The whistleblowers claim they suffered demotions and suspensions after taking unpopular political positions.
The Trump Justice Department has resolved ten FBI whistleblower cases brought by agents who claim they suffered politically motivated retaliation at the hands of the bureau’s Biden administration leadership.
Many of the agents, who claim they were punished for coming forward with claims of “political weaponization” by the Biden administration, will receive lump sum payments as part of their settlement with the DOJ.
“These 10 whistleblowers’ brave actions were met with intense bureaucratic blowback that caused severe financial and emotional hardship,” Senator Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) said in a statement. “Their lives were upended for years, but I never stopped fighting until things were made right.”
The whistleblowers, who were represented by the legal nonprofit Empower Oversight, alleged that they had been demoted, placed on unpaid administration leave, and had their security clearances revoked after staking out unpopular positions on hot-button issues such as the Covid-19 vaccine and the Second Amendment.
Empower Oversight founders Tristan Leavitt and Jason Foster sought to resolve the whistleblower cases after President Trump signed an executive order at the start of his term to combat the weaponization of government and Attorney General Pam Bondi established the weaponization working group to comply with Trump’s order.
“However, as you know, the fight never ends. For each of these cases where whistleblowers finally received at least some measure of justice for the retaliation they faced just for telling the truth about wrongdoing, there are many more who still need a remedy,” Leavitt and Foster said in a statement.
During the Biden administration, the FBI came to an agreement with Marcus Allen, a prominent whistleblower who claimed he lost his security clearance for disputing then-FBI director Christopher Wray’s congressional testimony and for other reasons related to his political beliefs and views on the Covid-19 vaccine.
Earlier this month, the FBI restored the security clearance of a whistleblower whose co-workers were forced to answer questions about the employee’s support for Trump, views on the Covid-19 vaccine, and pro-Second Amendment activity.
The eight other agreements differ depending on each of the FBI whistleblowers’s employment situations. None of them required resignations and all included lump sum payments for damages. Four of the agreements involve voluntary retirements and four require the restoration of back pay and benefits.
FBI director Kash Patel announced the agreements days earlier on social media without getting into the specifics.
“Breaking: agreements have been reached with 10 FBI Whistleblowers (and counsel) to include a combination of backpay, security clearance, and reinstatement. We greatly appreciate @realDonaldTrump commitment to transparency and accountability. Thank you to @ChuckGrassley for working with us to make this happen,” Patel posted on X.
Several of the whistleblowers Empower Oversight represents have remained anonymous. One of them was a counterintelligence analyst specializing in China who the FBI falsely accused of leaking the story of Representative Eric Swalwell’s (D., Calif.) ties to a suspected Chinese intelligence operative.
Other FBI whistleblowers became outspoken conservative activists, such 12-year agency veteran Stephen Friend, who clashed with management over the Covid-19 vaccine mandate and opposed an operation in Jacksonville, Florida to arrest a defendant who participated in the January 6th, 2021 capitol riot.
Friend and two other outspoken whistleblowers, Garret O’Boyle and Zachery Schofstall, will return to duty under their agreements with the FBI.
“Whistleblowers risk it all for the sake of simply telling the truth. These 10 whistleblowers’ brave actions were met with intense bureaucratic blowback that caused severe financial and emotional hardship. Their lives were upended for years, but I never stopped fighting until things were made right,” Grassley said.
“I appreciate Attorney General Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Blanche, Director Patel and Deputy Director Bongino’s unyielding efforts to prioritize accountability and bring closure to these whistleblowers’ cases.”
Grassley praised Bondi and Patel in a letter celebrating the FBI’s resolution of the whistleblower cases. He reminded them that there are still more whistleblowers whose careers and reputations were ruined for speaking out against the Biden administration.