Overview
- The Crimson published accounts from four Jewish student interns who say Leo Terrell threatened and berated them, with one intern alleging he threatened to choke him with a computer charger during a Sept. 16 confrontation.
- A recording cited by the report captures an intern reporting the exchange to an office manager in the Associate Attorney General’s office who responded that Terrell had been “terrible,” which sources say shows a pattern of complaints within the office.
- Terrell denies threatening to choke or fire the intern and says the dispute was over government property, while the interns say several promised extended hires left or stopped working and did not receive promised pay by early October.
- Interns say the office repeatedly deprioritized incoming emails about antisemitic incidents to plan a high-profile 15-city celebrity tour that produced one reported event on Oct. 14 in Southfield, Michigan.
- The reporting raises questions about vetting, oversight, and the task force’s priorities at the Justice Department and has prompted wider media attention though no public DOJ disciplinary action or formal agency finding has been reported to date.