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ROUNDUP: Jim Jordan Called Out For Showcasing “Bogus,” “Pretend,” Trump-Aligned Whistleblowers At Latest Weaponization Hearing

May 19, 2023

Ever since Jim Jordan’s latest hearing on alleged weaponization by the federal government devolved into chaos, the negative reviews have kept coming. Everyone from House Democrats to Former FBI officials and commentators are calling out Jordan and his MAGA colleagues for violating House rules to conceal official testimony and interview transcripts with so-called FBI whistleblowers who spread conspiracy theories and took money from Trump allies after being suspended from the agency. As always, House Republicans would prefer to push the MAGA agenda over investigating the real issues Americans are facing. But don’t just take our word for it:

COMMENTARY

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY): “Jim Jordan is totally fine with having bogus ‘whistleblowers’ paid by Donald Trump advisor Kash Patel at the ‘Weaponization of Government’ hearing. LaW aNd OrDeR.” [Twitter, 5/18/23]

Frank Figliuzzi, former FBI assistant director: “Truth: Jim Jordan’s pretend whistleblowers who claim retaliation, lost their clearances for things like breaching the Capitol on Jan 6, obstructing a Jan 6 case into someone who assaulted officers, lying to agents, and entering FBI space to steal sensitive documents.” [Twitter, 5/18/23; MSNBC, 5/18/23, VIDEO]

Justin Baragona, senior media reporter at the Daily Beast: “Jim Jordan isn’t happy when Dan Goldman confronts him about rules during the ‘weaponization of the FBI’ hearing. Jordan: ‘We have the whistleblower testimony. He does not wish it to be made available to the Democrats at this time.’ Goldman: ‘He doesn’t make committee rules!’” [Twitter, 5/18/23]

STORIES

The Daily Beast: Jim Jordan Freaks Out When Dem Confronts Him With House Rules. “Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) repeatedly denied Democrats’ requests to receive the testimony of one of the GOP’s self-described ‘whistleblowers’ during Thursday’s House hearing on the ‘weaponization’ of the FBI, prompting Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) to confront him with the actual rules. […] During this latest hearing pushing the GOP narrative that the FBI is weaponized against conservatives, Jordan told Democrats that ‘you’re not getting the testimony’ of FBI staff operations specialist Marcus Allen, claiming the minority party isn’t entitled to all evidence collected from whistleblowers. ‘These are not whistleblowers,’ Ranking Member Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) exclaimed. ‘The law has not determined they are whistleblowers. His attorney is just asserting that.’ Later in the hearing, after initially being shut down by Jordan, Goldman requested a point of order to state the rules, which he noted required transcripts to be made available to all members of committees.” [The Daily Beast, 5/18/23]

Mediaite: ‘Are You a Charitable Organization?’ Democrat Grills GOP Whistleblower Over Receiving ‘Donation’ From Ex-Trump Official. “Freshman Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) questioned GOP whistleblowers before Congress on Thursday during a hearing regarding Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) probe into the so-called weaponization of the FBI. Goldman used his time at the hearing to ask FBI special agent Garret O’Boyle and former FBI special agent Steve Friend about receiving money from former Trump official Kash Patel – who now runs his own non-profit called Fight With Kash. ‘We established earlier credibility matters, certainly for witnesses who appear before us. Mr. Boyle, do you know who Kash Patel is?’ Goldman, a former federal prosecutor, asked Boyle. ‘I do,’ Boyle answered. ‘Have you received any money from Kash Patel or his organization?’ Goldman asked. ‘I have,’ replied Boyle. […] ‘And did you receive any money from Kash Patel,’ Goldman asked. ‘Yes. He gave me a donation last November,’ Friend replied. ‘A donation?’ Goldman asked. ‘Yes,’ Friend replied. ‘Are you a charitable organization?’ Goldman shot back. […] Goldman continued to grill Friend about his connection to Patel and whether or not he requested documents and testimony he provided not be shared with Democrats on the committee – a common complaint the minority made against the GOP majority during the hearing.” [Mediaite, 5/19/23]

The Daily Beast: FBI Whistleblowers Admit Taking Money From Ex-Trump Official. “Two former FBI employees acting as so-called whistleblowers about the federal government’s unfair persecution of conservatives on Thursday admitted that they had received money from a former adviser to Donald Trump. At a hearing of Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, suspended FBI special agent Garret O’Boyle and former FBI special agent Steve Friend both said they’d taken money from Kash Patel. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) pressed both on the payments, with Friend saying that he had received a ‘donation’ from Patel last November. ‘Are you a charitable organization?’ Goldman asked. ‘I was an unpaid, indefinitely suspended man trying to feed his family,’ Friend answered. ‘And he’s reached out to me and said he wanted to give me a donation.’ When asked if he thought the payments from Patel were ‘appropriate,’ Jordan on Thursday thundered: ‘They got a family! How are they supposed to feed their family?’” [The Daily Beast, 5/19/23]

MSNBC (Opinion): Jim Jordan Inadvertently Discredits His Own Case Against The FBI. “It was roughly nine months ago when Rep. Jim Jordan began his offensive against federal law enforcement in earnest. The Ohio Republican claimed last August that he had secret sources inside the FBI, who, as luck would have it, privately assured the far-right congressman that his conspiracy theories have merit. I have tried to keep an open mind about this, but Jordan hasn’t exactly made it easy. […] If the proceedings were intended to embarrass the bureau, they backfired, painting the FBI’s accusers and their allies in an unflattering light. Jordan hid transcripts from committee members, downplayed the fact that some of his witnesses have been paid by a member of Donald Trump’s team, and pretended his so-called ‘whistleblowers’ don’t have serious credibility problems. 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. As former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger joked soon after, the hearing was little more than ‘a public airing of an HR complaint.’ Jordan and his conspiratorial panel have confronted criticisms in recent months from disappointed GOP insiders, Republican-aligned media, and influential leaders from the conservative movement, each of whom expected the Ohioan to deliver real results. He’s failing spectacularly.” [MSNBC (Opinion), 5/19/23]

Raw Story: Counter-Terrorism Expert: Jim Jordan And Disgruntled FBI Agents ‘Thought They’d Get Away With It — They Didn’t’. “Former FBI deputy director for counter-terrorism Frank Figliuzzi called out the fired agents that appeared before Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) weaponization committee Thursday to claim that they were targeted because of their conservative beliefs. […] ‘What they thought they’d get today was sympathy, empathy with employees who have been fired simply for expressing their opinion, which, of course, we know now is not true. So they discarded the Wray theory, [and] they went with let’s try to get sympathy for these folks who have families to feed,’ said Figliuzzi. ‘I think that’s what’s going on. They didn’t want the truth to come out. We even glossed over some of the more ugly parts of this.’ He made two additional points: in the case of Stephen Friend, the FBI said that he lost his clearance after he refused to participate in the arrest of a Jan. 6 attacker. When talking to his superiors about it, Friend ‘espoused an alternative narrative about the events at the U.S. Capitol,’ the letter from the Bureau said. There’s also an accusation that Friend downloaded documents from the FBI onto a personal drive, but didn’t go into details there.” [Raw Story, 5/18/23]