“These ten (whistleblowers) collectively suffered 12-years-worth of unjustified suspension time,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, posted on X after getting word of the settlement. “They were punished (because) of their disclosures/political beliefs. In other words, they were treated like skunks at a picnic. Now they receive justice.”
Sen. Grassley has long advocated for the whistleblowers and has helped navigate the settlements to their retaliation complaints. According to the Senator’s office, under the Biden administration the ten whistleblowers received retaliation that included demotions, loss of pay, and revocation of security clearances.
The legal nonprofit Empower Oversight represented the ten FBI employees. The organization detailed in a 12-page, March 5 letter to the FBI’s general counsel the improper “retaliatory targeting” of the men and women it represented.
The letter also stated:
While it is our belief that new leadership of the FBI has the authority to remedy the wrongs suffered by our clients through management directives and should do so immediately, we are willing to work cooperatively on each of the fronts outlined above in order to explore amicable resolutions in each case.
The New York Post highlighted several whistleblowers and some of their conduct that spawned the reprisals.
One special agent was suspended indefinitely and lost his security clearance after he objected to a SWAT team being used to arrest a January 6 riot defendant on a misdemeanor charge.
Another was suspended without pay and lost his security clearance after being wrongly accused of leaking information to Project Veritas, a conservative undercover journalism operation.
Another agent in New Orleans lost his security clearance when he reported prosecutorial misconduct related to a sweetheart plea deal given to a district attorney charged with sex crimes.
A female FBI staffer was punished for reporting mismanagement and a “gross waste of funds” in connection with how criminal background checks were being processed.
“The actions taken against our clients were in reprisal for protected whistleblowing and/or improper targeting because of their political beliefs,” the March 5 letter by their attorneys stated.
Four of the whistleblowers remained anonymous.
Empower Oversight Founder Jason Foster and President Tristan Leavitt, in a letter dated Tuesday, thanked Grassley for his advocacy while also stating the fight to protect whistleblowers was not over.
“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,” they wrote. “The work to combat weaponization and whistleblower retaliation is far from over.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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