Robert Malley
Robert MalleyRod Lamkey - CNP/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

Two Republican lawmakers uncovered what they called "troubling allegations" against US President Joe Biden’s embattled former US special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley which led to his being suspended from his position.

Senator James Risch (R-Idaho), the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) accused Malley of storing classified documents on his private email account and cell phone, where the documents were accessed by a “hostile cyber actor."

In a May 6 letter obtained by the Washington Post, Risch and McCaul asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken to confirm the allegations against Malley. The State Department has refused to reveal the reasons Malley was put on unpaid leave and had his security clearance suspended last June, leading Republicans in Congress to launch their own investigation into the matter.

“Due to the Department’s evasiveness and lack of transparency, we have worked to glean information from other sources,” the lawmakers wrote. “Our own investigations have uncovered the following information and troubling allegations. We ask that you confirm the information we have learned.”

“Specifically, we understand that Mr. Malley’s security clearance was suspended because he allegedly transferred classified documents to his personal email account and downloaded these documents to his personal cell phone,” they added. “It is unclear to whom he intended to provide these documents, but it is believed that a hostile cyber actor was able to gain access to his email and/or phone and obtain the downloaded information."

Risch and McCaul asked that Blinken provide Congress with information on the number of documents Malley is accused of mishandling and their level of classification. They also sought information on whether Malley provided the documents to anyone who did not have a security clearance to read them and whether Iran was in the hacking of his email account or phone.

They demanded "immediate answers" to these questions and stated that the allegations have a "substantial impact on our national security and people should be held accountable swiftly and strongly."

Malley was placed on leave without pay last year after his security clearance was suspended amid an investigation into his handling of classified material.

It was later reported that the FBI was looking into Malley's handling of classified material.

Malley played a significant role in the Biden administration's efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, from which then-President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.

Malley has a history of being sympathetic to the way certain terrorist groups — including Hamas and Hezbollah — operate, and encouraged the US to engage in talks with the groups.

After working in the Clinton administration, and prior to his service with Biden, Malley spoke with officials from Hamas and also penned a 2006 Time Magazine piece, "The US's policy in the Middle East is flawed. Here's how to fix it," in which he wrote, "Today the US does not talk to Iran, Syria, Hamas, the elected Palestinian government or Hezbollah. . . . The result has been a policy with all the appeal of a moral principle and all the effectiveness of a tired harangue."

In a 2009 documentary interview, Malley said that it was "a mistake to only think of them in terms of their terrorist violence dimension," referring to Hamas, Hezbollah and the Sadrist Movement in Iraq, noting that they "are social and political movements, probably the most rooted movements in their respective societies."