Bongino SLAMS Massie for suggesting FBI seeks retaliation against J6 pipe bomb whistleblowers

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino fired back at Rep Thomas Massie on Thursday morning after the lawmaker posted a letter from an attorney suggesting the FBI was attempting to retaliate against a whistleblower in regards to the January 6 pipe bomb investigation.

Bongino wrote that he and FBI Director Kash Patel "had our hands full" when they joined the administration, but "despite the multitude of challenges we faced, one of our first initiatives was to aggressively pursue a new strategy to investigate the January 6 pipe bomb, terror attack.

"We brought in new personnel to take a look at the case, we flew in police officers and detectives working as TFOs (task force officers) to review FBI work, we conducted multiple internal reviews, held countless in person and SVTC meetings with investigative team members, we dramatically increased investigative resources, and we increased the public award for information in the case to utilize crowd-sourcing leads. This is only a small sample of the work the FBI personnel and leadership team have put into this critical investigation."

"When I spoke with you yesterday a little after 8am ET (screenshots attached), I offered you an in-person brief on our work. We spoke for ten minutes. I called you back a bit after 7:30pm ET to again make that offer. You didn’t answer and have yet to call me back."

"Despite this, you continue to imply that the Director and I are targeting investigators in the case. This is disgusting, even by the low standards many have for politicians. You know my number, and you’re free to call me anytime. But it’s easier to tweet and throw BS bombs."

"Yes, our leadership team will be meeting with FBI team members today, and we will avail them of all the whistleblower resources they need to disclose ANY evidence of malfeasance in the prior administration. And we will ask about threads that may have gone un-pulled under prior leadership, because we are passionate about solving this case."

"But a week of near 24-hour work on RECENT open source leads in the case has yet to produce a break through, and some of the media reporting regarding prior persons of interest is grossly inaccurate and serves only to mislead the public. I proudly serve in this administration, and I proudly work with Director Patel to reform and advance the crime fighting and national security missions of the FBI. We would love to have you as a partner in this mission, rather than a dog barking behind a fence."

On Wednesday evening, Massie posted a letter from an attorney representing an FBI whistleblower in the pipe bomb investigation. The letter stated that the FBI was to hold a meeting on Thursday morning, and "it is obvious from the information provided by senior leadership in the Washington Field Office that this meeting is an attempt to identify the FBI whistleblower who made the protected disclosure to the US Congress."

The letter continued, "The attempt by the Assistant Director and other senior leadership in the Washington Field Office to identify the whistleblower is a reprisal and violation of 28 CFR part 27. The Department of Justice’s Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management (FBI whistleblower court) has upheld the right of FBI employees to anonymously make protected disclosures without being subject to retaliation by FBI management. Identifying the whistleblower serves only one purpose, which is to allow FBI management to retaliate." 

Massie wrote in regards to the letter, "I received this troubling letter today from the attorney representing the most recent FBI whistleblower regarding the J6 pipe bomb investigation. Just a reminder to FBI Director Kash PAtel, in case this letter is warranted, federal law prevents retaliation against whistleblowers."