FBI agents who had accused bureau of politicization during Biden administration reach settlements

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has reached settlements with a group of current and former FBI agents who have said they were disciplined for invoking personal and political views, including about the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot and the COVID-19 vaccine, or for clashing with supervisors about approaches to investigations, their lawyers said Tuesday.

Empower Oversight, a group founded and led by former staff members of Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, announced the resolutions of 10 cases, including eight settlements in the last two weeks. Most of the cases concern agents who had accused the FBI of politicizing its work during President Joe Biden’s administration, a claim leadership denied.

Three of the agents are returning to duty at the FBI. Others are being permitted to voluntarily retire, and some are receiving restoration of back pay and benefits, the organization said in a statement announcing the deals. The FBI did not return an email seeking comment, though Director Kash Patel said on social media last week that agreements had been reached.

The resolutions come even as the FBI under Patel has moved to reassign and outright dismiss experienced senior executives for unclear reasons. The bureau this month fired, among others, a former acting director who had resisted a Trump administration demand to produce the names of agents who participated in Jan. 6 investigations. The head of its Washington field office, who had played an important role in those probes, was also forced out.

The FBI Agents Association has warned that those terminations were done without due process.

The settlements announced Tuesday include agents who were held up by Republican lawmakers looking to establish that the FBI during the Biden administration had become intolerant of the expression of conservative viewpoints — something Patel’s predecessor, Chris Wray, vigorously denied. Several accused the FBI of politicization before a special House committee in 2023 investigating what Republicans assert is the “weaponization” of the federal government against conservatives.

Democrats dismissed the testimony, calling the hearing another attempt by Republicans on the committee to help now-President Donald Trump.

Those being reinstated include Steve Friend, who has said he was suspended and later resigned after refusing to participate in a SWAT team arrest of a Jan. 6 suspect, and also objected to a COVID vaccine mandate.

Another is Garret O’Boyle, who complained to Congress about the FBI’s handling of Jan. 6 investigations. His lawyers said he was suspended after being suspected of improperly accessing and sharing case information about conservative activist group Project Veritas.

Also reinstated was Zachery Schoffstall, whose lawyers say he was disciplined after he complained about the exclusion of what he believed was exculpatory information in an FBI affidavit during an investigation into a white nationalist hate group.

One of the 10 settlements was reached last year, when the Biden administration agreed to restore the security clearance of Marcus Allen, another FBI employee who had accused the bureau of politicizing its work. He formally resigned.