On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the weaponization of the federal government against its citizens. A sad occurrence that has become more frequent as the government continues to grow out of control. During the hearing, numerous whistleblowers testified about being retaliated against by the FBI for coming forward to report either corruption or abuse of power by the government or its affiliated agencies. Being members of the fourth estate that are supposed to report on government and its excesses, you would think the big three evening news broadcasts would jump at the opportunity to report on this hearing and the shocking accounts that were revealed. Sadly, like most stories of any consequence these days, the big three networks ignored it because they rightly believe coverage would hurt the Biden administration.
Instead, all three networks: ABC’s World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News decided to keep their viewers in the dark and waste precious airtime on stories like a fire at a North Carolina construction site or a security scare at the Vatican.
Meanwhile Fox News Channel’s flagship newscast Special Report kicked off the broadcast with the news that was made from the congressional hearing.
“Witnesses told members of Congress stories of retaliation and intimidation because they questioned a prominent investigation,” correspondent David Spunt explained.
One of the whistleblowers who testified under oath was a former FBI agent named Marcus Allen who “was punished for questioning the official narrative of what happened at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
“He lost his security clearance two weeks ago, though it was suspended in January 2022,” Spunt noted.
In an attempt at damage control, the FBI released a statement to Fox News that tried to smear Allen, reading: “Mr. Allen used his FBI email to send multiple colleagues, quote: Links to web sites and urged recipients to exercise extreme caution and discretion in pursuit of any investigative inquiries or leads pertaining to the events of January 6.”
One would think the three networks would at least briefly cover the hearing and read the FBI’s denials and denigration of the whistleblowers. That would at least be expected from them. Instead they decided to ignore it completely in the hopes that the story will go away.
This bias by omission from the three networks was made possible by WeatherTech on ABC, Head & Shoulders on CBS, and Fidelity on NBC. Their information is linked.
To read the transcript click “expand”:
FNC’s Special Report
5/18/2023
6:00:58 p.m. EasternBRET BAIER: House Republicans looking into what they call the weaponization of the federal government. They say federal employees, FBI employees specifically who have talked about it, have faced retaliation. It’s another blow to the bureau that’s already enduring greater scrutiny in the wake of the special counsel conclusion that it should not have opened an investigation into the Trump-Russia collusion case. The John Durham report. Democrats on that committee today called it a lot of hot air in one of the most heated hearings on the hill in years. Correspondent David Spunt starts us off tonight from the Justice Department. Good evening, David.
DAVID SPUNT: Bret, good evening to you. Witnesses told members of Congress stories of retaliation and intimidation because they questioned a prominent investigation. Meanwhile, this letter obtained by Fox News is from the FBI and explains that these men wrote policy and it explains why their security clearances were revoked.
MARCUS ALLEN: The FBI suspended my security clearance accusing me of actually being disloyal to my country.
SPUNT: Marcus Allen a former marine says it’s simple. He was punished for questioning the official narrative of what happened at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. He lost his security clearance two weeks ago, though it was suspended in January 2022.
ALLEN: I was not in Washington, D.C. on January 6. And I condemn all criminal activity that occurred.
SPUNT: Fox News obtained this FBI letter to members of Congress. It reads in part that Mr. Allen used his FBI email to send multiple colleagues, quote: Links to web sites and urged recipients to exercise extreme caution and discretion in pursuit of any investigative inquiries or leads pertaining to the events of January 6. Steven Friend also claims FBI retaliation for his questions about January 6th investigations. His security clearance also revoked.
STEVE FRIEND: You may think I’m a grifter. You may think I’m a conspiracy theorist. It does not matter. This committee should avoid the temptation to impune the character and the motivations of the messengers seated before you.
REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): Have you ever put a tweet out to defund, disband, dismantle and abolish the FBI?
FRIEND: I have.
SPUNT: According to his FBI file, Friend used an unauthorized flash drive to remove files from an FBI computer and refused to participate in the execution of a court authorized search and arrest of a criminal subject. The overall hearing chaotic.