Memos Show FBI Vetting Employee Over Support For Trump, Second Amendment

An employee of the FBI had his security clearance revoked after the bureau investigated his support for former President Donald Trump and opposition to COVID vaccines, according to a complaint made public on Monday after it was recently filed against the Justice Department. 

The complaint, sent to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz by the government watchdog group Empower Oversight, claims that an FBI employee was punished by the bureau over his politically conservative views. According to documents included in the complaint, the FBI interviewed people familiar with the employee about his stances on Trump, COVID, and January 6. 

The FBI’s Security Division conducted the probe, referred to in the complaint as SecD. The investigation into the 12-year FBI employee was launched after he self-reported that he had been present in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021. The employee’s name was redacted from the copy of the complaint made visible to the public. 

According to the filing, the employee, who was on personal leave, peacefully observed the protests near the Capitol on January 6, 2021. In April 2022, the employee had his security clearance revoked, and he was suspended without pay after the FBI investigated his political viewpoints. 

“I write today to formally disclose to you on our client’s behalf shocking documents in SecD’s investigative file that evidence an abuse of authority and a violation of our client’s rights under the First Amendment,” Empower Oversight President Tristan Leavitt wrote. “The documents appear to demonstrate SecD’s political bias and abuse of the security clearance process to purge the FBI of employees who expressed disfavored political views or concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine requirement.”

The Security Division asked those familiar with the employee multiple questions, including whether he had vocalized “support for President Trump,” vocalized “objection to Covid-19 vaccination,” and discussed “intent to attend 01/06/2021.”

Notes from interviewees told the FBI that the employee was a “gun nut” who attended a Second Amendment rally in Virginia but that he had not promoted violence. 

On the Trump questions, it was noted that the employee “very significantly supported” Trump and “would listen to talk shows. Trump did not lose. Dems stole it. Militant point of view. Never implied would do anything aggressive/physical.”

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“The three pre-printed questions that SecD asked our client’s fellow employees show that the FBI systematically compelled them to report on our client’s personal political beliefs and views of the COVID-19 vaccine,” the complaint says. “The information SecD compelled FBI employees to disclose about our client is completely irrelevant to any legitimate security risk determination, and reliance on it to revoke a security clearance obviously violates the First Amendment.”

After the FBI suspended him, the employee retired and made protected whistleblower disclosures to the House Judiciary Committee, which has been investigating the weaponization of intelligence agencies. Last week, the FBI restored the security clearance of a former FBI agent who claimed the bureau retaliated against him after he passed along information that challenged the “official narrative” of January 6.