FBI Is Now a ‘Weaponized Apparatchik’ of the Presidential Administration: Whistleblower
We’ve written extensively about the politicization of the American Gestapo FBI. Now a whistleblower has stepped up to describe the situation and our worst assessments seem to be accurate.
Reported on Epoch Times, Field Agent Steve Friend says the FBI has become a “weaponized apparatchik of the presidential administration.”
Blowing the Whistle
Friend—now a senior fellow at the Center for Renewing America—previously worked as a special agent in the FBI’s Jacksonville, Florida, office, but was suspended from the agency after he came forward last September with concerns about how the bureau was handling child sexual abuse cases and allegations that cases were being inappropriately assigned.
Friend had also objected to the FBI’s use of SWAT teams to arrest individuals suspected of committing misdemeanors during the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.
According to a March 6 letter (pdf) written by whistleblower organization Empower Oversight, Friend was informed in December by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that, “after careful consideration,” the OIG had decided against opening an investigation into his allegations.
However, on March 16, DOJ Assistant Inspector General Sean O’Neill responded that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz “still intends to schedule an interview with Mr. Friend regarding his disclosures.”
Views on Jan. 6
Prior to his suspension, Friend was involved in investigations relating to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach—an incident he said could only be fully understood through “radical transparency.”
“I’m hoping that this slow drip of surveillance footage is just eventually abandoned, and we just get the whole amount of it,” he said, alluding to the recent exposés aired by Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.
“There’s no reason why it should be leaked out slowly because that just gives cannon fodder to both sides to accuse the other of cherry-picking their information.”
As for his views on the events of that day, Friend said he thought the incident involved a “mixed bag” of people who did some “deplorable and abhorrent” things and should be held accountable and those who were just there to exercise their First Amendment rights.
And the Capitol Police, he noted, did appear to give protesters permission to enter the building.
“Whether or not the Capitol Police were trying to deescalate the situation doesn’t mitigate the fact that they gave permission to those folks and assured them that they were within the law to walk through the Capitol peacefully and admire the House of Representatives and the Senate.”
