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FBI whistleblowers testify: Bureau retaliated after they objected to politicization

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On Thursday, FBI whistleblower Steve Friend, testified before the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. In particular, Friend noted that the FBI is “incentivized to work against the American people and is in dire need of drastic reform.”

Friend testified that he was retaliated against after he voiced concerns about its politicization. Specifically, he had his security clearance revoked and was suspended without pay after he voiced concerns about the bureau’s handling of Domestic Violent Extremism and cases related to the Capitol riot.

In protected disclosures, Friend said the FBI’s handling of the January 6 Capitol riot-related investigations “deviated from standard practice and created a false impression with respect to the threat of DVE nationwide.” Friend said Thursday that his whistleblowing was “apolitical and in the spirit of upholding my oath.”

“The FBI weaponizes process crimes and reinterprets laws to initiate pre textual prosecutions and persecute its political enemies,” he said. In terms of reform, it is needed in several areas: “the integrated program management system incentivizes the use of inappropriate investigatory processes and tools to achieve arbitrary statistical accomplishments” and there is “mission creep within the national security branch [that] has refocused counter terrorism from legitimate foreign actors to political opponents within our borders.”

National Review reports Friend is not an isolated incident:

The report detailed testimony from Friend and other current and former FBIemployees that reveals the bureau allegedly retaliated against employees who spoke out against “politicized rot” within the agency by suspending the employees or revoking their security clearances.

FBI staff operations specialist Marcus Allen also had his security clearance suspended after he conducted Capitol riot case-related research using open-source news articles and videos and sent those results to his colleagues for what he called “situational awareness.”

“Because these open-source articles questioned the FBI’s handling of the violence at the Capitol, the FBI suspended Allen for ‘conspiratorial views in regard to the events of January 6th,’” the report says.

Allen testified during the hearing Thursday that “to shut down different viewpoints is the end of any analytical or investigative body.”

“It sends a chilling effect across the workforce and does not allow for intellectual freedom, which is vital to any investigative body seeking out the truth,” he said.

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Elections

RFK Jr. announces lifelong Democrat, advocate of left-leaning causes, CA native as running mate

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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced Tuesday that attorney and tech entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan will be his vice presidential running mate in the upcoming election. The Independent candidate announced his choice for the 38-year-old Oakland, California native by praising her insight into “how Big Tech uses AI to manipulate the public,” her athletic ability, and willingness to be a “partner” in a number of policy areas, including on securing the border.

Fox News writes that Shanahan is a philanthropist with a long history of donating to Democrat and left-leaning causes, including supporting President Biden in his 2020 election bid before switching to Kennedy when he launched his own run for the Democrat nomination last year.

She is the founder and president of Bia-Echo Foundation, a private firm that describes its mission as focused on “new frontiers in reproductive longevity & equality, criminal justice reform and a healthy & livable planet.”

Fox News reports Shanahan initially dropped her support for Kennedy after he decided to run as an independent, but later got behind him again by giving $4 million to the super PAC that boosted his candidacy with a John F. Kennedy-themed campaign ad that ran during the Super Bowl in February.

Shanahan also previously donated to Democrat presidential candidates Marianne Williamson and Pete Buttigieg during the 2020 presidential race, and threw more than $150,000 behind progressive Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon’s 2020 election bid.

Shanahan, a life-long Democrat, told the crowd that she was leaving the party.

“The Democratic Party is supposed to be the party of compassion. It is supposed to be the party of free speech, and most importantly, the party of the middle class and the American dream,” Shanahan said.

“While I know many Democrats still abide by those values…I do believe they’ve lost their way in their leadership,” she continued.

And she urged “disillusioned” Democrats and Republicans to support Kennedy’s independent White House bid.

 

 

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