Rep. Matt Gaetz stepped up criticism of the FBI following the testimony of three agency whistleblowers last week.
In an interview with Fox News, the Fort Walton Beach Republican cited their comments as a reason to overhaul America’s premiere crime-fighting agency.
As The Free Press reported on Thursday, whistleblowers Garret O’Boyle, Steve Friend, and Marcus Allen testified before the House Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government to detail the alleged “abuses of power” by the bureau’s leadership. That ranged from discrimination against conservatives to inflation of domestic terrorism statistics.
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In a clip The Free Press posted last week during the interview, for example, Gaetz asked O’Boyle why the FBI identified the Betsy Ross flag as a symbol of terrorism and domestic extremism.
“I wish there was a reasonable explanation for that,” O’Boyle replied.
On Fox, Gaetz opened by saying the FBI has good agents and analysts across the country. The problem is with the agency’s leadership in Washington, which applies “pressure … to do things that are against the law and the Constitution.”
“We have to defang and defund the authorities that have been weaponized against the people. We have to get the FBI out of Washington D.C.,” said Gaetz on Thursday.
The congressman noted O’Boyle and the others as examples of how the agency turns on its own in addition to some of its higher-profile targets, such as former President Donald Trump.
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In another example, Gaetz also pointed out that FBI agents in Boston were punished because they declined to round up locals who had been in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.
“The corruption runs deep, and they are deeply afraid more people will come forward,” said Gaetz, to spotlight the practices of an agency “that seems to have sown more evil than they have rooted out.”
Gaetz called for Congress to hamstring the FBI’s budget until “significant” organizational changes are made to address the rot.
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