FBI whistleblower suspended for exposing excessive tactics

 Just the News:

An FBI agent in Florida says he chose to blow the whistle on his agency because it has not been following its own rules while investigating the Jan. 6 riot, designing cases to exaggerate the threat of domestic terrorism in America and using excessive tactics to ensure "the process is the punishment" even if a suspect in innocent.

"We took an oath, before our family and our friends and the Lord Almighty, and we are supposed to be people of integrity," suspended FBI Special Agent Steve Friend told Just the News in a wide-ranging interview. "And that's not a leisure pursuit. And if you are indeed a person of fidelity, bravery, integrity — the FBI motto — and you have to be willing to do things that aren't easy, especially when they're as simple as stepping up and pointing out when we are not meeting the standards that we have set out for ourselves."

Friend's security clearance has been suspended, leaving him sidelined on the job without pay after he filed a whistleblower complaint with Congress, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel and the Justice Department inspector general. The complaint obtained by Just the News alleges the FBI is violating the 6th and 8th Amendment rights of Jan. 6 defendants and inflating the statistics for domestic extremism in the country by sending Jan. 6 Capitol riot cases to field offices instead of keeping them in Washington.

Friend said he had received outstanding ratings his entire career until he objected to being listed as a managing agent for Jan. 6 suspects in Florida when in fact the investigation was being run by other agents in Washington D.C. He said the construct violates the FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide that is the bible for all agents.

"That's when I said to myself, 'Look, we're not running these cases ourselves, and that's outside the rule, and we are setting ourselves up for a major fall,'" he recounted in an interview with the John Solomon Reports podcast set to air Monday. "So I brought that to my supervisor's attention about my concerns, about not following FBI rules. I brought my concerns about potentially abusing power to him."

The agent said there is more than just a technical rules violation, because when cases go to trial the agent listed as leading the probe will have to testify he or she did none of the work.

"I just could foresee a pretty easily avoidable or bad situation where Steve Friend is the case agent on John Smith, who's being prosecuted for Jan. 6," he explained. "And then I'm put on the stand, because it's my case. And you know, the defense attorney says, 'Agent Friend, what did you do? You're the case agent.

"And I would say, 'I didn't do anything.' 'Well, did you make this decision?' 'No, I didn't.' 'Did your supervisor approve that?' 'No, he didn't.' And it just seemed like that was a to be a massive problem."

In the end, Friend said he declined to partcipate in any more Jan. 6 cases but told his supervisor he would do any other work as required.
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I have been getting the impression that there was an overreaction to the events of Jan. 6.  It is not clear to me whether that was caused by the leadership of the FBI or pressure from the Biden administration and the DOJ.  I would like to see an independent commission look into the response to the Jan. 6 events.