This was supposed to be one of the GOP's signature issues after taking control of the House. Jim Jordan has been figuratively waving a piece of paper with the names of numerous whistleblowers who were going to blow the lid off the issue, but so far the testimony has sounded like disgruntled employees. And Jordan has not produced much information about any other whistleblowers. No one on this side of CF has really posted about it, and one post on the Christian-only side has
not gotten any activity. Though it's early days yet -- committees take their time.
So here's a thread to talk about the testimony and reports
from this particular Subcommittee. <--- this is the topic of this thread, not what you heard from Aunt Edna, not what some guy on TV said. Results from this Subcommittee and discussion thereof.
In his quest to prove the federal government has been “weaponized” against conservatives, Republican House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has touted the allegations of what he claims are “dozens” of whistleblowers who have come to his office with stories of discrimination and bias.
Three of Jordan’s witnesses have come in for private interviews with committee staff so far. None of them appear to have had their claims validated by government entities that grant federal whistleblower protection, sources familiar with their testimony said. One who alleged there was FBI wrongdoing had their claims rejected. Another is retired and it’s unclear whether he has first-hand knowledge of the violations he alleges. The third has not revealed his direct disclosures or FBI suspension notice to House Democrats, according to transcripts reviewed by CNN.
The three so far interviewed:
One of them is Steve Friend, a former FBI agent working out of Florida who was suspended in August 2022 for objecting to using a SWAT team to arrest a subject for what Friend described as “misdemeanor offenses.”
Friend, who was interviewed by Republican and Democratic subcommittee staff earlier this month, was not part of the SWAT team but was asked to help with the case and refused, he told CNN in an interview.
The men arrested on the date Friend listed in his disclosures were members of a Florida-based organization known as the “Guardians of Freedom,” which adheres to the ideology of the “Three Percenters” and were illegally at the Capitol on January 6,
according to the FBI.
Friend admitted in the subcommittee interview that owning a gun or being accused of a felony crime were reasons for FBI management to consider using a SWAT team, according to transcripts reviewed by CNN.
[Guy doesn't do his job; guy gets suspended. Is that 'retaliation' or the fruits of not doing your job?]
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Judiciary committee staff have also interviewed a former FBI analyst who
retired in October 2021 named George Hill, who supervised intelligence analysts that provided support to less than a dozen cases related to January 6.
In his interview with the subcommittee Hill criticized a bank that he says shared with the FBI records of people who were in DC on January 6, according to transcripts reviewed by CNN.
As part of its investigation into the January 6 attack at the Capitol, the FBI collected financial, communications and other business records of people investigated for possible crimes related to the Capitol riot. It’s a routine investigative tool used to help investigators and prosecutors gather evidence. Bank transactions could be used to show travel and location of suspected rioters, and could be used to establish the purchase of weapons used in the attacks on police protecting the Capitol.
[Guy sees routine things he doesn't like; guy retires. ?]
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The third whistleblower interviewed by the subcommittee is suspended FBI agent Garret O’Boyle, who says he was suspended for making an unauthorized media disclosure. During his interview with subcommittee staff, O’Boyle, who worked out of the FBI’s Wichita field office, would not elaborate on the claim or provide his suspension notice.
[His lawyer said] "He did not release that information to Democrats on the committee because he knew that they would leak it to the media.”
[?]
