It was reported this morning by the Washington Post that VA employees illegally accessed the medical records of both JD Vance and Tim Walz.
Investigators are currently trying to figure out if any of the medical data has been leaked.
Here’s more:
At least a dozen employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs improperly accessed the medical records of vice-presidential nominees JD Vance and Tim Walz this summer, VA investigators found, in a violation of federal health privacy laws that is under criminal investigation.
VA officials notified the Vance and Walz campaigns about the breaches after discovering the unauthorized viewing by employees at the agency’s massive health care arm, the Veterans Health Administration, according to people familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the ongoing investigation.
VA Inspector General Michael Missal’s office has shared evidence to federal prosecutors on the actions of several employees in the health system, including a physician and a contractor who spent extended time looking at the candidates’ medical files, according to law enforcement officials, raising investigators’ concerns about their motives.
Like the others, the physician and contractor used their VA computers to get into the records, mostly from their government offices.
Investigators are trying to determine whether Walz or Vance’s health records have been shared as a result of the breach. The motives of those who looked at the information are under investigation, law enforcement officials said. Some employees told investigators that they were simply curious to see Walz and Vance’s medical records, as both nominees’ military service has faced scrutiny during the presidential campaign. They are the first veterans on both vice-presidential tickets since the 1996 campaign, when Democrat Al Gore and Republican Jack Kemp were running.
The VA employees did not gain access to any disability compensation records, which are held more securely than health records, officials said.
