OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Letter to the Hon. Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce - Hirono and Colleagues to Secretary Ross: Release IG Report on "Sharpiegate"

Letter

Date: July 8, 2020
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Government Operations Federal, State and Local Relations

Secretary Ross:

On September 10, 2019, we sent a letter requesting that Department of Commerce Inspector General (IG) Peggy Gustafson conduct a thorough investigation into the events surrounding President Trump's September 1, 2019 tweet about Hurricane Dorian and the events that followed.

On June 26, 2020, the IG's office released a summary memo of their findings, indicating that the investigation was successfully conducted and a full report would be publicly posted on their website on Monday, June 29, 2020. Since that time, according to a July 1, 2020 memo from IG Gustafson, Department of Commerce officials have refused to continue cooperating in the process of finalizing the report for public consumption and are now preventing the IG's Office from releasing the report.

We request that you immediately work with IG Gustafson to complete the process of identifying specific privileges and providing privilege markings to the report in time to meet the July 9, 2020 deadline, and release the full report as negotiated prior to commencement of the investigation.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this request.


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