The House Judiciary Committee’s Jim Jordan (R-OH) disclosed the information from whistleblowers in a letter to FBI Director Chris Way.
QUICK FACTS:
- Whistleblowers within the FBI claimed agents are being coerced into labeling cases as “domestic violent extremism” in order to further the Biden administration’s narrative that domestic “extremism” is the “greatest threat” in America.
- Domestic violent extremism (DVE) is defined by the FBI as “an individual based and operating primarily within the United States or its territories without direction or inspiration from a foreign terrorist group or other foreign power who seeks to further political or social goals wholly or in part through unlawful acts of force or violence.”
- The information was revealed in a letter penned by the House Judiciary Committee’s Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), who said that FBI agents are “bolstering the number of cases of DVEs to satisfy their superiors. “[O]ne whistleblower explained that because agents are not finding enough DVE cases, they are encouraged and incentivized to reclassify cases as DVE cases even though there is minimal, circumstantial evidence to support the reclassification,” said Jordan.
- “Another whistleblower stated that a field office Counterterrorism Assistant Special Agent in Charge and the FBI’s Director of the Counterterrorism Division have pressured agents to move cases into the DVE category to hit self-created performance metrics,” Rep. Jordan continued. “According to whistleblowers, the FBI uses these metrics to dispense awards and promotions.”
- The information cast doubt on statements expressed by FBI Director Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, who shared that the FBI “doubled the amount of domestic terrorism investigations.” Jordan argued such efforts were part of a “woke left-wing agenda” set on purging FBI employees who hold “conservative views.”
- Artificial classification of DVEs not only “cheapens actual examples of violent extremism,” Jordan concluded, but “reinforces [The House Judiciary Committee’s] concerns…regarding the FBI’s politicization under [Director Wray’s] leadership.”
ATTORNEY GENERAL MERRICK GARLAND’S STATEMENTS:
- Last year, Garland suggested the “top domestic violence extremist threat comes from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocated for the superiority of the White race.”
- Garland added that the number of active DVE cases “has increased significantly,” although Jim Jordan’s letter now indicates these statements are misleading.
BACKGROUND:
- At the beginning of 2022, The Justice Department announced they were creating a specialized unit specifically for domestic extremism, the “Domestic Terrorism Unit.”
- AG Garland previously used the FBI to issue “threat tags” to parents against critical race theory (CRT) being taught in schools, a means accomplished through the Patriot Act.
- Read Jim Jordan’s letter here.
