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On Thursday, Empower Oversight submitted an affidavit of a new FBI whistleblower who came forward with allegations of improper intimidation by FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. The whistleblower claimed that shortly after Abbate's appointment in February 2021, Abbate threatened agency employees concerned about the bureau's overblown response to the Jan. 6 Capitol demonstrations that same year.
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During a secure video conference, said the unnamed employee, Abbate called on agency staff with concerns about the bureau's approach to the Jan. 6 riot to meet with the deputy director personally so he could, in the whistleblower's words, "set them straight."
"I have witnessed hundreds of Director [Secure Video Teleconference]s and have never seen a direct threat like that any other time," the whistleblower said in the affidavit. "It was chilling and personal, communicating clearly that there would be consequences for anyone that questioned his direction."
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In May, House lawmakers on the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government heard from several other FBI whistleblowers who made similar claims about the conduct of agency leadership.
Former FBI Special Agent Steve Friend, who filed for whistleblower protection in August, told the committee he raised concerns over the FBI's reaction to the Capitol riot, which he thought "could have undermined potentially righteous prosecutions and may have been part of an effort to inflate the FBI's statistics on domestic extremism."
"I also voiced concerns that the FBI's use of SWAT and large-scale arrest operations to apprehend suspects who were accused of nonviolent crimes and misdemeanors, represented by counsel, and who pledged to cooperate with the federal authorities in the event of criminal charges created an unnecessary risk to FBI personnel and public safety," Friend said. "At each level of my chain of command, leadership cautioned that despite my exemplary work performance, whistleblowing placed my otherwise bright future with the FBI at risk."
Garret O'Boyle, another former FBI special agent who filed for whistleblower protection, told lawmakers how he moved his family "halfway across the country" before the FBI suspended him for speaking out.
