Education Department employees' emails changed automatically to blame Democrats for shutdown

Education Department employees furloughed this week discovered their email accounts had been manipulated while they were out of office to include partisan talking points that blamed the government shutdown on Democrats.

Education Department employees furloughed this week discovered their email accounts had been manipulated while they were out of office to include partisan talking points that blamed the government shutdown on Democrats.

Five employees who spoke with NBC News and provided copies of their out-of-office messages said the wording was altered from how they originally had composed them. All of them are civil servants, not political appointees, and requested anonymity out of fear of professional repercussions.

Education officials initially sent employees templates of nonpartisan out-of-office wording to use in their emails. Several employees said they used that language earlier in the week, only to find that while they were furloughed, someone had changed it.

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One person reported changing the out-of-office message back to the nonpartisan version, only to have it revert to the partisan wording later.