{"id":575110,"date":"2023-05-19T00:54:04","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T21:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/tensions-flare-in-weaponization-panel-hearing-with-sidelined-fbi-agents\/"},"modified":"2023-05-19T00:54:04","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T21:54:04","slug":"tensions-flare-in-weaponization-panel-hearing-with-sidelined-fbi-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/tensions-flare-in-weaponization-panel-hearing-with-sidelined-fbi-agents\/","title":{"rendered":"#Tensions flare in \u2018weaponization\u2019 panel hearing with sidelined FBI agents\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/05\/JordanJim_051823getty-e1684445553202.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Republicans and Democrats battled during a tense hearing Thursday over three FBI agents who Republicans say were retaliated against for blowing the whistle on bias at the agency\u2014 and who Democrats argue the GOP is using to legitimize the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n<p>GOP lawmakers accused the FBI of retaliating against \u201ctruth tellers\u201d by revoking their security clearances because they espoused conservative views and took their concerns to Republicans on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cPolitics is driving the federal agencies,\u201d said Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of both the Judiciary Committee and the subcommittee, alleging that the government targets citizens who are not politically correct.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s just as frightening is if you\u2019re one of the good employees who come forward to talk about the targeting, you become the target,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats countered by arguing that the GOP, in the words of Rep. Linda S\u00e1nchez (D-Calif.), was using the hearing as \u201ca vehicle to legitimize the events of Jan. 6 and the people who perpetrated it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They questioned the FBI agents\u2019 credibility and whether they should be considered whistleblowers, sparred with Republicans over access to documents and materials, and accused the panel of being a tool for President Trump.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis select committee is a clearing house for testing conspiracy theories for Donald Trump to use in his 2024 presidential campaign,\u201d said Rep. Stacey Plaskett (V.I.), the panel\u2019s ranking Democrat.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou all have employment grievances. That doesn\u2019t make you whistleblowers,\u201d said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>The hearing, which took place just days after Special Counsel John Durham released a report that offered stark criticism for the FBI\u2019s opening of an investigation into Trump\u2019s 2016 campaign\u2019s ties to Russia, underscored GOP suspicions of the federal intelligence and law enforcement organizations.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) at one point referenced the piercing evil eye from the Lord of the Rings <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> to describe the FBI.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Eye of Sauron has turned inward, and it is operating with a white-hot intensity that seeks to destroy everything in its path,\u201d she said. \u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>The hearing accompanied the Thursday release of an interim staff\u00a0<strong><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/republicans-judiciary.house.gov\/files\/evo-media-document\/2023-05-17-fbi-whistleblower-testimony-highlights-government-abuse-misallocation-of-resources-and-retaliation-sm.pdf\">report<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0from the panel\u2019s Republicans that detailed what it says are abuses by the FBI, as described by what Republicans say are dozens of whistleblowers.<\/p>\n<p>Allegations both in the report and in the hearing range from the agents being directed to scribble down license plate numbers in a parking lot outside a school board meeting to being pressured to open cases on people who <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a>ed to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, but did not enter the Capitol.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats had\u00a0<strong>already preemptively countered GOP\u2019s \u201cweaponization\u201d investigation<\/strong>, writing in a 300-page report in March that some of the GOP witnesses were connected to committee Republicans through people with deep ties to former President Trump. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) reiterated and established at the hearing that two of the witnesses had received donations from Kash Patel, a former top Department of Defense official who is a surrogate for Trump\u2019s 2024 presidential campaign.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Jordan brushed off the financial connection between witnesses and Trump allies in a press conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve got a family. How are they supposed to pay their family?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI in a statement asserted that it does not retaliate against protected whistleblowers.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThe FBI\u2019s 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,\u201d the agency said in a statement to The Hill in response to the subcommittee hearing.<\/p>\n<p>Thursday\u2019s hearing also came just one day after the FBI sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee that went into more detail about the reasons why the agency revoked the security clearances from three agents, including two of those who testified at the subcommittee hearing on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>According to a copy of the FBI letter obtained by The Hill, agent Brett Gloss, who did not testify at the hearing and has not been charged with a crime, was in a restricted area of the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, amounting to criminal trespass and \u201cquestionable judgment\u201d that indicated he may not properly safeguard classified or sensitive information.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Agent Marcus Allen, one of the witnesses at Thursday\u2019s hearing, had his security clearance revoked after the agency found he \u201cespoused alternative theories to coworkers\u201d about Jan. 6 \u201cin <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>arent attempts to hinder investigative activity,\u201d including sharing a theory that federal law enforcement had infiltrated the crowd.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt appears I was retaliated against because I forwarded information to my superiors that questioned the official narrative of January 6th,\u201d Allen said in the Thursday hearing. He also said the FBI\u2019s assertion that his supervisor \u201cadmonished\u201d him was inaccurate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The FBI also found that one case related to Jan. 6 was closed after Allen said he did not find any relevant information about a subject \u2013 but that case was later reopened after another FBI employee found relevant information that was publicly available. That person assaulted a Capitol Police officer on Jan. 6, the agency said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr7_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>At one point in the hearing, Democrats stumbled in an attempt to push back on the witnesses\u2019 credibility when S\u00e1nchez asked Allen to address a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> account with the name \u201cMarcus Allen\u201d that had retweeted a tweet asserting that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) staged the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Allen responded that it was not his Twitter account \u2013 and that he did not agree with the message, condemning the violence at the Capitol on that day.<\/p>\n<p>Agent Stephen Friend, the FBI said, had his security clearance revoked after he acknowledged that he \u201cpublicly released sensitive FBI information on his personal social media accounts without authorization,\u201d participated in unapproved media interviews, and secretly recorded a meeting with FBI management.<\/p>\n<p>Friend testified to the committee that after raising concerns to his superiors with how the FBI was handling investigations into Jan. 6 subjects, the FBI suspended him without pay.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Friend testified that he was assigned to attend a school board meeting and took down the information from attendees\u2019 license plates in the parking lot. He also said that after he was suspended from the FBI, his investigations of child sexual exploitation material were handed off to local law enforcement rather than to another federal agent.<\/p>\n<p>A third witness, Garrett O\u2019Boyle,\u00a0who had his security clearance\u00a0suspended but not yet fully revoked, but was suspended without pay after he raised concerns with his chain of command and then made disclosures to Congress. He had just made a move across the country for the job, and choked up as he described the FBI holding his family\u2019s belongings \u2013 including his children\u2019s clothing \u2013 for six weeks before they could access them.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan said that O\u2019Boyle was the first whistleblower to tell the committee about the process the FBI was using to assess threats against school board members, which he said have resulted in zero prosecutions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen citizens in this country get to the point where they can call the most powerful law-enforcement agency in the world on their neighbor just because they disagree with them, that is chilling to the First Amendment rights of the people who are getting the FBI called on them,\u201d O\u2019Boyle said in the hearing.<\/p>\n<p><em>Mike Lillis contributed.<\/em> <em>Updated at 6:16 p.m.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/house\/4011296-tensions-flare-in-weaponization-panel-hearing-with-sidelined-fbi-agents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republicans and Democrats battled during a tense hearing Thursday over three FBI agents who Republicans say were retaliated against for blowing the whistle on bias at the agency\u2014 and who Democrats argue the GOP is using to legitimize the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. GOP lawmakers accused the FBI of retaliating against&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":575111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/05\/JordanJim_051823getty-e1684445553202.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[134418,73798,4941,134661,20101,143146,136336,73014,90482,89113,143407,134345,138276],"class_list":["post-575110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-congress-blog","tag-defense","tag-donald-trump","tag-energy-environment","tag-fbi","tag-gerry-connolly","tag-harriet-hageman","tag-health-care","tag-house","tag-jim-jordan","tag-linda-sanchez","tag-state-watch","tag-weaponization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}