WASHINGTON – Two FBI agents whom Republicans have defended as “informants” interfered or refused to participate in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the FBI told lawmakers this week.
In a hearing Thursday, Republicans led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) alleged that the officers were the victims of broader “weaponization” by the US Department of Justice against Catholics, concerned parents, conservatives and the former President Donald Trump.
“If you are one of the good employees of our government to talk about targets, you become a target, you face retaliation,” Jordan said at the hearing.
FBI deputy director Christopher Dunham told Jordan in a letter that one of the former agents, Marcus Allen, a staff operations specialist furloughed from the FBI field office in Charlotte, North Carolina, tried to convince to his FBI colleagues that the Capitol riots had been orchestrated by the government.
Allen also allegedly conducted a shoddy investigation into a suspect on January 6, leading the FBI to close the case, only for another agent to find publicly available evidence incriminating the suspect.
“Investigative activity established that this subject physically assaulted US Capitol Police officers on January 6, 2021,” Dunham wrote.
“I received reprisals because I forwarded information to my superiors and others who questioned the official narrative of the events of January 6,” Allen said during the hearing.
Another witness, former Jacksonville, Florida FBI Special Agent Stephen Friend, has admitted that refused to participate in any case related to January 6in part because he thought some suspects were innocent and would face unfair juries in Washington, D.C.
Not long after telling his supervisors that he would not 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 disclosed sensitive FBI information about his personal social network.” unauthorized media accounts.”
“My complaint was apolitical and in the spirit of upholding my oath,” Friend said at the hearing.
In both cases, the FBI revoked the agents’ security clearances, in what Republicans described as an illegal retaliation against the activity of protected whistleblowers.
“I commend you for standing up for American values, and I commend you for standing up for what you believe are great wrongs that are taking place at the FBI,” said Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.). “According to his testimony, the FBI turned to the enforcement arm of the Democratic Party.”
Under cross-examination by Rep. Daniel Goldman (DN.Y.), Friend and another former FBI special agent who testified Thursday, Garrett O’Boyle, acknowledged receiving payments from Kash Patel, a former Trump administration official. The Committee Democrats had previously highlighted their connection to Trump associates, saying it undermined their claims to be apolitical whistleblowers. Friend now works for the Center for Renewing America, a think tank headed by former Trump budget director Russell Vought.
Jordan dismissed a question about whether witnesses would be paid by Trump associates ahead of Thursday’s hearing: “How are you supposed to feed your family?”
Trump has made false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election as a centerpiece of his campaign to retake the White House, and republicans on Capitol Hill have continually attacked the Justice Department for investigating their efforts to prevent Joe Biden to take office, even inciting a riot at the Capitol.
After the hearing, witnesses shook hands with Micki Witthoeft, mother of slain Ashli Babbitt, who Trump described as a martyr. Witthoeft has been a constant presence at House hearings and even met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif).
Near the beginning of the hearing, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) summed it up as “a vehicle to legitimize the events of January 6.”
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