A pair of federal law enforcement veterans who accused the FBI of drumming them out of service because of their conservative political beliefs have admitted to receiving money from a prominent ex-aide to former president Donald Trump, Kash Patel.
The shocking admission came during a Thursday hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponisation of the Federal Government. The GOP-led panel has largely devoted its time to investigating conspiracy theories about social media companies’ cooperation with law enforcement, as well as advancing allegations that the Department of Justice probes into prominent Republicans who may have committed crimes are politically motivated.
The Thursday session was chaired by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R - Ohio) and was devoted to exploring allegations that the FBI has unlawfully retaliated against alleged whistleblowers who have complained about the bureau’s treatment of suspects charged with crimes stemming from the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Two of the witnesses invited to give evidence by the GOP-led panel, former FBI special agent Steven Friend and current (but suspended) Special Agent Garrett O’Boyle, alleged in their testimony that the FBI singled them out because they espoused conservative political viewpoints and evaded whistleblower protection laws by suspending their security clearances.
Mr Friend, who has resigned from the bureau and now works for a pro-Trump think tank, the Centre for Renewing America, told the subcommittee members that he was retaliated against for what he described as “protected whistleblower disclosures” concerning how the FBI was tracking and classifying cases arising out of the January 6 attack.
He also alleged that the FBI used excessive force against a cooperative January 6 defendant when they dispatched a Swat team to arrest that defendant, a known member of the Three Percenters extremist group.
Mr O’Boyle, whose clearance was suspended in September of last year and is currently undergoing a review to determine whether it will be revoked, also claimed to have made whistleblower disclosures which entitle him to protection.
While the witnesses claimed to have come forward because of a sincere desire to inform lawmakers about politicisation of federal law enforcement, their claims to be non-political withered under questioning from New York Representative Daniel Goldman.
Mr Goldman, a former federal prosecutor who served as counsel to the House Intelligence Committee during Mr Trump’s first impeachment, asked both men about allegations that they’d received cash payments from Mr Patel, a former prosecutor and GOP House staffer who served in multiple capacities in the Trump administration.
Since the end of Mr Trump’s term in the White House, Mr Patel has remained loyal to the former president even as he has been ensnared in the ongoing DoJ probe into Mr Trump’s alleged unlawful retention of national defence information and his alleged efforts to obstruct that investigation.
In October, he spent several hours at a Washington DC federal courthouse where he reportedly gave evidence before a federal grand jury after receiving a limited grant of immunity in exchange for his testimony.
Mr Goldman began five-minute question period by asking Mr O’Boyle if he knows Mr Patel and whether he received money from the ex-Trump staffer or his organisation.
Mr O’Boyle replied: “I have”.
He subsequently told Mr Goldman that Mr Patel had not been present during meetings between the suspended FBI agent and Republican subcommittee members and staff.
Under Mr Jordan’s leadership, the GOP majority has flouted House rules by denying the subcommittee’s Democratic members the ability to sit in on witness interviews or access documents provided by witnesses, which has prevented the minority members of the panel from having much — if any — information about the subcommittee’s investigative efforts.
Turning to Mr Friend, Mr Goldman again asked whether the ex-special agent had ever received money from Mr Patel.
Mr Friend replied that Mr Patel had “gave me a donation last November”.
When Mr Goldman asked whether the former law enforcement officer was “a charitable organisation,” Mr Friend said he had been “an unpaid, indefinitely suspended man trying to feed his family” when he took money from the controversial former Trump staffer.
He added Mr Patel had “reached out to me and said he wanted to give me a donation”. The November donation from Mr Patel came at the same time Mr Friend began appearing on right-wing media outlets to accuse the DoJ of targeting him for his political views.
House Republicans launched the House Judiciary subcommittee after taking control of the chamber in January.
The panel’s work has largely been a response to the federal government launching multiple probes into Mr Trump in the two-plus years since he left office. Special Counsel Jack Smith is currently leading the investigations not only into Mr Trump’s handling of classified documents, but also his actions attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, including his actions on January 6.
Democrats sharply criticised the fact that many of the witnesses at the hearing on Thursday had espoused hard-right views denigrating the FBI and other federal law enforcement and conspiracy theories.
“We learned who the hearing witnesses is from British tabloids,” ranking member Stacey Plaskett (D - Virgin Islands) said in her opening remarks. “This hearing is evidence, as if we needed any more, that MAGA Republicans are a threat to the rule of law in America.”
Ms Plaskett said the hearing was an example of Republicans doing Mr Trump’s bidding.
“My colleagues on the far right are on a mission to attack, discredit, and ultimately dismantle the FBI. This is defund the police on steroids,” she said.
