DOJ Inspector General Seeking Testimony of Former FBI Agent

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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General’s Office intends to interview former FBI special agent Steve Friend regarding allegations he has raised about the agency.

Last fall, Friend came forward with concerns about the FBI’s handling of child sexual abuse cases and its arrests of individuals involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. Friend alleged the agency was excessively using heavily armed SWAT teams to arrest individuals suspected of committing misdemeanor offenses on Jan. 6. He objected to one such SWAT raid on Aug. 24.

Friend further alleged that the FBI has departed from its everyday case management practices and has widely listed field offices around the country as the lead investigators in domestic violent extremism (DVE) cases while agency officials in Washington are actually directing the cases. Friend alleged the FBI had pressured its agents to prioritize these DVE cases, which created an inflated sense of the threat posed by domestic extremists. At the same time, Friend said the FBI had explicitly taken its focus off child sexual abuse cases, telling him that such cases are “no longer an FBI priority.”

On Monday, DOJ Assistant Inspector General Sean O’Neill responded (pdf) to a March 6 letter (pdf) by the whistleblower organization Empower Oversight, confirming the Office of the Inspector General “intends to schedule an interview with Mr. Friend regarding his disclosures.” Empower Oversight has been representing Friend throughout his raising allegations against the FBI.

After making allegations against the FBI, Friend was suspended from the agency without pay. The agency revoked his security clearance, credentials, firearm, and badge.

Friend ultimately resigned from the FBI in February. Just The News reported he had gone without pay for 150 days between his suspension and his decision to end his time working for the agency formally.

Democrats Claimed IG Already Dismissed Friend’s Claims
Earlier this month, the Democratic minority on the House Judiciary released a report (pdf) disputing the allegations raised by Friend and two other former FBI officials, George Hill and Garret O’Boyle.

The March 2 Democratic report disputed Republican characterizations of Friend, Hill, and O’Boyle as whistleblowers. Without that whistleblower status, the Democrats said Friend and the other former FBI officials do not qualify for protection from retaliation.

“The three individuals we have met are not, in fact, ‘whistleblowers,'” the minority report states. “These individuals, who put forward a wide range of conspiracy theories, did not present actual evidence of any wrongdoing at the Department of Justice or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).”

The Democrat report said Friend admitted to having no knowledge of a specific discussion by the FBI’s leadership to depart from its usual case and “could not clearly explain why such a departure might be harmful.” The report also said Friend has not reviewed the decision-making matrix for using SWAT teams during arrests and acknowledged the arrest targets of the Aug. 24 SWAT raid he opposed “were known by the FBI to be armed and dangerous.”

The minority report said the DOJ’s inspector general had already rejected Friend’s claims. Empower Oversight followed up on the DOJ inspector general’s handling of Friend’s claims, asking whether the Democratic claims that the DOJ had dismissed Friend’s allegations were valid.

“[O’Neill’s] letter corrects widely circulated false claims that the DOJ-OIG has ‘rejected’ Friend’s allegations and indicates that an interview of him will be scheduled shortly,” Empower Oversight wrote on Wednesday.

Government ‘Weaponization’ Investigations
Friend and the other former FBI officials provided closed-door testimony to the House Judiciary Committee’s Weaponization of the Federal Government subcommittee earlier this month. After those interviews, chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) called for further testimony from 16 current and former FBI officials, whom Friend, Hill, and O’Boyle named in congressional interviews.

The Democratic minority report said the witnesses brought forward by the Republican side, such as Friend and the other two former FBI officials, are “entirely lacking in credibility.”

“Committee Democrats thus conclude that Republicans are not running good-faith investigations,” the Democrats added. “Instead, they are using this committee as a political messaging campaign designed ‘make sure’ that Donald Trump wins in 2024.”