On Thursday, the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government held hearings with three FBI whistleblowers who’s security clearances were revoked as retaliation. All three of the former agents spoke out against the political bias within the FBI and the subcommittee is claiming this as proof of abuse and misconduct by the FBI. The hearing quickly became one if the most heated in recent memory as Republicans and Democrats clashed during their examination and questioning of the former agents. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan did his best to keep order within the room but the temperature continued to rise.

The three whistleblowers who testified on Thursday were FBI special agent Garret O’Boyle; former FBI special agent Steve Friend, and FBI staff operations specialist Marcus Allen. At one point Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) embarrassed herself by asking Marcus Allen to respond to tweets which came from an account that was not his. Watch the exchange below:

Much of the hearing also consisted of Democrats attempting to paint the whistleblowers as January 6th sympathizers. According to NBC 5:

“Make no mistake this hearing is a vehicle to legitimize the events of Jan. 6 and the people who perpetrated it,” said Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif. “Why? Because Donald Trump is running for president again and if you normalize the events of Jan. 6, if you repeat his election fraud lies, then maybe he doesn’t seem quite so extreme. Maybe it will be easier to overturn a free and fair election the next time.”

The hearing comes after the FBI said it revoked security clearances for three agents who attended the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol or backed alternate theories about what happened that day. Allen and Friend are among the agents who had their clearances revoked.

Allen claimed the FBI has treated him unfairly for speaking up and causing his family to struggle financially over what he described as a flawed investigation into him. “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.

Thursday’s hearing started with partisan bickering over access to testimony given by Allen prior to the hearing that Democrats said Republicans refused to give them access to. “You’ll give us the testimony when? After he’s left or at no point in time, or when will we have that? That’s only for the Republicans. Is that what you’re saying?” said Del. Stacey Plaskett, a Democrat who represents the Virgin Islands.

The hearing will continue on into the afternoon on Thursday and the fireworks are expected to continue.

 

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