The three men alleged overreach and retaliation by the FBI in testimony to a special House committee investigating what Republicans assert is the 'weaponization' of the federal government against conservatives.
Former FBI employees accused the bureau of politicization in congressional testimony Thursday, a day after the agency disclosed that two of the men had seen their security clearances revoked over concerns about how their views of the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, affected their work.
"If you're not politically correct ... you're not in line with what they think to be the political position or the proper position, you're the target," Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the Republican chairman of the committee, said in his opening statement. Jordan and other Republicans on the committee hailed the former FBI employees as rank-and-file patriots who were facing retribution for speaking out against government abuse. Allen, Friend and Garrett O'Boyle, a former field agent, shared stories with the committee about how they said their decision to come forward has resulted in suspensions and dismissals for their posts.
The letter from the FBI detailed how Friend refused to participate in a SWAT team arrest of a suspect in the Jan. 6 insurrection while serving in Florida, and "espoused an alternative narrative" about the attack. Friend maintained the show of force wasn't needed. A third employee who did not testify had a security clearance revoked after he entered the restricted area around the Capitol himself on Jan. 6, and later provided false or misleading information to investigators about what he did that day, the FBI's letter said. All three employees can appeal the security clearance decisions.
Since January, House Democrats on both the select and Judiciary committees have accused Jordan and GOP lawmakers of stonewalling them from several transcribed interviews, refusing to allow them into the room or provide official transcripts or videos of the interviews after the fact.
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