An FBI whistleblower said the bureau’s Washington Field Office (WFO) refused Boston Field Office’s (BFO) request for footage of the Capitol storming on January 6, 2021, because “there may be undercover officers or confidential human sources on those videos whose identity we need to protect.”
On Thursday, Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) shared video of whistleblower George Hill’s deposition during a press conference with the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Hill is a former FBI BFO employee.
According to Hill, WFO pressured BFO to “open up a case” on 140 individuals who attended the rally in support of then-President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. The Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) in Boston refused, asserting political rally attendance “is a First Amendment-protected activity,” Hill said.
“And I forgot a key part,” Hill continued. “The SSA for CT2 said, ‘Happy to do it. Show us where they were inside the Capitol, and we’ll look into it.’ To which WFO said, ‘We can’t show you those videos unless you can tell us the exact time and place those individuals were inside the Capitol.’ To which the SSA responded back – and I was privy to these conversations firsthand – ‘Why can’t you show us – why can’t you just send us the – give us access to the 11,000 hours of video that’s available?'”
“’Because there may be’ – may be – ‘UCs,’ undercover officers, ‘or CHSes,’ confidential human sources, ‘on those videos whose identity we need to protect,” WFO said, according to Hill.
The Weaponization Committee said Hill’s former supervisor, Special Agent-in-Charge Joseph Bonavolonta, confirmed Hill’s testimony that WFO asked BFO to investigate 140 people who attended a Republican political rally.
“The FBI has been victimized by political capture and that politicization has manifested in the targeting of Americans who never deserved to have this government weaponized against them,” Gaetz said during the press conference.
