FBI Says GOP’s Whistleblowers Interfered With, Refused To Participate In Jan. 6 Investigations

LOADING ERROR LOADING WASHINGTON – Two FBI agents Republicans have championed as “whistleblowers” interfered with or refused to participate in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the FBI told lawmakers this week. At a hearing on Thursday, Republicans led by Rep. Jim Jordan alleged the agents were victims of a broader “weaponization” of the U.S. Justice Department against Catholics, concerned parents, conservatives and former President Donald Trump. Another witness ― former Jacksonville, Florida, FBI special agent Stephen Friend ― has admitted that he refused to participate in any cases related to Jan. 6, partly because he thought some suspects were innocent and that they would face unfair jury pools in Washington, D.C. Not long after telling his supervisors he wouldn’t help with Capitol riot cases, Dunham wrote, Friend “entered FBI space and downloaded documents from FBI computer systems to an unauthorized removable flash drive” and also “publicly released sensitive FBI information on his personal social media accounts without authorization.” “My whistleblowing was apolitical and in the spirit of upholding my oath,” Friend said at the hearing. “Based on your testimony, the FBI has turned to the enforcement arm of the Democratic Party.” Under questioning from Rep. Daniel Goldman, Friend and another former FBI special agent who testified on Thursday, Garrett O’Boyle, both acknowledged receiving payments from Kash Patel, a former Trump administration official. Jordan dismissed a question about the propriety of the witnesses receiving payments from Trump associates before the hearing on Thursday: “How are they supposed to feed their family?” Trump has made false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election a centerpiece of his campaign to retake the White House, and Republicans on Capitol Hill have continuously attacked the Justice Department for investigating his efforts to prevent Joe Biden from taking office, including by inciting a riot at the Capitol.