Report: Democrat-Aligned Firm Tried to Retrieve Military Records of Former GOP U.S. House Candidate
Colin Schmitt is the third former GOP House candidate who, thankfully, did not have his military records released. How many are there?
Politico learned that the Due Diligence Group, a Democratic-aligned firm, tried to retrieve the military records of Republican New York state assembly member Colin Schmitt last year when he ran for the U.S. House.
Schmitt is still an active member of the U.S. National Guard, serving as a sergeant.
Schmitt lost to Democrat Rep. Pat Ryan by 1.5% in New York’s 18th District. He is the third former GOP House candidate Due Diligence tried to obtain records but failed. The other two are Sam Peters of Nevada and Kevin Dellicker of Pennsylvania.
Politico’s report is the latest in a saga over how the military has handled records belonging to Republicans. We know of 11 people who had their records released without permission, but only five have been named.
The request form came from Abraham Payton:
Payton, a former research director for the Democratic group American Bridge, sought Bacon’s personnel information, according to an official letter first reported by POLITICO. It is unclear if Payton was behind all of the 11 Air Force requests, however; Nunn has not publicly disclosed if Payton was the individual who sought his military personnel records, and Green has confirmed only that Due Diligence sought hers.
Due Diligence did not respond to requests for comment. Payton, whom POLITICO attempted to reach at an email address connected to the firm, did not respond to a request for comment. The DCCC did not respond to a request for comment.
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Payton indicated on the form requesting Schmitt’s records that he sought them for benefits and employment purposes. The form also indicates that Payton had Schmitt’s social security number at the time of his request.
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According to a copy of the military records request Payton filed, he sought to obtain Schmitt’s “releasable/redacted copy of Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF)” in August of last year.
Payton sought the information for the stated purpose of “Benefits,” “Employment,” and “Other,” to which he explained in the line below: “Services, awards, disciplinary history/records relevant to applicant’s qualifications for (potential) position’s duties, pay, and benefits.”
The Air Force identified Due Diligence Group as the firm that received the unauthorized release of other House Republican candidates’ records last year. At least 11 individuals had their records released to a third party.
Schmitt accused the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) since it paid Due Diligence Group over $110,000 between 2021-2022:
And Schmitt is pointing a finger directly at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the attempt to obtain his personnel data. The House Democratic campaign arm paid Due Diligence just over $110,00 between January 2021 and December 2022, according to Federal Election Commission records.
“It appears that a coordinated campaign to target myself and other Congressional Republicans across the country who serve or have served our nation was for political gain,” Schmitt said in a statement, blaming the DCCC for “the illegal use of my social security number to attempt to gain access to my private military records.”
Schmitt thanked the New York Army National Guard for notifying him that someone tried “to illegally access” his information and the steps they took to protect him
We only know of five people who had their records released:
- Former GOP candidate Jennifer-Ruth Green
- Rep. Don Bacon
- Rep. Zach Nunn
- Rep. Mark Green
- Former GOP primary candidate Kevin Dellicker
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Comments
And where might the Department of Justice be in their investigation of these matters?
DOJ and AG Garland are too busy dutifully and intensively investigation the corruption rackets of dotard-marionette, Biden, and, his crime family syndicate. ;P
LOL
They are too busy NOT investigating current violations to take on any new investigations.
HAAAAA HAAA Haaa haa ha ha!
That was a good one. You should do stand-up.
I thought this was reported several months ago. Is this old news recycled or new information. They have been using 3rd parties to steal information for years. I wonder why Politico is reporting this. Is it time to start throwing people under the bus?
Secret court rules that FBI performed tens of thousands of illegal searches on raw NSA data about US citizens
Fun Facts here:
https://www.opensecrets.org/political-parties/democratic-congressional-campaign-cmte/DCCC/2022/expenditures-details?recip=Due+Diligence+Group
We have known about this for a while. What we don’t know is what’s going to be done about it.
Nothing. At least not until a Democrat is the target.
Hope they are also checking for Navy records requests. In Virginia Jen Kiggans, who won her race and retired Captain Hung Cao, who lost his, are Navy veterans.
Hung Cao lost his, in part, because he campaigned as a RINO who “was secretly a MAGA patriot.” Actual MAGA patriots don’t play that anymore.
Sorry, that s not the primary link with the whole story… this is.
For once it’s a good thing when the services or the VA can’t find your records.
As compared to the shoulder shrug and blank looks when applying for earned benefits.
In a well ordered society Peyton would already be dead.
More alarming is that the military actually did leak records to the Democrats during the last election cycle.
Both sides will always have people who cut corners and forget their ethics when it comes to trying to get an advantage over their opponent.
The military taking sides is a vastly bigger issue.
Why do they have to ask? Seems wrong that the DNC would have fewer US Service records than The CCP?
How they gonna slime, blackmail, or pay off people if they don’t know their weaknesses or preferences?
Wasn’t there a black female republican vet in IN-1, Jennifer Ruth-Green, who also had her military records exposed last year?
She came within just a few points of winning that seat after almost 100 years of democrat control