(Western Journal) An FBI whistleblower has come forward to say he lost his badge for declining to participate in a SWAT raid on the home of a suspect in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion.
FBI Special Agent Steve Friend believes this treatment of Americans in no way matches the alleged crimes.
The New York Post reported that Friend filed a whistleblower complaint with the Department of Justice on Wednesday contending the FBI’s Washington, D.C., field office has become politicized using an “overzealous” Jan. 6 investigation to harass conservatives and violate their basic constitutional rights.
The 37-year-old pointed out the raids are being conducted on Jan. 6 subjects who have mainly been accused of misdemeanor crimes such as parading on the Capitol grounds and disorderly conduct.
Friend, who said he did not vote for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential race, refused to participate in an Aug. 24 raid on a Jan. 6 subject in the Jacksonville, Florida, area, saying he was a “conscientious objector.”
“I have an oath to uphold the Constitution,” he told supervisors.
On Aug. 19, the agent first told his immediate boss, Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Greg Federico, that he believed “it was inappropriate to use an FBI SWAT team to arrest a subject for misdemeanor offenses and opined that the subject would likely face extended detainment and biased jury pools in Washington, DC,” according to the Post.
“I suggested alternatives such as the issuance of a court summons or utilizing surveillance groups to determine an optimal, safe time for a local sheriff deputy to contact the subjects and advise them about the existence of the arrest warrant,” Friend said.
He was suspended Monday, “stripped of his gun and badge, and escorted out of the FBI field office in Daytona Beach, Fla.,” after he was declared absent without leave when he did not show up to participate in the Aug. 24 raid, the Post said.
Column’s up: FBI hero paying the price for exposing unjust persecution of conservative Americans https://t.co/sIxHTiMv4j
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) September 22, 2022
In his whistleblower complaint to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, obtained by the Post, Friend laid out multiple violations of FBI policy relating to the Jan. 6 investigations.
He identified “manipulating” of FBI case management protocol and farming out of Jan. 6 cases to field offices across the country to build the case that right-wing domestic violence is a widespread, ongoing problem, instead of mainly related to one incident.
Further, Friend alleged that cases were being opened on innocent Americans who were nowhere near the Capitol based on anonymous tips.
He further said the FBI, post-facto, designated the grassy area outside the Capitol as a restricted area — though it was not on Jan. 6, 2021 — in order to increase the number of people subject to prosecution.
Friend warned that the bureau intends to prosecute Americans even peripherally associated with Jan. 6, with a new wave of subjects being dropped in field offices.
The Post’s Miranda Devine, who wrote the Friend story, told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night that Friend “is an American hero.”
