Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress and four other members of the House of Representatives have asked the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General to investigate why a federal probe into a prison drugs-for-votes scheme was abandoned after the 2024 elections.

“Credible allegations of election fraud uncovered through federal investigative work warrant serious scrutiny and transparent explanation,” the members of Congress wrote in the May 20 letter, adding that it was essential for “public confidence in democratic institutions” that such claims are handled consistently, “regardless of the political actors involved.”

The letter was signed by Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández Rivera, a Democrat and member of Puerto Rico’s Popular Democratic Party, as well as Reps. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Oversight Committee; Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y.; Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; and Jesús “Chuy” García, D-Ill., a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Their request follows a ProPublica investigation that published earlier this month detailing how prosecutors had uncovered a drugs-for-votes scheme being run by a violent gang in Puerto Rican prisons and were deep into looking at whether now-Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón or her campaign were........

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