The Trump administration allegedly paid off FBI agents fired or punished for misconduct, including one who impeded a probe into a white nationalist group and another agent who appeared at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Those are the bombshell claims at the heart of a new probe Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin opened Tuesday into the Justice Department, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel.
Raskin “launched an investigation into a scheme inside the Department of Justice (DOJ) to direct millions of taxpayer dollars to FBI agents fired for serious misconduct, many of whom are aligned with Donald Trump,” according to a press release announcing the probe.
Raskin’s letter to Blanche demands details on the alleged payouts, which Raskin said were negotiated by Empower Oversight, a well-funded conservative activist group linked to Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley that has focused on MAGA conspiracy theories under the guise of defending “whistleblowers.”
Raskin cites as an example an FBI agent who allegedly received a payout and reinstatement at the FBI after being removed for refusing to participate in a probe of the white supremacist group Patriot Front, which has been involved in acts of violence and intimidation toward Black people and immigrants. Raskin said this occurred despite revelations that the agent also “engaged in commercial sex overseas while on an official FBI assignment—unequivocal grounds for security clearance revocation and dismissal from the FBI.” The letter notes the agent was reinstated under Patel.
This claim seems particularly noteworthy in light of the Trump Justice Department’s indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which investigates racist extremism and has even previously assisted the DOJ in such investigations. The SPLC is seemingly being targeted for purported fraud in connection with its work against white supremacist groups. Meanwhile, Raskin’s allegation is that the Justice Department rewarded someone for refusing to investigate white supremacy.
Raskin’s list of alleged payouts overseen by Blanche or Patel includes an agent who was reinstated and given more than $100,000 by the department after a court declined to reinstate him after he leaked details of a probe into the far-right group Project Veritas to the media. The representative also references an agent who was reinstated and given his security clearance back after facing punishment over documents, including photos and video, that showed him in a restricted area during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol back in 2021.
“There are many more examples of these indefensible and lawless payments,” Raskin’s letter to Blanche claims.
The letter demands a list of all FBI or DOJ employees who have received settlements or back pay after being fired or disciplined for alleged misconduct, and all documents pertaining to the negotiations.
Raskin lays out the picture of a lawless regime that prioritizes loyalty to the president — the first to be convicted of a felony — and subservience to his political agenda over seemingly all else. If the allegations are accurate, it’s a disturbing development, but arguably a predictable one.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
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