Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has been touting what he believes to be a "politicized" FBI that has become "weaponized" against conservatives. He held a hearing on the matter this Thursday and the three self-described FBI whistleblowers that testified immediately had their status as whistleblowers questioned by Democrats.
The Washington Post reported that the hearing "focused on claims of FBI abuses of power and featured witnesses who alleged retaliation for raising red flags. Democrats have pointed to conspiratorial comments by the witnesses and their ties to a key ally of former president 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."
According to MSNBC columnist Steve Benen, the hearing may have had the opposite effect of what Jordan intended. "What we were left with was a congressional hearing about a few FBI agents who don’t like the fact that they were punished for alleged misconduct," Benen wrote in an op-ed this Friday.
Benen goes on to write that Jordan didn't just humiliate himself with his tactics.
"The Republican and his team have spent nine months desperately trying to find evidence of the FBI becoming corrupted and politicized," he writes. "What he’s proven, however, is that he hasn’t found anything meaningful, despite his best efforts, reinforcing suspicions that there just isn’t evidence to find."
Read the full op-ed over at MSNBC.