Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) wants to improve Congress’ ease of access to records regarding the suspensions of executive branch officials — including former Iran special envoy Robert Malley, who was quietly put on leave in June.
Tenney introduced a bill Thursday to “require heads of Executive agencies to, upon request, submit to relevant congressional committees information regarding the furlough or indefinite suspension without pay of employees of such Executive agencies,” according to a copy of the bill exclusively obtained by The Post.
The proposal mandates federal agency heads to respond within 15 days to requests from Oversight and Homeland Security committee chairs and ranking members in the House and Senate about the circumstances under which an employee was furloughed or suspended indefinitely without pay.
However, if the removal came about as a result of a lack of government funds or was initiated by the Office of Special Counsel, the records are not required to be turned over, since the latter would be outside of the purview of any agency and likely privileged information.
Details of the suspension or furlough should be presented “in an unclassified form, but may contain a classified annex.”
The eponymous legislation is titled the Requiring Officials and Bureaucrats to Expeditiously Relinquish Testimony and Meaningful Answers about Lawbreaking and Locked out Employees Yesterday (ROBERT MALLEY) Act.
In October, the House Oversight Committee announced they were planning to subpoena the State Department for information about Malley’s security clearance being revoked earlier this year after his top aides were revealed to be part of an Iranian influence campaign.
The committee is also demanding records about one of those aides, Ariane Tabatabai, who participated in a program with Tehran’s Foreign Ministry to influence nuclear negotiations with the US, according to leaked documents obtained by Semafor.
The FBI is separately investigating the circumstances under which Malley’s security clearance was pulled.
Tabatabai, who is currently serving as a Pentagon aide, was one of three advisers to Malley who worked with the Iran Experts Initiative, a project begun under Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Semafor first reported.
The aides attended conferences and drafted op-eds advocating for the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an Obama administration-negotiated agreement designed to reduce Tehran’s uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief.
The initiative was part of a “quiet effort” by Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs “to bolster Tehran’s image and positions on global security issues,” according to Semafor,.
“The Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley was recently placed on leave for mishandling classified material, yet for months the administration has withheld critical information regarding his suspension,” Tenney said in a statement.
“The State Department’s failure to inform Congress is deeply troubling and underscores the need for robust Congressional oversight to restore accountability and transparency. The ROBERT MALLEY Act aims to uncover the full story behind Special Envoy Malley’s Iranian spy ring and prevent future coverups by the Biden administration,” she added.
“I remain committed to ensuring Congress can properly oversee federal agencies and government officials.”