House Republicans must make whistleblowers feel “comfortable in coming forward” and testifying on government corruption witnessed within federal agencies, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), member of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, told Breitbart News Saturday.
The work done on the Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, Stefanik said, will be what she described as “some of the most important work that House Republicans do in the majority” in terms of bringing “accountability and transparency to what the American people understand has been the weaponization of the federal government against everyday Americans.” She cited several examples, including the Department of Justice (DOJ) designating concerned parents as domestic terrorists or the FBI targeting President Joe Biden’s political adversaries.
Americans, Stefanik continued, see that there appears to be two sets of rules: “One set of rules if you are a well-connected Democrat who was part of the swamp” and another for law abiding Americans who happen to hold conservative views.
“So there’s a lot of digging that we need to do, let alone the egregious illegal acts,” she said, highlighting the FBI working with Twitter to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story.
“So the first service we can do is shining sunlight and bringing transparency, and we have subpoena power or in the majority and we’re not going to hesitate to use it,” she explained.
Stefanik admitted they anticipate a lack of cooperation from the Biden White House and Department of Justice but said they will “use every tool at our disposal” to bring the truth to light.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) building headquarters is seen in Washington, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
“Obviously, there is egregious, egregious crimes that have been committed if they’re so unwilling to turn over just basic documents, basic information to Congress. And, you know, hopefully what will come out of this is not only shining a transparent spotlight on these abuses of power on potential criminal acts, we need to reform these agencies so they’re not able to target Americans. Again, these agencies work for the American people, not the other way around,” the congresswoman explained, making it clear that there are good individuals who work at these agencies as well — some of whom may be willing to speak out, which could be key in exposing government corruption.
“There is a difference between the rank-and-file, hard-working, law-abiding FBI agents across this country, versus the politicized bureaucrats, the political appointees based in Washington, D.C.,” she said, citing a buried report that came out prior to the midterm elections from the Judiciary Committee, detailing “multiple whistleblowers from within the FBI and the Department of Justice who came forward” and provided what she described as a “deposition of the abuse that they see internally of the FBI from political leaders at the top and how they’re trying to use the Biden agenda.”
“So an example, there was an extraordinary amount of pressure to designate acts as domestic violent extremism as part of the left’s agenda, to boost that number in terms of the reporting. And these regional FBI officials across the country said that, basically to boost your score to boost your likelihood of promotion, career advancement, there’s an expectation that you continue down this road of priority to the Biden administration and the left,” she said, emphasizing the importance of these whistleblowers’ testimonies.
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“The left only likes a whistleblower when it’s whistleblower and impeachment. They want to silence whistleblowers when they’re coming forward to expose the lies of the left. So we’re going to have to make sure that these patriots feel comfortable in coming forward and we encourage them to do so,” she said, noting that whistleblowers are protected by law and Republicans will make sure that protection is enforced.
Stefanik said a “silencing effect” was a major theme that came out of the report released prior to the midterms, noting that there has “already has been retaliation, whether it’s stripping of security clearances,” stopping promotions, or taking individuals off high profile cases, she explained.
“That’s why this subcommittee is so important in terms of really providing transparency to the abuses that are happening within these agencies, not just against the American people, but the rank and file hardworking Americans who make up the bulk of … the personnel in these agencies,” she said, lamenting the damage that the likes of James Comey, Christopher Wray, and Rod Rosenstein have done in terms of politicizing and breaking these agencies.
“It’s impacted the morale and it’s impacted retention as well,” she added.