Ex-FBI Agents Decry Bureau’s Partisanship and Weaponization
Speaking to a panel of House lawmakers last week, former FBI agents Thomas J. Baker and Nicole Parker explained how Americans have “lost faith” in the investigative agency.
“I spent many years with the FBI and am deeply troubled by this loss of faith,” said Baker in a prepared statement. “Specific lapses have come to light, many of which will be focused on by this panel. But why did they happen? What changed? The answer begins days after the 9/11 attacks.”
The former FBI agents’ testimony represents the first hearing held by the newly-formed House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. As I wrote last month, the panel aims to investigate a range of partisan-seeming probes in an effort to shed light on the Biden Administraiton’s weaponization of the federal government. With subpoena power and access to the same data available to the Intelligence Committee, the panel will delve into ongoing criminal investigations including the August 2022 raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and Trump’s role in the January 6th Capitol attack.
Changes within the FBI began with Robert Mueller, who was appointed to lead the agency in September 2001 just days after the 9/11 terror attack, explained Baker. Mueller was “humiliated” by then-President George W. Bush’s demand that he prevent another terror attack and “resolutely set about to change the FBI ‘culture.’”
This so-called culture change included new “recruiting practices” such as lowered “eligibility requirements,” said Parker.
Unfortunately, the agents themselves had no ability to stop Mueller as they were not permitted to let their personal views affect their actions during an investigation.
“It’s as if there became two FBIs. Americans see this, and it is destroying the bureau’s credibility, causing Americans to lose faith in the agency and therefore the hardworking and highly ethical agents who still do the heavy lifting and pursue noble causes,” said Baker, who worked as a special agent for over 30 years.
The perfect example is the FBI’s controversial use of a FISA warrant to monitor ex-Trump advisor Carter Page. As related previously, the agency used the Clinton-funded, bogus Steele dossier to obtain the warrant and was later proven to have lied about the document’s authenticity.
“The use of FISA against a US citizen…presents a fundamental threat to Americans’ civil liberties,” argued Baker. “It essentially suspends the Constitution.”
“America’s not America if you have a Justice Department that treats people differently under the law,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) last year following the release of a whistleblower-informed report authored by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee. “That’s not happening and we know it’s not happening because 14 brave FBI agents came to us as whistleblowers and told us what exactly is going on here. “
As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Jordan is the de facto head of the panel on partisan weaponization.
The 2022 report described the FBI as a “political institution” with a “woke, leftist agenda” and accused it of maintaining a “secret partnership with Facebook.”
This accusation was proven true when the agency was found partially responsible for Facebook’s decision to censor the infamous Hunter Biden laptop story. The FBI’s actions may have influenced the 2020 presidential election and the agency now faces a lawsuit over its failure to disclose conversations with Facebook and other tech companies.
Another whistleblower whose testimony was included in the 2022 report told lawmakers the agency decided to abandon all child sex abuse investigations in order to focus on the January 6th Capitol attack.
The FBI is known to have taken action to silence dissent related to its investigation of the January 6th event – even going so far as to suspend the security clearances of a decorated agent who was brave enough to complain about the agency’s lack of transparency regarding its knowledge of the event. At least two FBI agents who attended to riot while on leave were suspended from the agency indefinitely even though they had not been charged with a crime.
Check out Baker’s book The Fall of the FBI here
Author’s Note: This is nothing new, but perhaps the hearing will lead to change within the agency.
Sources:
‘Politicized bureaucracy’ has FBI ‘rotted at its core,’ GOP charges in shocking report
Ex-FBI Agents to Tell House Panel of Bureau’s ‘Politicization’
‘Weaponization’ subcommittee holds hearing on alleged FBI politicization, attacks on civil liberties
“I spent many years with the FBI and am deeply troubled by this loss of faith,” said Baker And where was he when all of this crap was and still is going on!!! He and all of his peers are responsible for the loss of faith. Notice he is deeply troubled by the loss of faith. He should be deeply troubled by the reasons for the loss of faith!!! He should be deeply troubled over his inaction and the inaction of all of the FBI people who claim to be such good agents!!!
There’ll be a lot of lip service from Congress but let’s face it, nothing else will come of it. Congress seems to do a lot of
investigating but nothing much comes out of their investigations but posturing.
Break out the popcorn, it’s the clown show! Up first for our entertainment is the “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government” led by the always-shirt-sleeved Jim Jordan driving the clown car. Will his Momma just buy him a suit he can wear? Does Jordan’s group name signal a foregone conclusion? What happens if they can’t find THE weaponization the title suggests? Not like “United States House Select Committee on Benghazi,” no leading the witness with the name on that one. Or the “House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol” which sounds like an investigation, not a conclusion except to note that there was an attack. Which there was; we have video. No, Jordan’s committee name instead calls the Federal Government Weaponized, no bones about it, case closed, the conclusion is in the title. Now we just have to ferret out The Deep State operatives and motives, we already know they did it, whatever that is, it’s weaponization of the Federal Government. Ferret being the operative word in that. Jordan even looks like a beady-eyed human ferret. But, fear not Republicans, they got DOZENS of whistleblowers. DOZENS. They already have the hard evidence, the testimonies, the depositions; this thing will just explode with evil deeds and men. Maybe even some powerpoints and a video.
Unfortunately for Jordan, the whistleblowers are up against Raskin and Goldman, so it will be interesting. A old guy with a dead kid and a Jew — good luck on the personal attacks for these two.
In the first batting order, Thomas Baker was asked if he had a table for book signing as he hawked his new book, verbatim, in his opening sale for his book. His book came out in December of 2022, he is still on tour touting his wares and his opening statement was basically a cock-tease to sell his book of remembrances for things that happened long after he left. Decades after in most cases. Not exactly a whistleblower doing this without getting paid for it, more a guy shilling for book sales.
The book details 9/11 – Baker was not there, he read about it.
He details a Mueller/Comey cabal – Baker had been gone from the FBI for decades, did he even meet these folks.
He had been gone for 22 years before the 1/6/2021 insurrection, he has no experience with disinformation, the Russian practice of this, nor any of the technology used. They even have smart phones or social media when he retired. And Al Gore was still claiming he invented the internet; it was current news.
As Raskin said, and you won’t hear it from PBP writers: “one basic question is whether weaponization is the target of the committee or if weaponization is the purpose of the committee.”
Jordan has promised “dozens” of whistleblowers but has not named any others and has not provided depositions or prior testimony under oath for any except these two at the current time. And one is not a whistleblower but an author, with a new book to sell, on the topic. When pressed on this, Jordan weasels. I would think if he has the goods that he would roll at least a bit of it out on Day 1, perhaps just a tease to foreshadow the axe that’s about to fall, something. But he brought out an old retired guy who’s selling a conspiracy book in the time of Trump — what can go wrong with that?
Goldman pointed out that Baker retired over 23 years ago from the FBI, two years before 9/11. He did not work with the 9/11 commission; he did not talk to them even. H never worked with DHS. He never investigated Russian tampering, has no expertise in social media beyond being a user, and when asked about “smartphones,” he noted that 20 years ago, the FBI did have phones.
Goldman stated: “WOULD AGREE THAT A LOT HAS CHANGED IN THE FBI IN THE 23 YEARS SINCE YOU LEFT, CORRECT?” Goldman’s crucifixion of Turley was even better; here was a lawyer pretending to be an inside-guy-for-the-FBI…..
Jordan also rolled out a newer FBI whistleblower, she once was a capitalist pig hedge fund Wall Streeter that was so moved by actually being there on 9/11, that only a mere decade later, she just had to take her table stakes off the table and join the FBI. Only ten years to be so moved is very moving to me. Once at the FBI, she worked as an agent in the field for 12 years, unable to advance apparently, watching the weaponization from the cheep seats in the field: “Over the course of my 12-plus years of service, the FBI’s trajectory transformed. On paper, the Bureau’s mission remained the same but its priorities and governing principles shifted dramatically,” where she did not advance in the ranks, ever. That brings us to 2020, according to this agent, the weaponization continued all during Trump who was impotent to thwart it. Her testimony was also featured in an FOX op-ed, which given her tenure, is fair enough, but not exactly the secret, hidden, whistleblower Jordan promised. Her opening statement basically said they are bad, getting worse, and not much else. She did cry like an FBI agent but no one knows why. I think ten years from now I might be moved by that.
I hope the commission lives up to its promise. The opening salvo fell well short of that. It was a clown show. Jordan promises dozens of whistleblowers but felt compelled to beg America for more even during the meeting. (just call the 800 number posted on the screen, your call will be completely confidential until we replay it here) Why? Completeness or does the inquisitor have no clothes? Certainly these two whistleblowers didn’t do it, Turley was no help, so it’s a rocky start. Raskin and Goldman feel good.
Time will tell, but if the future is an opening salvo redux, Houston, we have a problem here….. Apparently these folks who noted the scripting and presentation of the 1/6 committee, apparently have not taken the 1/6 committee presentation as a teachable moment yet.
We Americans are used to Clown Shows. We suffered through plenty of Democrat Scripting and Show Quality Trials.