Schoen & Mangel: Does the Biden administration care about leaking classified info?

The possible revocation of the Hunter Biden plea agreement is not the only scandal facing the Biden administration, as a much larger scandal is lurking, involving national security, Iran, and the potential leaking of classified information. 

Robert Malley, President Biden’s Iran envoy, tasked with negotiating a new nuclear deal, has been stripped of his position, lost his security clearance, put on unpaid leave, and removed from the State Department’s website, allegedly for giving the Iranians access to classified information. 

Rumors surrounding Malley, who was also the lead Iran negotiator under former President Obama, began swirling in May when he failed to show up to a classified briefing related to the possibility of a new nuclear deal, but the State Department ducked the questions, simply saying Malley was on extended personal leave.

Then, last month the State Department confirmed that Malley was put on leave and his security clearance was suspended, but the Biden administration has stonewalled any further Congressional investigations into what exactly Malley did that necessitated such measures. 

Understandably, the administration’s flip-flopping over Malley has hurt it in Congress, with one Congressional staffer saying, “There’s no fixing a loss of trust of this magnitude. If you can’t believe what the administration tells lawmakers, then there’s no way to conduct business.”

Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul has said that Malley may have committed “treason” by transferring “intelligence and foreign secrets to our foreign adversary” and Republicans have been pressing the White House for answers, but to no avail. 

Of course, given the recent indictment of former President Donald Trump for potentially mishandling classified information, a reasonable person would assume that the Biden administration would take equally harsh action against Robert Malley, although that has not happened.

To that end, despite the White House and State Department refusing to be transparent amid what is increasingly looking like a coverup, we know that Malley lost his security clearance in April or May, although for some reason, remained working at the State Department until late June, and even gave interviews up until then.

While it remains unclear whether Rep. McCaul is correct that Malley committed treason, it is undeniable that the ordeal has complicated our ability to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran, and further undermines our relationship with Israel, which is already under pressure due to the country’s ongoing turbulence and Biden’s public spats with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Further, even the appearance of a top American official being in bed with the Iranians poses a considerable threat to America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, who, despite recently signing a peace deal with Iran, has a deep historical and religious rivalry with Tehran. 

To be sure, Malley’s past does him no favors in mitigating the accusations against him. In 2008, he was forced to step down as an advisor to President Obama after it was revealed that Malley met with members of Hamas, a U.S. designated terrorist group which rules Gaza and has fought several wars with Israel. 

During the Trump presidency, Malley earned a reputation for being “far too willing to bend to Iranian wishes” according to Politico reporting, however, while it is one thing to hold philosophical views that are perhaps at odds with the official White House position, it is a vastly different matter to leak classified information and, in the words of Rep. McCaul, “commit treason.”

Inevitably, Malley’s case draws parallels with those of Aldrich Ames, Robert Hanssen, and to a lesser extent Jonathon Pollard. Ames and Hanssen, a CIA agent and FBI agent, respectively, used their positions to pass information to the Soviet Union (and then Russia), while Pollard, a Naval Intelligence Officer was convicted of passing information to Israel.

However, there is a glaring difference between those three cases and Malley’s. Ames, Hanssen, and Pollard all served decades in prison, with all three men receiving life sentences, although Pollard has since been released. 

In Pollard’s case, although many felt his sentence was too harsh, given that Israel is an American ally, the government made it clear that even passing information to an ally betrays America’s interests. 

Conversely, the Biden administration continues to shield Malley, blocking Congressional investigations into the matter, seemingly hoping to minimize the issue until it blows over. 

And, despite the seriousness of the accusations, mainstream media has been Biden’s ally in what is increasingly resembling a cover up, with scant reporting on what exactly Malley did.

Ultimately, if the allegations surrounding Malley are true, and given that he has been stripped of his security clearance and now an FBI investigation into the case, there is some credence to that idea, it raises immense questions that the Biden administration must answer. 

In that same vein, if President Biden is so intent on securing a new nuclear deal with Iran that he feels publicly acknowledging Malley’s actions would complicate any Congressional support, any new Iran deal would be permanently tainted.

While the bulk of the media attention in the days to come will be on Hunter Biden and what comes next for the First Son, a very serious issue, involving national security, and a potential betrayal of the interests of the United States is brewing, with the questions surrounding Robert Malley. 

How this case is resolved will say a lot about the Biden administration, its approach to national security, and the sanctity of classified intelligence, even more so given the ongoing indictment of former President Trump over his handling of classified documents.

Douglas Schoen is a political consultant. Saul Mangel works at Schoen Cooperman Research.