Several House Republicans and members of the Judiciary Committee report that an FBI employee turned whistleblower has been suspended for “pushing back against the bureau’s handling of the Jan. 6th Capitol Breach Investigation.
A Twitter account belonging to House Judiciary Republicans carried a Tweet claiming that “The FBI suspended a whistleblower for refusing to carry out the Bureau’s politicized investigations.” The same post also included portions of a later claim that the FBI was altering rules to create the illusion that a greater level of domestic violence extremism (DVE) exists. The same Twitter account featured a post that included a portion of a letter written by Rep. Jim Jordan to FBI Director Christopher Wray that stated,” The FBI’s case categorization creates the illusion that threats from DVE are present in jurisdictions across the nation when in reality they all stem from the same related investigation concerning the actions at the Capitol on January 6.”
The whistleblower has been identified as Stephen Friend, who allegedly failed a complaint with the inspector general a week ago. Friend, a Florida FBI SWAT team member, was declared absent without leave. His pay was docked for refusing to participate in SWAT raids that he believed were against FBI policy and were a use of excessive force against January 6th suspects accused of misdemeanors. Friend followed whistleblower protocol by making legally protected disclosures to the Office of Special Counsel and the Office of the Inspector General. House Judiciary Republicans contend that the FBI retaliated against Friend by suspending him rather than reassigning him to a different case.
Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, ranking members of the Judiciary Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee for Investigations penned a searing letter to AG Merrick Garland and to FBI Director Christopher Wray in which they questioned the suspension and demanded that “all other forms of reprisal against him for his protected whistleblowing activity are immediately stopped. The FBI should immediately cease the disciplinary actions it is actively taking to punish Special Agent Friend for his protected whistleblowing activity,” the senators wrote. “These unwarranted actions only serve to chill other employees from reporting wrongdoing and demonstrate a complete and utter failure by agency leaders to obey the letter and intent of federal whistleblower protection laws.”
Republican legislators have claimed that more than 20 FBI whistleblowers have come forward with similar allegations of politicization and wrongdoing at the bureau.
