Jim Jordan’s FBI Whistleblower Hearing Descends Into Chaos
Kash Patel #KashPatel
Representative Jim Jordan’s hearing about the politicization of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) descended into chaos as congressional lawmakers sparred over transparency concerns and questioned the legitimacy of the “whistleblower” witnesses that spoke before the House weaponization panel.
On Thursday, the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which Jordan chairs, held a hearing to examine alleged abuses within the FBI. The House panel heard from two suspended FBI agents and one former agent, who claimed that their employer retaliated against them for speaking out about the bureau.
The tumultuous hearing was rocky from the start. Just after the three witnesses made their opening statements before committee members, Ranking Member Stacey Plaskett asked Jordan why the transcripts of the witness testimonies made to Republicans before the hearing were not being shared with the panel’s Democratic members.
“We can talk about the testimony but right now you’re not getting the testimony,” Jordan responded after a back-and-forth. When Representative Plaskett pressed if the testimony would be handed over at a later date, Jordan refused to answer and began the questioning period of the hearing instead.
Throughout the hearing, Democratic committee members repeatedly called out Jordan for violating House rules by withholding the evidence gathered with the other side, arguing that the minority is entitled to the same information as the majority.
“Each committee shall keep a complete record of all committee actions, which shall include, in the case of a meeting or hearing transcript, a substantially verbatim account of the remarks actually made during the proceedings subject only to some technical things,” Democratic Representative Dan Goldman read out loud. “Such records should be the property of the House and each member delegate and the resident commissioner shall have access thereto.”
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“Why does that not apply?” Goldman asked Jordan, who said the committee had the “prerogative” to decide and that the whistleblower did not want the Democratic members to have the testimony. Goldman told Jordan that, “the whistleblower doesn’t make committee rules,” before the chairman pushed on with the hearing.
Another point of conflict throughout the hearing was the “whistleblower” status of the witnesses. Democrats argued that being unhappy with the bureau did not make the agents whistleblowers, while Republicans said it was up to the witnesses and “the law” to decide whether or not they were whistleblowers.
Democrats had already cast doubt over the legitimacy of the witnesses before the hearing. In a March report, House Democrats said that two of the three witnesses had previously been paid by Trump adviser Kash Patel and “put forward a wide range of conspiracy theories” in the past.
Jordan and Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz were heard yelling over each other as they debated whether or not the witnesses were whistleblowers.
“These are not whistleblowers. They’ve been determined by the agency not to be whistleblowers. Are you deciding that they’re whistleblowers?” Wasserman-Schultz asked.
“The law decides that they are whistleblowers,” Jordan responded as the two spoke over each other.
“The law has not determined they are whistleblowers. His attorney is just asserting that,” the Democrat shot back.
Newsweek reached out to the FBI for comment.
The suspension letter for witness and FBI operation specialist Marcus Allen showed that he had his security clearances revoked earlier this month for a variety of reasons, including his support for the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Steve Friend, another witness who is also a former FBI agent, had his security suspended after the bureau alleged that he downloaded documents to an unauthorized device. During the hearing, Wasserman-Schultz also said that Friend had previously made calls to defund the police and recently referred to the FBI as “a feckless, garbage institution.”
Details of Garret O’Boyle’s suspension have not been made public.
“Y’all have employment grievances. That doesn’t make you whistleblowers,” Representative Gerry Connolly said during the hearing. “Maybe those grievances are legitimate, or maybe some aspects of it is legitimate, all of you have careers and I’m sorry for the situation in which you find yourselves but this is not a forum for individual members of any agency…to air their grievances.”
“We’re listening to sad tales of certain individuals about their situation and an enumeration of grievances does not constitute whistleblower status,” Connolly said, adding that “I leave more skeptical and with more questions about the nature of this hearing than I began.”
The weaponization committee is a new panel that was created by the Republican majority in January. Created in response to last summer’s Mar-a-Lago raid of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home, it’s largely been focused on the corruption of the FBI. Previous hearings have been disorderly and featured, at times, aggressive arguing between members.
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