(Ken Silva, Headline USA) FBI whistleblower testimony revealed Thursday that the bureau’s Washington DC field office allegedly refused to provide the Boston field office with Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill surveillance footage on the grounds that it could expose the identities of undercover agents and informants.
The testimony from retired FBI agent George Hill was first played by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at a Thursday morning press conference about the retaliation FBI whistleblowers have faced from their employer. Hill was stationed at the FBI Boston field office in 2021.
According to Hill, the FBI’s DC office wanted agents in Boston to open a criminal investigation into 140 people because they rode a bus to the J6 rally.
Hill said the supervising agent in Boston agreed to investigate the peaceful protestors, but wanted footage from J6 to help with the investigation. However, the DC field office denied this request, according to Hill.
“The [Washington field office] said, ‘We can’t show you those videos unless you can tell us the exact time and place those individuals were in the Capitol’, to which [Boston agent] responded back: ‘Why can’t you just give us access to the 11,000 hours of video?’”
According to Hill, the DC office then responded, “Because there may be undercover officers or confidential human sources on those videos, whose identity we’d need to protect.”
Gaetz played the video again later Thursday morning at a House Weaponization Subcommittee hearing into FBI whistleblower retaliation. Gaetz said the testimony from Hill validated another FBI whistleblower, Marcus Allen, who had his security clearance revoked for expressing “conspiratorial views” that the federal government may have been involved in J6.
A report released by the Weaponization Subcommittee before Thursday’s hearing further explains the views Allen was expressing. According to the report, Allen had been raising red flags within the FBI about “potential Federal involvement with the activities on January 6.”
“Mr. Allen, you got retaliated against for saying the very thing the Washington field office was telling Boston,” Gaetz exclaimed.
Allen sued the FBI in December, alleging that the bureau’s improper suspension of him and the revocation of his security clearance is a violation of his constitutional rights. The FBI has responded with a motion to dismiss the lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction. A federal judge has yet to rule on the matter.
Judicial Watch is supporting Allen’s lawsuit.
“The FBI can’t purge employees based on political smears. Judicial Watch seeks to remind the FBI that it is not above the law with this civil rights lawsuit for Mr. Allen, a decorated Marine veteran and highly regarded FBI employee,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton when the lawsuit was filed.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
