Several House Republicans are calling for an investigation after the Air Force improperly released their military service records to a third-party group with reported ties to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., one of 11 lawmakers affected by the release, is calling out the Due Diligence Group (DDG) for "identity theft" and is demanding the DCCC be held accountable for their involvement.
"The Democrat organization paid for by the Democratic campaign, a congressional committee, they were paid $110,000 to do this, but they used our Social Security numbers and other personal identification information to look like it was us making this request. So the Air Force was deceived," Rep. Bacon said on "America's Newsroom" Thursday.
Bacon argued that the DCCC used information provided by DDG's "identity theft" to "exploit" candidates during the 2022 campaign cycle.
The Air Force confirmed to Fox News that an internal audit had "determined there was an unauthorized release of military duty information on 11 individuals" from October 2021 through October 2022. In a letter to Bacon, first reported by Politico, the Air Force said the records were "inappropriately requested" in November 2021 by a researcher named Abraham Payton, who formerly worked with American Bridge 21st Century, a liberal super PAC, on the false basis of "employment and benefits."
The Air Force, which told Fox News in a statement that "[t]here was no evidence of political motivation or malicious intent on the part of any employee," said the record branch released Bacon's personal identifiable information to the man without any authorization, and the person appeared to already be in possession of the congressman's Social Security number when he requested the information. The employee did not follow proper procedures which required Bacon's signature in order to release the information.
Bacon said while 30 years of his records had "nothing to hide," he noted others suffered more due to the violation like former congressional candidate Jennifer-Ruth Green, who had information released about her sexual assault during her military service.
"And they used this information wherever they thought they found an area they can exploit, like Jennifer-Ruth Green, who had to relive her sexual assault a second time, basically doing victim-shaming on her. And it hurt her and her campaign," he told host Bill Hemmer.
Bacon emphasized he believed the information collected by the DDG was being used by the DCCC to "hurt the Republican candidate" in the 11 cases of released records.
"You ask if this is illegal, it was identity theft at a minimum. And our lawyers say there is a crime committed," Bacon affirmed.
Calling for an investigation, Bacon explained he was glad the Air Force "came clean on their own" and demanded accountability for the DCCC and DDG.
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"I think the Air Force has taken accountability. They came clean on their own. They volunteered what happened. They put fixes in place. The accountability needs to be with the DCCC and the operative who lied, saying they were us, the identity theft," he said.
"Now, I hope the Department of Justice takes this on."
Fox News' Aubrie Spady and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
