Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) subpoenaed an FBI executive in an escalation of an investigation into whistleblower allegations of politicization within the agency.
A spokesperson for Jordan, who heads the House Judiciary Committee as well as the subcommittee charged with investigating the “weaponization” of the federal government, announced the development on Monday.
“Today, Chairman Jordan issued a subpoena to Jennifer Leigh Moore, Executive Assistant Director of Human Resources at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, after she refused to answer questions during her transcribed interview about the FBI’s retaliation against brave whistleblowers who have come forward to raise concerns about abuses they have seen at the Bureau,” said Jordan spokesperson Russell Dye.
The statement did not say when the interview took place, but a letter sent to Moore in late January accused her of “obstruction” for not complying with earlier requests for an interview.
The Daily Wire reached out to the FBI seeking comment on the subpoena.
“Executive Assistant Director Moore voluntarily answered questions from members and their staffs about the FBI’s security clearance adjudication process for several hours,” the FBI said in response.
“She did not discuss the details of specific individuals whose cases are still under review to protect the integrity of the process and the privacy of the individuals,” the FBI added. “The FBI recognizes the importance of congressional oversight and remains fully committed to cooperating with Congress’ oversight requests consistent with its constitutional and statutory responsibilities.”
House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee demanded information from law enforcement and intelligence leaders last year, at the time without subpoena power, and they released a report in November summarizing allegations of politicization in the Justice Department and FBI raised by “a multitude” of whistleblowers. Within the report were allegations concerning a “purge” of FBI employees holding conservative views, which has been linked to Moore and mentions issues related to former President Donald Trump.
“This perception is buttressed by previous, documented examples of political bias ingrained in the FBI’s leadership culture — for example, when a senior FBI official wrote derisively to a colleague that he ‘could SMELL the Trump support’ at a Walmart in southern Virginia, or when an FBI attorney altered evidence in support of the FBI’s warrantless surveillance of a Trump campaign associate,” the report said.
“The FBI has responded to these concerns with a hollow assertion that ‘FBI personnel must maintain objectivity and rigor in their work,'” the report continued. “While the FBI may well be holding line agents to this standard, FBI leadership and supervisors are actively purging those who dare to hold a differing opinion.”
In first seeking Moore’s testimony for the inquiry, Republicans sent her a letter in September that said “we have received protected whistleblower disclosures that the FBI is engaging in a ‘purge’ of employees with conservative views by revoking their security clearances and indefinitely suspending these employees. Many of the formal notices for these adverse personnel actions have been signed by you. Recently, we received information suggesting you have retaliated against at least one whistleblower who has made protected disclosures to Congress.”
“FBI whistleblowers have told the Committee that you have been involved with the security clearance revocations for those employees targeted for their conservative views,” the letter added. “In addition, we understand that you have engaged in whistleblower retaliation and prohibited personnel practices. Under Title 5 of the United States Code, once a whistleblower makes a protected disclosure, an agency is prohibited from retaliating against the employee for that disclosure by taking or failing to take a personnel action.”
Moore, who has been with the bureau for nearly three decades, became assistant director of the Security Division at FBI Headquarters in July 2021, according to her FBI biography. Before that, she served as the special agent in charge of the Intelligence and Incident Response Division at the Washington Field Office.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have criticized their GOP counterparts’ inquiry into the Department of Justice and FBI as “partisan.” Staff for the Democrats released a 315-page report in March that cast doubt on the trustworthiness of some of the witnesses.