- The report details instances where the FBI ‘retaliated’ against agents for speaking out on politicization of the agency
- The officials say they were punished for questioning the FBI’s intention to investigate concerned parents at school board meetings
- Conservatives at the FBI are also facing a ‘purge’ as agency leadership wants them out, say whistleblowers
By KELLY LACO, EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF POLITICS FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 08:00 EDT, 18 May 2023 | UPDATED: 07:10 EDT, 19 May 2023.
The House Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released a new report building upon disclosures by FBI whistleblowers detailing severe retaliation they endured after speaking out about ‘politicized rot’ in the bureau.
‘The FBI, under Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, is broken,’ write the Republicans led by Jim Jordan of Ohio, the select committee chairman in the report released Thursday.
‘The leadership at the FBI and Justice Department have weaponized federal law enforcement against everyday Americans, seeking to silence those who dare to have a different viewpoint,’ it continues.
The report, titled ‘FBI Whistleblower Testimony Highlights Government Abuse, Misallocation of Resources, and Retaliation’ says whistleblowers have had their security clearances revoked, been suspended without pay and some have been left ‘homeless‘ for speaking up on abuses they have witnessed.
Jordan said the report shows that the federal agency is trying to ‘crush’ viewpoints that they don’t agree with.
‘If you’re a parent attending a school board meeting, you’re pro-life or praying at a clinic or you’re a Catholic simply going to Mass you are a target of the government, target of the FBI,’ he said at a press conference.
But worse than that, he continued, is if you are a good, brave whistleblower ‘you get attacked, they will try to crush you.’
The FBI has been under the spotlight this week as a long-awaited report by Special Counsel John Durham was released – finding that the FBI did not have enough ‘factual evidence’ to investigate allegations of Trump-Russia collusion.
The news of the new report comes just before a 9 a.m. ET hearing by the House Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
Three former FBI officials outlined in the report – suspended special agents Garret O’Boyle and Steve Friend, as well as former State Operations Specialist Marcus Allen – will testify.
They are anticipated to detail the alleged ‘abuses of power’ by FBI leadership – ranging from discrimination against conservatives to inflation of domestic terrorism statistics.
It was reported Wednesday evening ahead of the hearing that the FBI sent a letter to congressional leaders revoking the security clearances for actions related to January 6 of Allen and Friend, both who are set to testify Thursday.
The O’Boyle and Friend participated in a closed door transcribed interview in February conducted by the select committee – which was also featured during a press conference an hour before the hearing kicked off.
According to notes from the interview, the former agents specifically expressed concerns with instructions from FBI leadership that they focus on pursuing ‘domestic violent extremism’ probes and disregard standard investigative procedures in January 6 cases.
In addition, the former officials told the committee that they were instructed to pursue Jan. 6 investigations over child sex crime cases, because they were ‘no longer a priority.’
Specifically, the former agents accuse the FBI of inflating statistics on ‘domestic violent extremism’ to fit the Biden administration’s political narrative that extremism is on the rise nationwide.
‘The manipulative casefile practice creates false and misleading crime statistics, constituting false official federal statements,’ Friend wrote in an affidavit.
‘Instead of hundreds of investigations stemming from an isolated incident at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, FBI and DOJ officials point to significant increases in domestic violent extremism and terrorism around the United States.’
Friend had his security clearance revoked last September after he vocalized his concerns to his superiors, which he described in an affidavit as being a clear retaliatory move by the agency against him.
O’Boyle’s clearance has also been stripped, and he told committee investigators that he was rendered ‘homeless’ in retaliation for his protected disclosures.
According to the new report, when O’Boyle arrived for his first day in a new position, the FBI ‘placed him on unpaid, indefinite suspension, effectively rendering his ‘family homeless’ and leaving them without any personal effects.’
This happened after he made protected disclosures to his supervisor. At the time, he had a two-week-old infant.
One of the largest accusations lobbed at the FBI in the report is that the agency has worked to force out conservative employees.
According to O’Boyle, the FBI has ‘allowed itself to be ‘enveloped in this politicization and weaponization’ so much so that it is ‘a cancerous point.”
He told the committee that he believes the FBI is using security clearance revocations as a tool to ‘purge conservatives’ from its ranks.
Additionally, O’Boyle said he was ‘stunned’ to learn that Attorney General Merrick Garland intended to investigate concerned parents at school board meetings.
He made his concerned known to his supervisory agent, saying it struck him as wrong that ‘such a high ranking federal official’ would use ‘federal law enforcement to hone in on’ an area that is typically addressed by local law enforcement.
Friend told the committee he had ‘concerns’ about surveillance of parents at school board meetings, saying he believed it would ‘chill parents’ exercise of their First Amendment rights.’
The FBI said in a response to DailyMail.com on the accusations in the Republicans’ report that it ‘has not’ retaliated against whistleblowers.
“The FBI’s mission is to uphold the Constitution and protect the American people. The FBI has not and will not retaliate against individuals who make protected whistleblower disclosures.”
Despite the negative retaliation, the Republicans also say that the whistleblowers who have spoken out have expressed sincere concern about the state of the FBI, but they remained optimistic that the Bureau could improve with ‘tough love.”
Therefore, the lawmakers hope to consider potential legislative reforms in order to ‘help restore the Bureau to what it once was.’
Republicans published a 1,000 page report last November on ‘FBI and DOJ Politicization.’
The report included information on disclosures from 14 whistleblowers that revealed FBI leadership demonstrated a ‘political bias’ against conservatives, manipulated domestic violent extremism statistics for ‘political purposes’ and downplayed the investigation into Hunter Biden – among other alleged abuses of power.
The hearing comes after Republicans published a 1,000 page report last November on ‘FBI and DOJ Politicization.’
The report included information on disclosures from 14 whistleblowers that revealed FBI leadership demonstrated a ‘political bias’ against conservatives, manipulated domestic violent extremism statistics for ‘political purposes’ and downplayed the investigation into Hunter Biden – among other alleged abuses of power.
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