FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the bureau reached agreements with ten whistleblowers whom the Biden administration targeted.
“Breaking: agreements have been reached with 10 FBI Whistleblowers (and counsel) to include a combination of backpay, security clearance, and reinstatement,” Patel wrote. “We greatly appreciate [President Trump’s] commitment to transparency and accountability. Thank you to [Senator Chuck Grassley] for working with us to make this happen.”
In March, Senator Grassley demanded that Attorney General Pam Bondi and Patel take action to reverse the history of retaliation against whistleblowers.
“My office has been told that, in many of these cases, the suspension of their security clearances resulted in immediate, indefinite suspensions without pay while the FBI improperly and intentionally delayed the process for these individuals to contest the adverse action,” he wrote at the time. “This tyrannical government conduct caused significant financial hardship. The retaliatory government action also placed them in the impossible situation to either resign their position without completing their legal challenge or continue challenging the suspension or revocation of their clearance while suspended without pay with no prospect of obtaining new employment.”
“The Biden administration’s political weaponization of the Justice Department and FBI has caused significant damage to these institutions and its employees, but you’re in the position to right the ship,” Grassley added. “Accordingly, I request that you personally review the adverse personnel matters for these individuals, which I will send under separate cover, and take all appropriate corrective actions, including restoring their security clearances and employment and firing or otherwise disciplining those who retaliated against them, if warranted.”
