{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-smucker-doj-inspector-general-should-investigate-us-attorney-jacqueline-romero", "Cotton, Smucker: DOJ Inspector General Should Investigate U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero", "2024-06-18", "2024", "2024-06", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Caroline Tabler or Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353\n\nJune 18, 2024\n\nCotton, Smucker: DOJ Inspector General Should Investigate U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), along with Congressman Lloyd Smucker (Pennsylvania-11), today sent a letter today to Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz to request that he investigate U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero. Romero, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, is reported to have retaliated against one of her deputies because of the attorney\u2019s work investigating Hunter Biden.\n\nIn part, the lawmakers wrote:\n\n\u201cAfter the AUSA was temporarily detailed to the Hunter Biden investigation, and even though the AUSA remained an employee of the Philadelphia U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office, Ms. Romero revoked the AUSA\u2019s office access. Past precedent shows that other detailed AUSAs did not lose office access. Ms. Romero also denied the AUSA\u2019s request to maintain a portion of their local docket. Historically, it is common practice for prosecutors detailed from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to continue work on their local cases.\u201d\n\nFull text of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nJune 18, 2024\n\nThe Honorable Michael Horowitz\n\nUnited States Department of Justice\n\nOffice of the Inspector General\n\n950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW\n\nWashington, DC 20530\n\nDear Inspector General Horowitz:\n\nWe write requesting that you investigate whether Jacqueline Romero, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, engaged in misconduct and politically motivated retaliation. According to alarming reports, Ms. Romero retaliated against an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) because of that attorney\u2019s work on the Hunter Biden investigation.\n\nAfter the AUSA was temporarily detailed to the Hunter Biden investigation, and even though the AUSA remained an employee of the Philadelphia U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office, Ms. Romero revoked the AUSA\u2019s office access. Past precedent shows that other detailed AUSAs did not lose office access. Ms. Romero also denied the AUSA\u2019s request to maintain a portion of their local docket. Historically, it is common practice for prosecutors detailed from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to continue work on their local cases.\n\nIt has been publicly reported that Ms. Romero told the AUSA that she objected to their assignment because of her relationship with the Biden family, and because of Beau Biden\u2019s past employment in the Philadelphia U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office. Ms. Romero has a long history of donating to President Biden\u2019s campaigns, as well as numerous other Democrat candidates since 2007.\n\nFederal law and regulations prohibit politically motivated retaliation. For example, the Hatch Act expressly prohibits covered federal employees, such as Ms. Romero, from engaging in political activities in their official capacity. Such laws and regulations are intended to maintain a politically neutral workplace. This is especially important for a U.S. Attorney, whom the public relies upon to be a nonpartisan law enforcement official.\n\nGiven Ms. Romero\u2019s actions, we urge you to investigate her conduct. We ask that your investigation address the following questions:\n\nWhat is the precedent for removing an AUSA\u2019s, or other detailee\u2019s, physical access to the Philadelphia U.S. Attorney\u2019s office? Are there examples of other Department of Justice detailees losing building access?\n\nWas the AUSA barred from the Philadelphia U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office as an act of retaliation?\n\nWhat factors went into the decision to remove the AUSA from their existing caseload, and have these same factors been considered uniformly when deciding to maintain other detailees\u2019 casework?\n\nDid Ms. Romero attempt to leverage her relationship with the Biden family to dissuade the AUSA from accepting a detail position?\n\nDid Ms. Romero violate the Hatch Act or other federal rules regarding retaliation against employees?\n\nThank you for your attention to this important matter.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:11:47Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-smucker-doj-inspector-general-should-investigate-us-attorney-jacqueline-romero"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7485919632017612, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}