(RightWing.org) – Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) has a problem with the FBI. He’s trying to get to the bottom of how federal law enforcement has been politicized by the Democratic Party and used against Conservatives. The Bureau has responded by doubling down.
"Essentially Jim Jordan wasn't ready for this. The FBI has called his bluff with this letter… It means the FBI's about had it with the myth that they're retaliating against employees for merely expressing conservative opinions" – @FrankFigliuzzi1 w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/DWMx9zQjcS
— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) May 18, 2023
Since January 10, Jordan has been heading up the House’s Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. The subcommittee’s main goal is to investigate allegations that federal agencies have colluded to shut down conservative viewpoints — and one example of that could be within the Bureau itself.
On May 18, two FBI agents appeared in front of Jordan’s committee to explain how they had been discriminated against because they held conservative political views. Specifically, they say they suffered retaliation because of their response to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots. One of the agents, Stephen Friend, has subsequently left the FBI and the other, Marcus Allen, has been suspended without pay. The Bureau doesn’t seem to like this line of questioning though, and it’s hit back.
On May 17, ahead of the subcommittee hearing, FBI Acting Assistant Director Christopher Dunham responded to a subpoena by writing a letter to Jordan. The letter essentially called Jordan’s bluff, completely ignoring the allegations the two agents had been discriminated against and, instead, claiming they’d lost their security clearances for violating FBI rules.
It turns out that Friend’s top secret clearance, which had been suspended since last September, was actually revoked on May 16 — just two days before he spoke to the committee. Allen’s clearance was revoked on May 3, allegedly over questions about his allegiance to the US.
FBI HR director Jennifer Moore wrote to Friend to tell him his security clearance was being revoked because he’d refused to execute an arrest warrant, downloaded classified information without authorization, given unapproved media interviews, and illegally recorded Bureau meetings.
If the FBI’s allegations against Allen and Friend are true, they are a serious dent in their credibility — and it leaves Jordan without two of his key witnesses.
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