Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) offered a glimpse Sunday into how the GOP-controlled House may ratchet up investigations into FBI whistleblower allegations of politicization within the agency.
In this fledgling session of Congress, Jordan heads the House Judiciary Committee as well as a new subcommittee charged with investigating the “weaponization” of the federal government, giving him broad jurisdiction and more powerful tools, such as subpoenas, to conduct inquiries.
Maria Bartiromo, host of Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” pressed the congressman on whether bringing in the FBI whistleblowers to testify under oath is a possibility.
“We are working with them,” Jordan said of the whistleblowers after raising concerns about retaliation by the Justice Department. “We think many of them are in fact going to be willing to sit for a deposition and be willing to testify in a public hearing. So we’re working on that as we speak.”
House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee demanded information from law enforcement and intelligence leaders last year, albeit without subpoena power, and released a report in November summarizing the allegations of politicization in the Justice Department and FBI raised by “a multitude” of whistleblowers.
“Whistleblowers describe how the FBI has abused its law-enforcement authorities for political purposes, and how actions by FBI leadership show a political bias against conservatives,” the report said.
Examples included allegations of the FBI “artificially inflating statistics about domestic violent extremism” in the United States,” and “abusing its counterterrorism authorities to investigate parents who spoke at school board meetings.” Other specifics listed were claims of FBI surveillance abuses stemming from the 2016 presidential election, an effort to “purge” FBI employees holding conservative views, and “political meddling” that hampers criminal investigations.
One particular whistleblower allegation prompted pushback from the federal law enforcement agency. House Judiciary Republicans said an unnamed FBI whistleblower told them the bureau was moving agents off child sexual abuse investigations to pursue instead political inquiries, in particular those focused on the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
In a lengthy statement, an FBI spokesperson told The Epoch Times the bureau’s “commitment” to combating one particular threat to the American people “does not come at the expense of another.” The representative also stressed the FBI does “not investigate ideology” and only “investigates individuals who commit or intend to commit violence and other criminal activity that constitutes a federal crime or poses a threat to national security.”
On Sunday, Jordan said 19 whistleblowers had come forward to talk to lawmakers, five more than the 14 figure he divulged last year. “FBI agents — take whistleblower status, come talk to us,” Jordan said.
The House Judiciary Committee is also investigating President Joe Biden‘s handling of classified documents, which began with the sending of a letter Friday demanding information from Attorney General Merrick Garland.