratic Party fundraiser featuring First Lady Dr. Jill Biden on July 14, 2022.” That possible ethics violation was first reported — and photographed — by the Herald, and a link to that article is included in the report.
The next morning, Rollins — the chief federal prosecutor in Massachusetts — tweeted a link to the Herald article and claimed that she “wasn’t asked for a comment before this ran. It’s almost as if the Herald didn’t want to know I had approval to meet Dr. Biden & left early to speak at 2 community events last night.”
Within minutes following that tweet, which was factually inaccurate as Herald reporter Gayla Cawley did ask for comment on whether Rollins’ attendance at the fundraiser was a Hatch Act violation before Rollins entered the Andover home — as the OIG’s report makes clear — Rollins used her personal cell phone to contact First Assistant and the Executive Officer along with the following direction: “I do not want anything happening regarding DOJ without speaking to me first. Nothing. Not ethics, not Comms [Office of Public Affairs]. Thanks.”
The second OIG finding is that “Rollins used her position as U.S. Attorney in an effort to influence the outcome of a partisan political election, namely the September 6, 2022 Democratic primary election that would select her likely successor as Suffolk D.A.”
The report also found that when then-Interim Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden prevailed over challenger City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo — Rollins’ preferred candidate — “Rollins sought to damage Hayden’s reputation” by leaking information to reporters at both the Herald and the Globe “non-public and sensitive DOJ information that suggested the possibility of a federal criminal criminal investigation into Hayden, a matter from which Rollins was recused.”