FIRST ON FOX – Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., is demanding that the Division of Veterans Affairs (VA) instantly fireplace the at the very least a dozen staff who reportedly improperly accessed the medical data of vice presidential candidates Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz this summer time.
Mast, chairman of Veterans For Trump, penned a letter urging VA Secretary Denis McDonough for a “swift response and action to prevent such egregious violations of privacy within the VA from occurring again.” The Florida Republican can be calling for the FBI to become involved to analyze the potential for overseas election interference.
“I urge you to buck the employee union of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and immediately fire the employees who were caught snooping into the private medical records of Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz – who are both running to be vice president. VA employees know this is not permitted,” Mast wrote in a letter first obtained by Fox Information Digital. “As a combat-injured veteran, I rely on the VA for my medical care. This isn’t just a legal misstep; it’s a breach that undermines veterans’ confidence in the VA and raises serious questions about the professionalism of VA personnel.”
The Washington Submit first reported Monday that at the very least 12 VA staff inside the company’s well being administration had been below felony investigation after VA investigators found they improperly accessed the medical data of Vance and Walz. VA Inspector Basic Michael Missal’s workplace reportedly knowledgeable each candidates’ campaigns and shared proof with federal prosecutors associated to a number of of the well being system staff, together with a doctor and a contractor who “spent extended time” viewing the information of former President Trump and Vice President Harris’ working mates.
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., speaks on the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 9, 2024, concerning competing studies on the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Pictures)
“Dismissing these employees and referring them to the Justice Department for prosecution, provided there is evidence that laws were broken, is the first step the VA must take to restore credibility,” Mast wrote. “Furthermore, I urge you to fully brief Congress on how this violation of privacy transpired and implement new guidelines to prevent such acts from occurring in the future.”
Mast, a member of the Home International Affairs Committee, implored McDonough to coordinate with the FBI.
The letter comes per week after Trump’s marketing campaign stated he was briefed on “real and specific threats” from Iran to assassinate the Republican presidential nominee.
“Given the recent foreign meddling in our elections – like Iran’s assassination plots against President Trump – I also request your department coordinate with the FBI to ensure Senator Vance and Governor Walz’s medical information was neither shared with foreign operatives nor accessed on their behalf,” Mast, who served within the U.S. Military for 12 years and misplaced each legs to catastrophic accidents endured whereas working as a bomb disposal skilled in Afghanistan, wrote. “Safeguarding sensitive information about our public officials is critical to national security and the integrity of our democracy.”
TRUMP REACTS TO ASSASSINATION PLOTS WITH BIG WARNING TO IRAN
The Division of Veterans Affairs constructing in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2019. (ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
Final month, specialists from the FBI, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence (ODNI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company (CISA) issued a abstract of the present menace surroundings citing how the “big three foreign influence actors, Russia, Iran, and China are all trying by some measure to exacerbate divisions in U.S. society for their own benefit, and see election periods as moments of vulnerability.”
“Like Russia, Iran has a multi-pronged approach that looks to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process. Tehran has also sought cyber access to individuals with direct ties to the presidential campaigns of both political parties, while elements have also denigrated the former president,” they stated. “Iran has a suite of tools at its disposal, as demonstrated in recent reports outlining Iran’s cyber operations, including the hack-and-leak operation against the former president’s campaign. Iran is also conducting covert social media operations using fake personas, and is using AI to help publish inauthentic news articles.”
Fox Information Digital reached out to the VA and the FBI concerning Mast’s letter.
Relating to the Submit’s reporting on Monday, VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes stated in a press release that the company “reported to law enforcement allegations that VA personnel may have improperly accessed Veteran records” and takes “the privacy of the Veterans we serve very seriously and have strict policies in place to protect their records.”
“Any try and improperly entry Veteran data by VA personnel is unacceptable and won’t be tolerated,” Hayes wrote.
The potential motive for accessing the medical data is below investigation, and investigators are nonetheless attempting to find out if Vance and Walz’s info was shared because of the breaches, the Submit reported.
JD Vance and Tim Walz will debate one another Tuesday evening in New York Metropolis. (Getty Pictures )
The VA staff below investigation, together with the doctor and contractor, accessed the medical data utilizing their VA computer systems and did so principally from their authorities workplaces, sources instructed the newspaper. A few of the staffers in query reportedly instructed investigators they had been merely curious to see the information of Vance and Walz given each candidates have defended their army data on the marketing campaign path.
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The Division of Justice declined to remark concerning the report. The breach reportedly didn’t embrace entry to any incapacity compensation, which has extra safety protocols than well being info.
