Jim Jordan’s “Whistleblowers” Exposed as Yet Another Political Stunt and Jordan as a Fraud

PRESS RELEASE         Contact: press@congressionalintegrity.org
For Immediate Release
Date: March 3, 2023

So-Called Whistleblowers Exposed as Conspiracy Theorists, Insurrection Supporters, and Far-Right Pundits Paid by Trump Associate

Washington, D.C. – In a series of bombshell stories released last night by the New York Times, CNN, and Rolling Stone, Jim Jordan’s ‘weaponization committee’ was exposed for the fraud that it is. While Jim Jordan has emphasized a conspiracy that dozens of FBI “whistleblowers” are coming forward to give testimony, it has been revealed that the three witnesses who have appeared so far are crazy conspiracy theorists who have spread lies about January 6th, have no firsthand knowledge of any wrongdoing at the FBI, and have been coordinated and paid by Trump’s cronies in order to further his political agenda and damage President Biden and the Democrats. In response, Congressional Integrity Project Executive Director, Kyle Herrig, released the following statement:

“These new reports are yet another example of how  Jim Jordan and MAGA Republicans are consumed by political stunts. This whole committee is focused on so-called abuses aimed at the right, and now we know it was all false — just another political stunt meant to weaken President Biden and Democrats and put politics and their MAGA agenda above the American people. If you needed another reason to treat these people as the unserious partisan hacks they are, these reports are more than enough.”

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• None of the three individuals to come forward are actually whistleblowers, nor have they been recognized by any federal entity for whistleblower protections. 
  • “Three of Jordan’s witnesses have come in for private interviews with committee staff so far. None of them appear to have had their claims validated by government entities that grant federal whistleblower protection, sources familiar with their testimony said. One who alleged there was FBI wrongdoing had their claims rejected. Another is retired and it’s unclear whether he has first-hand knowledge of the violations he alleges. The third has not revealed his direct disclosures or FBI suspension notice to House Democrats, according to transcripts reviewed by CNN.” [CNN, 3/2/23]
  • “Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chairman of the panel, has so far relied on people who do not meet the definition of a whistle-blower and who have engaged in partisan conduct that calls into question their credibility.” [NYT, 3/2/23]
  • “After Friend was suspended for refusing to help in the case, he filed a whistleblower complaint to the Justice Department inspector general on September 21, 2022. He also filed a claim with the US Office of Special Counsel, the function of which is to protect federal employees making whistleblower complaints. Friend’s claim was eventually rejected by both entities.” [CNN, 3/2/23]
• Jim Jordan’s three “whistleblowers” are actually crazy conspiracy theorists who spread lies about federal law enforcement and have no actual firsthand knowledge of any conspiracy they claim is occurring at the FBI.
  • “In the interview, the witness, former FBI supervisory intelligence analyst George Hill, had admitted he had little or no firsthand knowledge of alleged ‘deep state’ scandals. Instead, he brought baggage of his own: a history of inflammatory commentary on social media. Democratic staff had found a tweet in which Hill claimed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had ‘blood on her hands.’ In a since-deleted tweet found by Rolling Stone, Hill wrote ‘Cancer! GO FASTER!’ in response to a tweet from Rep. Lauren Boebert claiming that President Biden had been diagnosed with cancer.” [Rolling Stone, 3/2/23]
  • “Mr. Hill has claimed on Twitter that the Jan. 6 attack was a ‘set up,’ and that there was ‘a larger #Democrat plan using their enforcement arm, the #FBI.’ He also described the F.B.I. as ‘the Brown Shirt enforcers of the @DNC,’ making an apparent reference to Nazi storm troopers to describe the federal law enforcement agency and its relationship to the Democratic National Committee.” [NYT, 3/2/23]

• The “whistleblowers” spread lies and  conspiracy theories about January 6th, and other potential witnesses have reportedly been suspended for being at the Capitol on January 6th.
  • “Right-wing opinions about the January 6 attack appear to be a consistent throughline among the three individuals that have come forward so far.” [CNN, 3/2/23]
  • “Other potential witnesses, who have yet to testify before the new subcommittee, are F.B.I. employees who were disciplined for attending protests on Jan. 6, 2021, according to Mr. Jordan.” [NYT, 3/2/23]
  • “[S]everal other supposed whistleblowers who have not come in for interviews were suspended from the FBI for being at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, according to multiple sources familiar with the committee’s work.” [CNN, 3/2/23]
  • “The [House Democrats] report also said that Mr. Hill had embraced a conspiracy theory that an Arizona man named Ray Epps was a federal informant who helped to instigate the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Prominent Republicans — including Mr. Trump — have widely promoted the claim, which Mr. Epps denies and the House Jan. 6 committee determined to be unfounded.” [NYT, 3/2/23]
  • “Friend had been suspended from the FBI since the fall, when he refused to participate in investigations related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to a declaration he shared with GOP lawmakers. The 12-year agency veteran described the FBI’s work on the matter as ‘marred by politicization and ambition’ — ‘this is their 9/11,’ he said on an appearance of Roger Stone’s Rumble show in January.” [Rolling Stone, 3/2/23]
  • “On December 28, 2022, for example, Hill tweeted, ‘insurrection my a$$. It was a set up and sadly, there’s no shortage of idiots willing to take the bait.’ The comment was retweeting a post that read ‘patriots were the ONLY ones trying to STOP the Fake Insurrection violence being committed by Implanted Antifa (Pelosi’s buddies).’” [CNN, 3/2/23]
• The witnesses have deep ties to the Trump MAGA world, including Trump loyalists Kash Patel and Mark Meadows.
  • “The whistleblower pipeline comes from a collaboration between Jordan, other MAGA lawmakers, and top officials in Trump’s orbit. Whistleblowers have received payments and legal counsel through this loose network; one whistleblower, Stephen Friend — a former FBI agent who brought concerns about the agency’s questioning of Jan. 6 protesters to Republicans — even received a job.” [Rolling Stone, 3/2/23]
  • “The three whistleblowers who have been interviewed by committee staff have done so with the assistance of aides to former President Donald Trump and the conspiracy-curious Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a loose network that provides money and legal assistance to the GOP witnesses.” [Rolling Stone, 3/2/23]
  • “Some of Jordan’s whistleblowers who have been suspended from the FBI have formed a ‘little bit of a network,’ the senior Republican aide told CNN. One whistleblower told CNN that some of them communicate over a group text chain and that many initially connected through a community of unvaccinated employees.” [CNN, 3/2/23]
  • “Mr. O’Boyle and Mr. Friend both testified that they had received financial support from Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist and former high-ranking official in the former president’s administration.”[NYT, 3/2/23]
  • “[The report] also details the ties between Mr. Trump’s inner circle and the witnesses. For instance, Mr. Patel found Mr. Friend his next job, working as a fellow on domestic intelligence and security services with the Center for Renewing America, which is run by Russ Vought. The center is largely funded by the Conservative Partnership Institute, which is run by Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump’s former chief of staff, and former Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina.” [NYT, 3/2/23]
  • “The [House Democrats Judiciary] report also notes that the men are tied to far-right Republican operatives and former Trump administration officials who have an interest in promoting false claims about the Jan. 6 attack and the Biden administration while working to defend Mr. Trump, who is seeking a second term.” [NYT, 3/2/23]
  • “Garret O’Boyle, a third FBI whistleblower who spoke with committee staff, is represented by Jesse Binnall, former Trump campaign attorney who worked to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Nevada; Binnall now acts as one of Trump’s go-to attorneys for Jan. 6-related litigation.” [Rolling Stone, 3/2/23]
  • “O’Boyle told staff he’d been connected to Binnall through Kash Patel, a former Trump administration official and one of Trump’s most vocal defenders in his post presidency. Both O’Boyle and Friend said they received payments from Patel through Fight with Kash, a nonprofit organization Patel established to provide ‘veteran and law enforcement financial support,’ according to Patel’s website. Friend received $5,000, he told congressional investigators; O’Boyle declined to share the amount.” [Rolling Stone, 3/2/23]
  • “O’Boyle also claimed during his subcommittee interview that former Trump national security and defense official Kash Patel had been helping with his legal fees, according to the transcript reviewed by CNN. Patel remains a close associate of former President Donald Trump. He was the former president’s representative to the National Archives and has testified before a federal grand jury investigating the handling of records taken to the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home and resort.” [CNN, 3/2/23]
• Even other Republicans know Jim Jordan’s efforts are embarrassing.
  • “The results have left Democrats gleeful and even some Republicans deeply unimpressed….’Clearly there is room to grow and improve before [more] public hearings,’ a Republican familiar with the process tells Rolling Stone. But the work so far, the Republican says, has been ‘very much amateur hour,’ adding that airing this ‘stuff on live television would make us look like morons.’ (Sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the sensitive matters.)” [Rolling Stone, 3/2/23]
  • “After Jordan and his cohorts concluded their first ‘Weaponization’ hearing last month, several figures in the right-wing media elite — who are staunchly loyal to Trump and the GOP and already primed to just run with the party’s claims and supposed bombshells — reacted with head scratches. ‘I’m sick of these hearings,’ Jesse Watters, a Fox News host and a buddy of Trump’s, complained on-air after the inaugural House Weaponization of the Federal Government subcommittee hearing. ‘Make me feel better, guys. Tell me this is going somewhere. Can I throw someone in prison? Can someone go to jail? Can someone get fined?’” [Rolling Stone, 3/2/23]
  • “One well-known conservative media host tells Rolling Stone that after that hearing, this person reached out to their ‘contacts on the [panel]’ to express their baffled disappointment with the offerings. This source says their criticism amounted to scolding the committee, and saying something akin to: ‘Come on, guys, you have to do fucking better than that!’” [Rolling Stone, 3/2/23]