Photo: Alamy
FBI Whistleblower Garret O’Boyle issued a warning during his testimony to Congress Thursday for any of his former colleagues who would consider sharing the truth and exposing misconduct in the government.
“The FBI will crush you,” he said. “This government will crush you and your family if you try to expose the truth about things they are doing that are wrong.”
The House of Representatives select subcommittee on the “Weaponization of the Federal Government” held a hearing Thursday, allowing FBI whistleblowers to share their testimonies regarding the alleged partisan actions of the FBI.
Along with O’Boyle’s testimony as an FBI special agent, former FBI special agent Steve Friend, FBI staff operations specialist Marcus Allen, and former member of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board Tristan Leavitt shared their testimonies with members of the House.
In his opening statement to the House of Representatives, O’Boyle said, “Too many in the FBI aren’t willing to sacrifice for the hard right over the easy wrong. They see what becomes of whistleblowers, how the FBI destroys their careers, suspends them under false pretenses, takes their security clearance and pay with no true options for real recourse or remedy. This is by design. It creates an Orwellian atmosphere that silences opposition and discussion.”
After hearing details regarding the FBI’s retaliation against whistleblowers, Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., asked O’Boyle what he would say to any of his former colleagues at the FBI if they came to him with information they believed was being “covered up” and was important for the American people to know.
“I’d tell them first to pray about it long and hard, and I would tell them, I could take it to Congress for them or I could put them in touch with Congress, but I would advise them not to do it,” O’Boyle said.
Asked if he would “legitimately” discourage one of his former colleagues from coming forward with information in a similar manner to the whistleblowers who testified at Thursday’s hearing, O’Boyle said he would “absolutely” protect his former colleagues by discouraging them from coming forward with information the FBI was covering up.
“All I wanted to do was serve my country by stopping bad guys and protecting the innocent,” he said. “To my chagrin, bad guys have begun running parts of the government, making it difficult to continue to serve this nation and protect the innocent, but I for one will never stop trying, and I will never forget my oath.”
