FBI defends suspensions, saying one employee refused to participate in an arrest and another took part in unapproved interviews with a Russian government news outlet
FBI employees who spoke out against the “politicized rot” within the bureau were suspended or had their security clearances revoked, the House Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government said.
The committees released an interim staff report Thursday morning revealing new whistleblower testimony from several current and former FBI employees that exposes “abuses and misconduct in the FBI.”
“The disclosures from these FBI employees highlight egregious abuse, misallocation of law enforcement resources and misconduct with the leadership ranks of the FBI,” the report obtained by Fox News states.
The report said that the FBI whistleblowers described the FBI’s alleged “retaliatory conduct” against them “after making protected disclosures about what they believed in good faith to be wrong conduct.”
Two whistleblowers — Steve Friend, a former FBI special agent, and Marcus Allen, an FBI staff operations specialist — had their security clearances revoked this month and are expected to appear for testimony before the Weaponization Subcommittee Thursday morning.
The committees’ report said the FBI suspended Friend’s security clearance and suspended him without pay after he made protected disclosures about the bureau’s handling of Domestic Violent Extremism cases, and after he expressed concern about the bureau’s handling of cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
Friend explained that the FBI’s handling of Jan. 6-related investigations “deviated from standard practice and created a false impression with respect to the threat of DVE nationwide.”
The FBI said Friend’s top secret security clearance was revoked by the FBI on May 16, two days before Thursday’s Weaponization Subcommittee hearing. The letter states that Friend, in August 2022, “refused to participate in the execution of a court authorized, search and arrest of a criminal subject.”
“During his communications with his management about his refusal to participate, he espoused an alternative narrative about the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021,” the FBI said. “On September 3, 2022, Mr. Friend entered FBI space and downloaded documents from FBI computer systems to an unauthorized removable flash drive. The FBI then required Mr. Friend to attend a Security Awareness Briefing (SAB) regarding his actions, but he refused to do so.”
The FBI also said Friend “participated in multiple, unapproved media interviews, including an interview with a Russian government news agency.”
“Mr. Friend alleges he obtained approval from the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs (OPA) to participate in these interviews, but OPA did not provide such authorization,” the letter states. “Mr. Friend’s failure to follow FBI policies relating to social media contacts and his lack of candor poses a security concern.”
As for Allen, his top secret security clearance was revoked by the FBI on May 3, the letter states, after the bureau opened a security investigation into him in October 2021 following a referral from the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office. In January 2022, Allen’s security clearance was suspended based on security concerns.
“Specifically, the Security Division found Mr. Allen espoused alternative theories to coworkers verbally and in emails and instant messages sent on the FBI systems, in apparent attempts to hinder investigative activity,” the FBI said, noting that despite multiple directives from his supervisor to “stop circulating these materials,” Allen “continued.”
“As one example, on September 29, 2021, Mr. Allen sent an email using his FBI email account to multiple colleagues that contained links to websites and urged recipients to ‘exercise extreme caution and discretion in pursuit of any investigative inquiries or leads pertaining to the events of’ January 6,” the FBI said. “Another example included an email containing a link to a website that stated, among other things, ‘By now it’s clear that federal law enforcement had some degree of infiltration among the crowds gathered at the Capitol on January 6,’ to which Mr. Allen commented, ‘brings up serious concerns about USG participation.’”
The FBI added that the bureau “concluded that, in totality, Mr. Allen obstructed the FBI’s lawful investigation of a subject, and this behavior raised concerns about Mr. Allen’s judgment, trustworthiness, and reliability which indicates that Mr. Allen may not properly safeguard classified or sensitive information.”
“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,” the report states.
“Meanwhile, whistleblower testimony highlights that the FBI’s partisan leadership is currently engaging in a ‘purge’ of agents who hold conservative beliefs,” the committees say in the report, while vowing to continue investigating the “weaponization of the federal law enforcement apparatus.”
