Mikie Sherrill's Full Military Records Were Given to a Friend of Her Opponent on N.J. Governor Race

When it comes to accomplishments, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D) has the kind of resume that opens most doors. The U.S. Naval Academy graduate went on to become a helicopter pilot who led missions through the Middle East and Europe. Her service didn't end in the sky, as Rep. Sherrill also worked on the Battle Watch Floor in the European Theater during the Iraq War and was a Russian policy officer aiding in the relationship between the U.S. Navy and the Russian Federation Navy, to name a couple.

After her military service was completed, Rep. Sherrill became a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey, where she established programs that helped build trust between law enforcement and their communities. She was first elected to Congress in 2018 and seven years later, set her sights on becoming governor of New Jersey. It's during this campaign that Rep. Sherrill's unredacted military records were released to an ally of her GOP opponent. Here's what we know.

Grace McCaffrey of the National Archives and Records Administration told CBS News in an email that Rep. Sherrill's full military records should not have been released. After being made aware of the issue, McCaffrey launched an internal investigation, which included looking into the reason why the National Archives technician did not follow standard operating procedure when releasing the records.

Polls show that Rep. Sherrill is tied with her GOP opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, who received the military records from a colleague. Nicholas De Gregorio ran for election to the U.S. House to represent New Jersey's 5th Congressional District in 2022. Ciattarelli's supporters were searching Rep. Sherrill's impeccable military records for evidence that she was part of a 1994 cheating scandal at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Rep. Sherrill's name did not appear in a commencement program obtained by CBS News. She is also not pictured in the yearbook from 1994. When asked about it, Rep. Sherrill said, "When I was an undergraduate at the Naval Academy, I didn't turn in some of my classmates, so I didn't walk, but graduated and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving for nearly 10 years with the highest level of distinction and honor."

Rep. Sherrill hired attorneys Jon Berkon and Ben Stafford from the Elias Law Group, who sent a cease-and-desist letter to De Gregorio. In it, they accused federal government agents working for the Trump administration of violating federal law by releasing Rep. Sherrill's Official Military Personnel File (OMPF), which contained her unredacted social security number as well as identifying information of members of her family.

According to the letter, De Gregorio was asked by Chris Russell, a campaign strategist for Ciattarelli for Governor, to obtain Rep. Sherrill's OMPF. The letter also accuses De Gregorio of disseminating Rep. Sherrill's military records despite knowing they contained unredacted, private information. De Gregorio is told to destroy the records or he will face further legal action.