A former FBI analyst maintained "unauthorized communications" with members of the media and accepted gifts in violation of federal law, according to a government watchdog.

The FBI has continued to come under fire in recent years for its alleged politicization and misconduct, culminating in Republicans launching a subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government. One ex-FBI analyst, who resigned in 2019 after the agency suspended their security clearance, had close ties with the media and disclosed sensitive but unclassified information to a reporter while also taking food and drink gifts from media against ethics rules, said the Justice Department's inspector general in a Thursday report.

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"The OIG also concluded that the MAPA [Management and Program Analyst] failed to notify members of the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs regarding these activities, and lacked candor in claiming to the OIG that the MAPA had done so, in violation of FBI policy," said the report. "Finally, the OIG concluded that the MAPA accepted gifts of food and drink from members of the media valued at more than $20 per occasion and more than $50 in a calendar year from a single source, in violation of federal ethics regulations."

The inspector general has referred the matters to the FBI, and the DOJ is now tasked with determining appropriate consequences with regard to the alleged misconduct. The report comes as GOP House members ramp up their investigations of the FBI through the weaponization subcommittee — which has heard from whistleblowers and ex-bureau agents who have detailed purported widespread government wrongdoing.

On Monday, ex-California FBI agent Babak Broumand received a six-year prison sentence for pulling in at least $150,000 between 2015 and 2018 in cash bribes and gifts to hand over confidential information to a lawyer linked to organized crime, court records show. Michael Steinbach, the FBI's former executive assistant director who oversaw the bureau's flawed Trump-Russia investigation, was found by the DOJ's inspector general in June 2022 to have violated federal law through unauthorized contacts with the media.

The weaponization subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), held its first hearing on Feb. 10. Witnesses included Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), as well as ex-Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD). Two former FBI agents, Thomas Baker and Nicole Parker, testified about the alleged politicization of the bureau in recent years, the Washington Examiner first reported.

"Americans have lost faith in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an institution they once regarded as the world’s greatest law enforcement agency," Baker said in testimony. "I spent many years with the FBI and am deeply troubled by this loss of faith. Specific lapses have come to light, many of which will be focused on by this panel. But why did they happen? What changed? The answer begins days after the 9/11 attacks with a cultural change at the bureau."

This upcoming Thursday, "Twitter Files" authors Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger will testify before the subcommittee on the government's alleged collusion with Twitter in terms of suppression of a 2020 New York Post story based on Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop and other content moderation.

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Taibbi published an installment of the series on Thursday that cited a Washington Examiner report detailing how the State Department has funded a self-styled "disinformation" tracking group that is blacklisting and trying to defund conservative media outlets.

The FBI did not return a request for comment.