On Thursday, three Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives claimed that the FBI has been actively retaliating against agents who are suspected of being whistleblowers, as well as those who hold conservative beliefs.
As The Daily Caller reports, a letter was sent to Jennifer Moore, Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s Human Resource Branch, detailing these allegations. The letter was signed by three members of the House Judiciary Committee: Congressmen Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), and Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Over the last few months, multiple whistleblowers have allegedly come to Jordan’s office, as well as the office of Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), to reveal instances of political bias and corruption with regards to the bureau’s handling of investigations into Hunter Biden and the Biden family as a whole. The letter claims that Moore has since signed “many” orders revoking security clearances for agents suspected of being whistleblowers or conservatives, and has already “retaliated against at least one whistleblower.”
FBI agent Steve Friend refused to take part in an arrest operation against an American citizen accused of taking part in the peaceful protests at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021. As a result, Agent Friend was suspended and escorted from the Florida field office where he worked. He subsequently filed a whistleblower report revealing the abuse he faced for declining to take part in an overtly political operation.
“Once a whistleblower makes a protected disclosure, an agency is prohibited from retaliating against the employee for that disclosure by taking or failing to take a personnel action,” the letter reads. “Your efforts to interfere with FBI employees who seek to expose the Bureau’s misconduct by communicating directly with Congress cannot be condoned.”
The FBI released a statement denying any wrongdoing, claiming that it “does not target or take adverse action against employees for exercising their First Amendment rights or for their political views; to allege otherwise is false and misleading.”
“The FBI takes very seriously its responsibility to FBI employees who may make protected disclosures under the whistleblower regulations,” an FBI spokesman said. “FBI employees who report evidence of wrongdoing through a protected disclosure are protected from retaliation.”