GOP FBI 'whistleblowers' put on defensive as Dems hammered them for pushing conspiracy theories

Purported whistleblowers put forth by Republicans were questioned about their stances on conspiracy theories on Thursday.

As House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) prepared to roll out public hearings for "whistleblowers" at the FBI who claimed to have evidence of political interference at the agency, new reports came out showing that two of them, Marcus Allen and Stephen Friend, were stripped of security clearance for a number of alleged misconduct and security risk issues, including that both of them sympathized with the January 6 Capitol insurrectionists.

According to a Washington Postanalysis, this revelation set the tone of today's hearing, with Democrats hammering the witnesses over their record, and putting them on the defensive.

"'You may think I’m a political partisan,' former FBI agent Stephen Friend said. 'You may think I am a grifter. You may think I’m a conspiracy theorist. It does not matter.' He said his claims still warranted consideration," wrote Aaron Blake. "This was the backdrop of the hearing, which focused on claims of FBI abuses of power and featured witnesses who claimed retaliation for raising red flags. Democrats have pointed to conspiratorial comments by the witnesses and their ties to a key ally of Donald Trump, Kash Patel, to cast doubt on their claimed whistleblower statuses. We learned Wednesday that the FBI recently stripped two of the witnesses of their security clearances, citing wrongdoing."

"Democrats were a little gentler in spotlighting these counterarguments than they were in a recent hearing featuring 'Twitter Files' journalists, but a few exchanges got at how dicey the proceedings were," the report continued. "Friend, the most outspoken of Thursday’s four witnesses, was asked about his calls to dismantle the FBI. When a Democrat noted that Republicans have decried efforts to defund the police, Friend suggested the bureau wasn’t really a police agency. 'The FBI — it is my contention that they’re a domestic intelligence agency with law enforcement capability,' he said. At another point, Friend equivocated somewhat on his most well-publicized claim: that it was wrong for the FBI to use a SWAT team to arrest a Jan. 6 defendant on a misdemeanor charge."

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The hearing was further undermined as Democrats pointed out that Republicans hadn't shared any of the material these agents provided that supposedly earned them "whistleblower" status — which they technically don't have under law — and Republicans dug in their heels over not turning over the information for transparency.

All of this comes as a parallel investigation by Republicans in the House Oversight Committee into President Joe Biden's family finances is also being derailed, as Republicans claim the witnesses who provided evidence to them have gone missing.