Attack ads, fighting lawyers, and a federal investigation: Mikie Sherrill’s released military records

The National Archives inspector general is investigating the release of U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s unredacted military records as the topic escalates in the New Jersey governor’s race through legal letters and attack ads.

The National Archives released a mostly unredacted copy of the Democratic nominee’s military personnel file to an ally of Jack Ciattarelli, her Republican opponent in the New Jersey governor’s race.

It is typical for campaigns to search for information about their opponents, but this file included personal information like her Social Security number.

The information was released in error, according to Scott Levins, the director of the National Personnel Records Center, who apologized to Sherrill and said breaches of this sort are “exceedingly rare.”

Top Democrats called for a criminal investigation and suggested that it was a political move to support President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate for governor, as the department is currently headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the acting archivist of the United States, after Trump fired the previous archivist in March.

“There’s really no doubt in my mind that this was fully intentional from the Trump administration to the Ciattarelli campaign to attempt to do this,” Sherrill said on the Rachel Maddow Show on Monday.

The unredacted documents include the Navy veteran’s insurance information, address, and her retired parents’ address, according to Sherrill.

On Tuesday, Will Brown, the acting inspector general for the National Archives, said in a letter obtained by Politico that he has “initiated an investigation into the matter” in response to a request from U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D., Calif.).

In a new campaign ad, Sherrill also blames Ciattarelli’s campaign for circulating the unredacted record and refusing to return it, but his campaign maintains that it has done nothing wrong.

Sherrill’s campaign spokesperson Sean Higgins pointed a finger at Trump and Ciattarelli and said they “owe the people of New Jersey answers and we expect a thorough investigation so this never again happens to any military veteran or any American.”

Her campaign lawyer sent a cease-and-desist letter to Ciattarelli’s campaign demanding that they stop disseminating the file and destroy it.

In response, Mark Sheridan, Ciattarelli’s campaign lawyer, said that they will protect the document but will not destroy it because of Democrats’ demands for a criminal investigation.

Sheridan said that the campaign ally requested only publicly available information and that beyond the campaign, the unredacted file was provided only to a CBS reporter. Sheridan said Ciattarelli’s team was unaware it contained information it shouldn’t have until the reporter questioned it.

After the reporter raised the issue, Levins, the records department director, said that a technician had made a mistake in responding to the public information request and that the record should no longer be disseminated.

Sheridan suggested that the records technician copied information Sherrill requested about herself in 2017 when she was first running for Congress.

“This is not some nefarious plot, but rather laziness on the part of a technician at NARA,” Sheridan wrote to Sherrill’s campaign.

The furor over the release of Sherrill’s military personnel file has coincided with Republicans calling for the Democrat to release disciplinary records from her time at the Naval Academy, following a New Jersey Globe report that Sherrill did not walk at her graduation.

Sherrill, whose nine-year Navy career has been central to her political brand, said she did not walk at her commencement as a punishment for not turning in classmates implicated in a widespread cheating scandal.

Ciattarelli and other New Jersey Republicans have called for Sherrill to release documents showing the extent to which she was or wasn’t involved in the scandal, including through a new ad. These disciplinary records are separate from the ones provided to Ciattarelli’s ally and can be provided only to Sherrill or her husband, according to Sheridan.

Ciattarelli criticized Sherrill on X for “refusing to release the records that would clear it up.”

“If she’ll cover this up, what else would she cover up as Governor?” he said.

Higgins said Ciattarelli is “going on a wild goose chase” after Sherrill’s record and said that “we are not going to release anything to Jack’s campaign in his clear attempt to smear a veteran with exemplary service.”

He pointed to Ciattarelli’s claim on TV that Sherrill was not in the academy’s yearbook, a claim she refuted with a photo online. He also pointed to the Distinguished Public Service Award that Sherrill received in 2024, the Navy’s highest civilian honor.