Hatch's files were raided, too

WASHINGTON — Adding insult to injury, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch says that not only did two former aides create scandal by raiding and copying rival Democrats' computer files, "my files were taken by these folks as well."

He said "well over 100" of his files were accessed without permission by the GOP aides, and he has no idea to whom they were given — so he can empathize with Democrats who are furious that at least 4,500 of their files were also raided on computers shared by Democrats and Republicans.

That was revealed Thursday as the committee released the report of a three-month investigation into the scandal by Senate Sergeant at Arms William Pickle. The committee voted to release only a version with all names blacked out but released the full report to reporters with all names intact — it says by accident.

That revealed for the first time that one of the two aides accused of raiding files is a Utahn, Jason Lundell, who was a committee clerk who worked on paperwork for judicial nominees. He has since left the Senate to enter graduate school in Texas.

Democrats called actions by him and the other accused former Hatch aide, Manuel Miranda, "criminal" and called for their prosecution. Miranda said he broke no laws and has likened finding unprotected files on jointly used computer systems to finding documents left on his desk.

Meanwhile, Democrats demanded further probes into whether the White House and Justice Department received information from the purloined files or coached judicial nominees using it. Hatch called for Democrats not to "try to score improper political points" and simply work to ensure no such raids happen again.

Also, Miranda and conservative groups renewed calls for Hatch also to investigate apparent Democratic misdeeds revealed by the raided files. Hatch seemed to dismiss any chance of it, saying, "I don't think we have had a right to read those memoranda."

The committee's ranking Democrat, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., also said when also asked if Democratic misdeeds described by memos should be probed, "What you want us to do is debate stolen property, is that it?"

The scandal broke last November after several volatile Democratic memos were leaked to the press. Democrats charged that the only way those memos could have been obtained was through theft. When Lundell acknowledged in early committee questioning that he had accessed such files, Hatch sought a full-scale probe by Pickle.