Congressman blasts Jim Jordan over 'bizarre' platform given to '3 disgruntled employees'
May 18, 2023
Ahead of Rep. Jim Jordan's (R-OH) "weaponization" committee hearing on Thursday, reports revealed that at least two of the FBI agents had their clearance levels pulled as a result of controversial actions.
In the case of Marcus Allen, his top secret clearance was revoked after it was revealed he supported those who believed in or threatened to use violence against the American government. Allen then sent an email from his bureau account to colleagues in telling them to “exercise extreme caution and discretion in pursuit of any investigative inquiries or leads pertaining to the events of” Jan. 6.
In the case of Stephen Friend, the FBI said that he lost his clearance after he refused to participate in the arrest of a Jan. 6 attacker. When talking to his superiors about it, Friend “espoused an alternative narrative about the events at the U.S. Capitol," the letter from the Bureau said. There's also an accusation that Friend downloaded documents from the FBI onto a personal drive, but didn't go into details there.
Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Thursday, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) challenged Jordan's characterization of the men as "whistleblowers" because they are not only Trump-affiliated but Trumpworld funded.
"In this theater of the absurd, the Republicans provided a platform today for three disgruntled employees of the FBI to come and air their grievances," said Connolly. "He did no such thing as whistle-blowing. They are not whistleblowers. They don't deserve whistleblower protection. Each and every one of them has a strange history that merited action, employment action, by the FBI because they became security concerns. That's why they have the security clearances pulled."
He explained that in some cases the agents were demoted or put on hold because they weren't considered reliable enforcement agents any longer.
"To give them this national platform today was bizarre, at best, sordid at worst, and I don't think in any way helped the Republican narrative, conspiratorial narrative, that somehow the FBI is an agency of the deep state and doing the dirty work of liberal Democrats," Connolly continued. "I think what we witnessed today were three disgruntled employees who have strange beliefs, conspiratorial beliefs, have questioned in many cases the fundamentals that have been established in numerous courtrooms all across America and by the Jan. 6th Commission, even now."
He pointed out that they believed Jan. 6 was instigated by the so-called "deep state," and they blamed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was a target of the attackers.
See a clip of the interview below or at the link here.
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