Dem
51
GOP
49
As part of the corrupt bargain Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) made in order to obtain the speaker's gavel, he had to create a "weaponization" subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee and install Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) as the subcommittee chair. Jordan has called a number of witness so far (in private), but none of them produced any evidence that the FBI or DoJ have done anything wrong. They mostly just peddled various grievances and conspiracy theories about the coup attempt and claimed the insurrection was planned by Democrats. They also proposed abolishing the FBI. Some of the witness were paid by Kash Patel, a Trump ally.
Jordan called three of the witnesses who formerly worked for the FBI—George Hill, Garrett O'Boyle, and Stephen Friend—whistleblowers. But none of them meet the definition of "whistleblower," because none of them have presented any evidence of lawbreaking, mismanagement, or abuse of power within the Bureau. O'Boyle complained about the mandate that federal workers had to be vaccinated against COVID-19. That is not evidence of mismanagement. It is simply evidence that he didn't like legal government policy. Similarly, Friend said that the FBI is a "feckless, garbage institution that should be eliminated."
The top Democrats on the subcommittee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI), have called on Jordan to have the witnesses testify in public and allow members of the subcommittee to grill them, so Americans can judge for themselves how trustworthy they seem. So far Jordan does not seem inclined to do that, probably because he knows the Democrats would tear them apart in a public hearing.
Nadler and Plaskett are not holding their breath. Instead, they issued a 316-page report about the hearings and witnesses so far. It says Hill's testimony is all secondhand. He didn't see any of the events he described himself, but heard about them from others. Also, his Twitter account is full of hatred for Joe Biden and RINOs. O'Boyle was accused of making unauthorized disclosures to the media and had his security clearance revoked. He also claimed that the vaccination mandate was just like Nazi Germany. Friend was placed on AWOL status in August 2022 after he objected to how members of a domestic extremist group associated with the coup attempt were arrested. A month later, his security clearance was lifted and he made many posts on social media calling for the FBI to be dismantled. None of these folks match up to Cassidy Hutchinson in terms of credibility. If this is the best Jordan can do, the whole investigation is going to fizzle. (V)