DOJ investigations into alleged antisemitism at Ivy League universities had predetermined conclusions: Whistleblower
A former Justice Department attorney alleges the DOJ's investigations into alleged antisemitism at Ivy League schools had predetermined conclusions and didn't use normal investigative practices.
The allegations come from a whistleblower complaint filed with the House Judiciary Committee on Monday evening.
Haley Van Erem, a former career attorney of nearly a decade in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, told Congress there were irregularities in the manner in which three investigations into schools were carried out.
"Senior officials at DOJ and HHS departed from longstanding investigative practices designed to ensure due process, accuracy and legal compliance," according to the 28-page complaint sent to the House Judiciary Committee. "For at least some of the investigations, there was little to no factual predicate justifying opening them. When they asked questions, raised legal concerns, or sought to document their objections, they were sometimes admonished and their concerns were often disregarded."
Certain "enforcement outcomes had been predetermined before the relevant evidence was collected and evaluated," according to the complaint.
The whistleblower complaint does not question the seriousness of antisemitism investigations, but rather comes from a career attorney who says he believes these investigations were not impartial, according to the complaint.
During the investigation into Brown University, witness interviews and document reviews concluded that there was no Title VI violation, but some in DOJ leadership still sought a settlement violation.
In the investigation into Columbia University, the complaint says there was an accelerated timeline for investigations based on media reports and in the case of Harvard University it says "extraordinary funding freezes and sweeping proposed settlement terms—including provisions affecting curriculum, governance, endowment funds, and other matters—were being pursued before any completed investigation had established Title VI violations and without a demonstrated connection between the proposed remedies and substantiated findings of unlawful discrimination."
Brown University ended up settling with the Justice Department to have the federal funds partially restored. The Harvard and Columbia cases are still tied up in litigation.
The three schools did not respond to ABC News' requests for comment.
A Trump official further stated that there was “not a Title VI violation” at Brown but that “there’s no way we’re going to get a letter of no violation cleared,” indicating that the government was merely using antisemitism as a pretext to claw back funds and punish universities deemed politically incorrect by the Administration, according to House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin.
When Van Erem raised objections to these practices in writing, she say she was allegedly "admonished to stop creating a written record," and was allegedly told their role as career attorneys was to provide policy, not legal advice.
Van Erem allegedly "witnessed and opposed a documented scheme to suspend hundreds of millions in federal funding without required findings, notices, or hearings, clear acts of wrongdoing that warrant oversight and investigation," according to the complaint.
Raskin alleged the actions of the Justice Department and HHS officials represent a pattern.
“From the start of the Trump Administration’s ferocious attack on universities, it has been apparent that its investigations have been structured deliberately to harass and intimidate rather than protect anyone from discrimination. These credible new disclosures, although limited to the experience of several professionals involved, allows the world to look under the hood and see just how far the Trump Administration strayed from any notion of professional responsibility, public ethics, or legal candor in its attacks on perceived political enemies in academia,” wrote Ranking Member Raskin.
In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for the Justice Department said, “While at the DOJ, Ms. Haley Van Erem did not work on university investigations. And for all matters, the Department stands behind the integrity of these investigations.”
