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ACCESS IT HERE:
https://apnews.com/article/fbi-republicans-security-clearance-congress-3c061c936425c735a3eac12f431b0386
As you read this Article, here are a few parts to pay attention to:
Former FBI employees Marcus Allen and Steve Friend testified to the panel just hours after the FBI informed Jordan in a letter Wednesday — obtained by The Associated Press — that both men had been stripped of security clearances after either attending the Capitol riot in 2021 or espousing alternate theories about the attack.
“My colleagues have brought in these former agents, men who lost their security clearances because they were a threat to our national security,” said Rep. Stacey Plaskett, the top Democrat on the committee. “People who out of malice or ignorance or both have put partisan agenda above the oath they swore to serve this country and protect its national security.”
“This select committee is a clearinghouse for testing conspiracy theories for Donald Trump to use in his 2024 presidential campaign,” Plaskett added.
The letter from the FBI detailed how Friend refused to participate in a SWAT team arrest of a suspect in the Jan. 6 insurrection while serving in Florida, and “espoused an alternative narrative” about the attack. Friend maintained the show of force wasn’t needed.
Allen, a former operations specialist at the FBI field office in Charlotte, North Carolina, also backed “alternative theories” about Jan. 6 to co-workers multiple times, even after his supervisor told him to stop, according to the FBI letter. Allen disputed those findings, and a lawyer for both men cast suspension of their security clearances as retaliation against whistleblowers.
The FBI, though, has said that of the nearly 80,000 staff at the agency, only 32 currently have their clearances suspended, a clear departure from the GOP claims that retaliation of rank-and-file staff is widespread. That’s according to recently transcribed testimony from Jennifer Leigh Moore, an executive assistant director of human resources at the agency.
Two of the former FBI employees who testified, Friend and O’Boyle, acknowledged that they had received money from Kash Patel, a close Trump ally who held multiple roles in his administration and now oversees a charity.
They said they needed that money to support their families after FBI suspensions left them unable to work, but Democrats said those ties show the partisan nature of the “weaponization” investigation.
HERE IS A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF THE REALITY OF THIS COMMITTEE. (DAVID)
In a series of contentious exchanges, Democrats complained that one of Thursday’s witnesses, Allen, was only interviewed by Republican lawmakers on the committee. Many pointed to House rules that state minority and majority staff are required to have equal access to witness testimony, regardless of whether it is a whistleblower account or not.
Since January, House Democrats on both the select and Judiciary committees have accused Jordan and GOP lawmakers of stonewalling them from several transcribed interviews, refusing to allow them into the room or provide official transcripts or videos of the interviews after the fact.
“We’re in the dark. That’s not how Congress works. That’s not how committees work,” said Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York.
THIS IS HOW FASCISM WORKS: CONTROL THE FLOW OF INFORMATION, AND DENY THE OPPOSITION EQUAL ACCESS.
