FBI Whistleblower Testifies Bureau ‘May Have’ Had Confidential Human Sources in the Capitol on J6
The whistleblower, who worked at the FBI Boston office, testified in court that Washington agents refused to share video footage of the Capitol riot on January 6, citing the possibility that the footage contained undercover officers and confidential sources whose identities needed to be protected.
The revelation was made in a video testimonies prerecorded by whistleblower George Hill. It was played at a hearing held on Thursday by the House Subcommittee on Weaponization of Federal Government.
The Florida Republican Representative Matt Gaetz noted that Marcus Allen was allegedly targeted for sending an email pointing to a site that stated that “federal law-enforcement had some level of infiltration” among the crowds at the Capitol. Allen said in the email that this information raised “serious concern” about the U.S. Government’s involvement in the riot.
Wray said in November that he was “very careful” about what he could say, about when and where the FBI used and did not use confidential human resources.
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Wray said at the time that “but to the extent there is a suggestion that, for example that the FBI’s human sources, or FBI employees, in some way instigated, or orchestrated the January 6th incident, that’s categorically wrong.”
Wray added later that lawmakers “shouldn’t read anything into my refusal to share anything about confidential human source” after he didn’t outright dismiss the question of whether or not the FBI had dressed up as Trump supporters in the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Hill testified in court that Boston’s field office had said that it would not pursue any cases against the January 6 rioters. However, to be on the safe side, officials informed the Washington field office that they would take cases if Washington officials shared video footage of the location of the rioters inside the Capitol.
Hill stated that the office clarified later that it couldn’t share 11,000 hours because there could be UCs, undercover agents, or CHSs, confidential human source, on the videos whose identities we need to protect.
The hearing was held after the House Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee released an interim report Thursday, which included testimony about “abuses” and “misconduct in the FBI.”
Allen, an FBI staff operation specialist, was suspended from his security clearance after he used open-source articles and videos to conduct research on the Capitol riots case and then sent his findings to his colleagues as part of his “situational awareness.”
The report states that “Because the open-source articles questioned FBI’s handling the violence at Capitol, Allen was suspended for ‘conspiratorial opinions in regard to events of January 6th'”.
Allen said during the hearing on Thursday that “to shut out different viewpoints, is to end any analytical or investigation body.”
He said that the law “sends a chilling affect across the workforce” and doesn’t allow for the intellectual freedom needed by any investigative body looking to find the truth.
The California Representative Linda Sanchez, D, had a confusing conversation with Allen. She insisted on discussing a tweet that was retweeted under an account named Marcus Allen despite Allen claiming the account didn’t belong to him. She asked him repeatedly if he was in agreement with the tweet that said Nancy Pelosi had staged a January 6 protest. Allen repeated that the tweet was not from his Twitter account, and that he did not agree with it.
After Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz claimed that Chairman Jim Jordan (R. Ohio) had not given information to Democratic members regarding whistleblowers, the hearing on Thursday saw a fight among members of the Committee.
Jordan claimed that whistleblowers are not entitled to information, and Wasserman Schultz responded by saying the witnesses weren’t whistleblowers.
Steve Friend, an FBI whistleblower who testified on Thursday, said that the bureau attacked him and closed ranks after he raised concerns about the politicization within the bureau.
He said that the FBI was “incentivized” to work against Americans and in desperate need of radical reform.
Friend’s security clearance was revoked, and he was suspended from his job without pay. He had expressed concerns over the Bureau’s handling Domestic Violent Extremism cases and the Capitol riot.
In protected disclosures Friend stated that the FBI’s handling the Capitol riots-related investigations on January 6, “deviated” from standard practices and created a false perception with respect to DVE threats nationwide.
Friend stated Thursday that his whistleblowing is “non-political” and done in the spirit to uphold my oath.
He said that there are several areas where the FBI needs reform: “the integrated management system encourages the use inappropriate investigative processes and tools in order to achieve arbitrary statistics accomplishments.” And “mission creep” within the National Security Branch has shifted counter-terrorism away from legitimate foreigners to political enemies within our borders.
He said that the FBI “weaponizes” process crimes, reinterprets existing laws and initiates pretextual prosecutions to persecute political opponents.
The interim report details testimony from Friend, as well as other current and ex-FBI employees. It reveals that the bureau allegedly retaliated by suspending or revoking the security clearances of employees who spoke up against the “politicized rot”.
The report stated that the FBI was “broken” due to the leadership of FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland. The report also states that the FBI and DOJ leadership have “weaponized law enforcement against ordinary Americans in an effort to silence them.”
The committees also stated that “whistleblower testimony reveals the FBI’s current partisan leadership is engaged in a purge” of agents with conservative views.
In a letter sent to the members of the Judiciary Committee before the hearing, FBI gave a different explanation of why Friend and Allen were suspended. The FBI said that it had revoked security clearances for three agents — Allen Friend, and Brett Gloss – because they either took part in the Capitol riot on January 6, or expressed views about the riot later which put into question their “allegiance” to the United States.
The FBI said that it revoked Friend’s top clearance on 16 May for several reasons including his alleged unwillingness to participate.
