Overview
- Rep. Jamie Raskin, who sent a seven-page letter Tuesday to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, said DOJ directed the FBI to pay millions to nearly a dozen suspended agents and asked for records explaining the deals.
- Raskin cited specific payouts that included a $63,500 lump sum plus hundreds of thousands in back pay to an agent whose clearance was revoked after investigators said he lied about being in a restricted area on Jan. 6.
- He also pointed to more than $61,000 plus back pay for former agent Steven Friend, whom the FBI accused of refusing a Jan. 6 arrest, recording supervisors without approval, and taking sensitive files, and to more than $600,000 and reinstatement for Garret O’Boyle despite earlier FBI and court rejections of his claims.
- Attorney Tristan Leavitt and his group Empower Oversight disputed Raskin’s framing and said these were routine whistleblower settlements that restore pay and jobs when employees file administrative claims alleging flawed FBI discipline.
- Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office said it helped broker the agreements and called Raskin’s letter defamatory, while DOJ and the FBI did not comment; separate recent DOJ payments to Carter Page and Michael Flynn have added fuel to calls for closer oversight of settlement decisions.