Air Force takes ‘full responsibility’ for veteran House candidate’s sexual assault leak

The Air Force has taken “full responsibility” for the release of a veteran Indiana Republican House candidate’s confidential personnel records, which contained details about her sexual assault, to a political “opposition research firm,” according to two GOP congressmen from her state.

Earlier this month, the records were used in a Politico profile of Lt. Col. Jennifer-Ruth Green, who is running as a Republican to represent Indiana’s 1st Congressional District, to report that she had been sexual assaulted by an Iraqi serviceman while serving.

Green told Fox News that she did not consent to their release and that her opponent, Rep. Frank Mrvan, and Politico were behaving like her assailant by ignoring her plead to not disclose that she was sexually assaulted while serving in the military.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, Indiana GOP Reps. Jim Banks, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, and Larry Bucshon described a discussion they had with Air Force investigators where they learned the branch’s personnel center had improperly released her confidential records to an opposition research firm, which are hired by campaigns to dig up compromising information on political opponents.

"On yesterday's call, the Air Force took full responsibility for improperly releasing Lt. Col. Green’s confidential personnel records to an opposition research firm just weeks before the midterm election. Lt. Gen. Davis informed us that the leaker has been identified and will be held accountable,” the Indiana Republicans said in a statement shared with Fox News.  

They added in the statement that there is an ongoing investigation into "whether the leaker had a political or financial motive" or had an accomplice in the release of Green's records.

At the time, Green accused Mrvan and Politico of obtaining the documents illegally, as her campaign had informed her that they were being “farmed out to several different press outlets.” Politico said that it had received the documents from someone outside Mrvan’s campaign.

Banks and Bucshon called on the Air Force to release any information it uncovered during its investigation before election day because their mistake had “improperly affected a competitive House race.”

"We are calling on the Air Force to publicly take responsibility for mishandling Lt. Col. Green’s service records. Additionally, before the midterm election, the Air Force should release any information it has regarding the financial relationship between the [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] and the opposition research firm that sent confidential records to Politico’s Adam Wren to smear a servicemember who happens to be running for public office,” they said in the statement.