EXCLUSIVE: The FBI is allegedly engaging in a "purge" of employees with conservative viewpoints and retaliating against whistleblowers who have made protected disclosures to Congress by revoking security clearances, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jim Jordan told Fox News Digital.
Jordan, R-Ohio, said that more than a dozen FBI whistleblowers have come to him and Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee with allegations of misconduct within the FBI.
Jordan and Republicans have been investigating "serious allegations of abuse and misconduct within the senior leadership of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
Jordan, in a letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, and written to FBI executive assistant director of the Human Resources branch Jennifer Moore, the congressman says he has received information of retaliation against FBI employees who have confidentially reported alleged misconduct to Congress.
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"During the course of this investigation, 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," Jordan wrote, noting that "many of the formal notices" for those personnel actions had been signed by Moore.
Jordan also wrote that he has information suggesting Moore has "retaliated against at least one whistleblower who has made protected disclosures to Congress."
That whistleblower, Jordan told Fox News Digital, shared information with the committee notifying them about the Justice Department’s efforts last fall to set up a threat tag label against parents to identify threats at school board meetings against faculty and to then "prosecute them when appropriate."
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"As we informed Director Christopher Wray, we take whistleblower retaliation seriously and we therefore require that you appear for a transcribed interview as soon as possible," Jordan said.
The FBI said it does not punish employees for expressing their views and nor does it retaliate against whistleblowers.
"The FBI does not target or take adverse action against employees for exercising their First Amendment rights or for their political views; to allege otherwise is false and misleading," an FBI spokesperson told Fox News. "The FBI is required to follow established policies and procedures, to include a thorough investigation, when suspending or revoking a security clearance."
The FBI said it "takes very seriously its responsibility to FBI employees who may make protected disclosures under the whistleblower regulations."
"FBI employees who report evidence of wrongdoing through a protected disclosure are protected from retaliation," the spokesperson added.
At the FBI, every employee must maintain a Top Secret security clearance as a condition of employment.
A U.S. government official tells Fox News that eligibility for a security clearance is based on standards set forth in Executive Order (E.O.) 12968: Access to Classified Information. According to that order, the adjudicative process seeks reasonable assurance that those granted access to classified information are persons "...whose personal and professional history affirmatively indicates loyalty to the United States, strength of character, trustworthiness, honesty, reliability, discretion, and sound judgment, as well as freedom from conflicting allegiances and potential for coercion, and willingness and ability to abide by regulations governing the use, handling, and protection of classified information."
The official told Fox News that in deciding whether or not a person should retain a security clearance, the FBI is obligated to follow the guidelines which were established for all United States Government civilian and military personnel, consultants, and contractors who require access to national security information.
Those guidelines state that "any doubt concerning personnel being considered for national security eligibility will be resolved in favor of the national security."
Jordan said that FBI whistleblowers have told the committee that Moore has been "involved with the security clearance revocations for those employees targeted for their conservative views."
Jordan told Fox News Digital that those employees had made comments to him and Republicans on the committee about pressure within the FBI to label cases as "domestic violent extremism." Jordan also said that whistleblowers have told him that the FBI is "pulling agents off of child trafficking cases to focus on this political narrative that you see."
"We refer to that as juicing the numbers—its pressure that is existing at the FBI to satisfy this narrative from President Biden, where he called half the country fascist and extremists," Jordan explained, referring to Biden's speech last month in which he said "MAGA Republicans" are a threat to democracy.
Jordan said that 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.
Jordan said that "the law is clear."
"You don’t retaliate against whistleblowers," Jordan told Fox News Digital. "We’ve had multiple agents come to us, and tell us about just how political the Justice Department has become."
When asked how the FBI learned that employees claimed whistleblower status and met with Congress, Jordan said it was unclear, and said the FBI likely would say suspensions were due to something "unrelated."
The House Judiciary Committee has legislative and oversight jurisdiction over both the Justice Department and the FBI. Jordan said Moore’s testimony is "necessary" for his oversight.
Jordan said his letter also serves as a "formal request" for Moore and the FBI to preserve all existing and future records and materials in their possession relating to the topics addressed.
"You should construe this preservation notice as an instruction to take all reasonable steps to prevent the destruction or alteration, whether intentionally or negligently, of all documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information and metadata, that are or may be responsive to this congressional inquiry," Jordan wrote, adding that the electronic messages sent using her official and personal accounts or devices, including records created using text messages, phone-based message applications, or encryption software.
The letter was signed by Jordan, Rep. Darrell Issa, the ranking member on the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, as well as Rep. Mike Johnson, the ranking member on the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
"Step back and view it in context—this is all happening in addition to the FBI raiding the home of a former president; in addition to the FBI taking the phone of a sitting member of Congress; in addition to the Democrats and Joe Biden passing legislation which is going to unleash 87,000 IRS agents on we the people, we the taxpayers," Jordan said."So, when you view it in context, it’s almost like, just when you think it can’t get worse, they ratchet it up another level."
Republicans have been sounding the alarm on the FBI's unprecedented raid of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.
Congressional Republicans also slammed the FBI throughout the Trump administration for its original investigation into whether Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. Special Counsel John Durham is now investigating the origins of that probe.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Capitol, whistleblowers have reported to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that the FBI falsely labeled derogatory information on Hunter Biden as disinformation ahead of the 2020 presidential election, and instructed employees not to look at the Hunter Biden laptop after the FBI had obtained it.
FBI Director Christopher Wray, during Senate testimony last month, said that those whistleblower allegations were "deeply troubling."
But Jordan told Fox News Digital that he thinks it is "amazing that this many whistleblowers come talk to us while we’re in the minority."
"We can’t really do anything other than write letters…that's all we can do," Jordan said. "But they’re willing to do it because it just underscores how egregious the activity is, and what’s really going on there, that we now have had 14 agents come talk to us."
"All we can do is highlight it, and if we get the majority, we’re going to do more investigations, where we can actually subpoena people to do depositions," Jordan said, adding that he is sending letters to FBI officials now to let them know to "preserve documents, preserve information."
He added: "If in fact the American people put us in charge, we’re going to want access to the information."
