Report claims Kash Patel set to REVEAL the Jan 6 pipe bomber



The identity of the January 6 pipe bomber remains a mystery, but perhaps not for long.

“A new report claims that FBI Director Kash Patel is about to blow the gates wide open on the January 6 fedsurrection,” specifically as it relates to the pipe bomber, says Liz Wheeler, BlazeTV host of “The Liz Wheeler Show.”

It’s “the key to unraveling the entire plot to entrap Trump supporters on January 6,” she says.

If it’s true and the pipe bomber’s identity is revealed, it will be“one of the biggest exposures of the deep state weaponizing government against us that we have ever seen,” says Liz.

“We've known for a long time that this shouldn't have been a case that caused the FBI that much consternation to solve,” says Liz, noting that we have videotapes as well as geolocation data from the individual’s cell phone.

Using the data, the FBI narrowed down its pool of suspects to 186 people and then narrowed it down further to one single phone number.

“So we got him. We know who the January 6 pipe bomber is,” says Liz. “But then suddenly after they'd narrowed it down to just one person, … the FBI ceased their investigation” and “closed the book on the January 6 pipe bomber investigation right before they got their guy.”

“The FBI is at the very least covering up information that someone in the federal government doesn't want you to know. Now whether it's the FBI that committed the wrongdoing, whether this was a completely staged event, whether the ATF was involved, whether Nancy Pelosi was in knowledge of this, we don’t know,” she continues. “But Kash Patel does.”

But is the report true? Will Kash Patel actually release the name of the pipe bomber?

Liz thinks so.

“I think it is, because Kash Patel went into the FBI promising to root out the deep state, and this is it!” she says.

To hear more about the report, watch the episode above.

Want more from Liz Wheeler?

To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Legal Watchdog: D.C. Police Demand $1.57 Million To Release Jan. 6 Bodycam Footage

The non-profit published a press release outlining the department's demands in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.

Body cam captures J6 defendant being shot, killed by law enforcement after Trump pardoned him; officer won't be charged



Newly released bodycam footage shows the moment a Jan. 6 defendant was shot and killed by a law enforcement officer in Indiana last month. An Indiana special prosecutor said the officer involved in the fatal police shooting will not be charged.

As Blaze News previously reported, 42-year-old Matthew Huttle was pulled over by a police officer around 4:15 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2025. The 10-minute traffic stop ended with Huttle being shot and killed by the officer.

'I can't do it. No, I can't go to jail for this, sir.'

On Thursday, the Jasper County Sheriff's Office released bodycam video and police dashcam footage of the police shooting death of the man who had been pardoned by President Donald Trump for his actions at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

A deputy with the Jasper County Sheriff's Office pulled over Huttle for driving a gold minivan at 70 mph in a 55 mph zone.

The interaction between the officer and Huttle began in a cordial manner.

After the deputy requests Huttle's license and registration, Huttle admits: "I just want to let you know that I'm a January 6 defendant."

The officer asks, "What do you mean?"

Huttle replies, "I stormed the Capitol. I'm waiting on my pardon."

The officer chuckles and says, "Really?"

Huttle responds, "Yeah, and I can't really afford to get into any trouble right now."

Huttle then admits that he's driving without a license and waiting on a “hardship license,” which allows people with suspended licenses to have some driving privileges.

The deputy then asks about the dog in the back of Huttle's vehicle.

The officer collects Huttle's Indiana identification card and car title, then returns to his patrol car.

The deputy returns to the van and asks Huttle to step out of the vehicle. Huttle complies.

The deputy informs Huttle that he is letting him off for the speeding violation with a verbal warning, but he is at a "felony status for driving while suspended."

The officer notes that he might have been able to "work something out for you" if it was a misdemeanor, but he had to arrest him for the felony offense because "there's no leeway."

Special prosecutor Chris Vawter said in a statement that Huttle was "found to be a Habitual Traffic Violator, a felony under IC 9-30-10-16."

"I understand your circumstances, but you understand that you can't drive," the officer says. "You're driving has resulted in this situation."

When the officer tells Huttle that he is going to jail, the J6 defendant responds while shaking his head, "I can't. I can't."

The deputy replies, "You're gonna have to, OK?"

Huttle responds, "I can't do it. No, I can't go to jail for this, sir."

Huttle — who is seen visibly shaking in the police bodycam footage — asks if he can get a ride, but the deputy declines.

The officer orders Huttle to turn around and put his hands behind his back, but the Jan. 6 riot participant sprints to the driver's seat of the van.

The deputy shouts, "Don't you do it, buddy!"

A struggle ensues, and the officer is heard saying, "No, no, no, no, no, no."

Huttle threatens to commit suicide by stating, "I'm shooting myself."

The deputy yells, "No! No, no, no, no!"

The deputy backs away from the vehicle, draws his gun, and fires five gunshots into the van.

The officer retreats to his vehicle, and the police bodycam video ends.

Despite lifesaving measures attempted, Huttle was pronounced dead at the scene.

'Given these facts, the deputy’s actions were legally justified under Indiana law.'

The police shooting took place in Jasper County, but the Clinton County Prosecutor’s Office was requested to conduct an independent review of the fatal shooting, according to NBC News.

The deputy said Huttle raised a firearm.

Investigators found a loaded 9mm handgun and ammunition in the van "near where Huttle had reached."

Vawter said, “Upon being informed of his arrest, Huttle fled to his vehicle, entered the driver's seat, and reached in a manner consistent with retrieving a weapon."

The prosecutor stated, "Dash camera footage confirmed that Huttle raised an object while inside the vehicle."

"Believing that Huttle posed a deadly threat, the deputy fired multiple shots, striking Huttle," Vawter continued. "The deputy then retreated to his vehicle and awaited backup."

The prosecutor said the officer was " legally justified in using deadly force to defend himself."

"Despite lawful commands, Huttle attempted to reach for a firearm, posing an imminent threat to the deputy’s safety," Vawter concluded. "Given these facts, the deputy’s actions were legally justified under Indiana law. This investigation is now closed, and no charges will be filed."

The deputy had been placed on administrative leave after the shooting. The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to an NBC News inquiry of whether the deputy was still on leave or back on the job.

Huttle was among the more than 1,500 people charged for their roles in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and then pardoned by President Trump on Jan. 20, 2025.

Huttle was arrested in November 2022 after he was accused of entering the Capitol building during the J6 riot.

In November 2023, he was sentenced to six months in prison and a year of supervised release after pleading guilty to a single misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted building.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Jan. 6 defendant Jeremy Brown released from prison 37 days after presidential pardon



Former U.S. Army Green Beret and Oath Keeper Jeremy Michael Brown walked out the front door of the federal prison in Atlanta on Feb. 26, ending his 37-day saga since President Donald J. Trump issued pardons to more than 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants.

Brown, 50, of Tampa, was one of the last remaining Jan. 6 defendants left behind bars in the wake of President Trump’s pardon and commutation proclamation issued the night of Jan. 20.

Brown was initially told that he would not be released because prosecutors did not consider one of his two criminal cases to be “related” to Jan. 6, as required by the pardon declaration. It became clear, however, that the U.S. Department of Justice had long considered the Florida case to be a Jan. 6 case.

He said the grenades were planted to support his prosecution because he refused a request from two Joint Terrorism Task Force agents to spy on the Oath Keepers.

Under a new acting U.S. attorney in Tampa, the DOJ entered a motion in U.S. district court stating that President Trump’s pardon covers both Brown’s D.C. and Florida criminal cases. That opened the prison gate for Brown one day later.

It is still to be determined whether Brown’s Florida conviction will be vacated. He had an active case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Oral arguments were set for March 6.

In many Jan. 6 cases that were on appeal, the Court of Appeals vacated the convictions and sent the cases back to district court to be dismissed as moot. It is an important distinction from simply having a pardon, as it allows former defendants to avoid having a “convicted felon” label follow them around for the rest of their lives.

On April 7, 2023, Brown was found guilty by a federal jury in Tampa on six criminal counts that included possessing a short-barrel rifle and shotgun, possession of explosive grenades, improper storage of explosive grenades, and willful retention of a national defense document. Brown was found not guilty of four other charges. He was sentenced to 87 months in prison.

The Florida case grew out of a Jan. 6-related search of Brown’s Tampa residence on Sept. 30, 2021. Brown said the firearms were family heirlooms that belonged to his late father and late brother. He said the grenades were planted to support his prosecution because he refused a request from two Joint Terrorism Task Force agents to spy on the Oath Keepers leading up to and beyond Jan. 6, 2021.

Two similar Jan. 6 cases remain unresolved: Elias Nick Costianes, 46, of Nottingham, Md., and Benjamin John Martin, 46, of Madera, Calif. Like Brown, both men had two Jan. 6 criminal cases brought against them. One case covered their alleged actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and the other was for items found by the FBI during searches of their residences.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

J6er’s Florida conviction is covered by President Trump’s Jan. 20 pardon, DOJ says



More than a month after President Donald J. Trump issued Jan. 6 pardons and commutations, the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that both criminal cases brought against Oath Keeper Jeremy Brown are covered by the president’s pardon declaration, clearing the way for Brown’s release from an Atlanta prison.

In a filing in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel J. Marcet penned the words Brown has been waiting to hear for 36 days.

“Based on consultation with Department of Justice leadership, it is the position of the United States that the offenses of conviction in this case are intended to be covered by this Pardon,” Marcet wrote in a two-page filing.

Brown’s pardon situation as it stands now would mean Brown is considered by the law to be a felon who cannot possess firearms. The DOJ could also seek to vacate Brown’s Florida conviction through the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, but there is no indication so far that is planned. Blaze News has reached out to the DOJ for clarification but had not received a response by publication time.

Weapons charges grew from Jan. 6 warrant

Brown, 50, of Tampa, was convicted of a smattering of weapons-related and classified document charges in April 2023 in a case that sprang from a search of his home authorized as part of the FBI’s sweeping Jan. 6 investigation. The conviction led to an 87-month prison sentence doled out by U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew.

Brown has appealed his federal Florida conviction. Oral arguments in the appeal are scheduled to be heard March 6 in Jacksonville, Fla.

The new filing makes clear that the DOJ under President Trump considers both the D.C. charges and Florida charges against Brown to be “related” to Jan. 6 and thus covered by the pardon. On a motion from the new U.S. Attorney in D.C., Brown’s District of Columbia case was dismissed with prejudice on Jan. 28. That case had not yet proceeded to trial.

During a search of Brown’s home and recreational vehicle in September 2021, the FBI found two firearms with short barrels that should have been registered with the federal government. Brown said the rifle and shotgun were family heirlooms that belonged to his late father and late brother.

The FBI also claimed it found two fragmentation grenades inside Brown’s RV that he allegedly brought to D.C. on Jan. 6. However, the FBI lab could not link the explosives to Brown via DNA, fingerprints, carpet fibers, and even a dog hair found underneath one of the devices. Brown said the grenades were planted.

Brown’s case became one of the most prominent Jan. 6 prosecutions because the former Green Beret revealed that weeks before Jan. 6, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force tried to recruit him to spy on the Oath Keepers. He refused. Three months later, Brown released a recording of his JTTF meeting, which he said was the true motivation for the DOJ’s prosecution of him.

After initially being told by D.C. jail officials that he would be released after President Trump’s pardons, Brown said he was informed by U.S. Marshals that his Florida conviction would prevent his release because it wasn’t considered a Jan. 6 case. Shortly after, Brown was loaded in a van and shuttled through two detention centers in Kentucky before being deposited at the federal lockup in Atlanta.

A Georgia-based attorney filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on Feb. 6 in federal court in Atlanta. The defendant in that case, the warden of the FCI Atlanta prison, was given 60 days to show cause why the writ should not be issued.

A writ of habeas corpus — Latin for “you have the body” — compels law enforcement authorities “to produce a prisoner they are holding, and to justify the prisoner’s continued confinement,” according to U.S. courts.

Brown is among several pardoned Jan. 6 defendants who have not been released from federal custody due to questions surrounding one of their cases.

Elias Nick Costianes Jr., 46, of Nottingham, Md., also had two criminal cases brought against him, both springing from an FBI search of his residence. His D.C. charges were dismissed with prejudice in January, but questions lingered whether his Maryland federal charges should be covered by President Trump’s pardon declaration.

Benjamin Martin at the U.S. Capitol with fiancee, Cara. (Photos courtesy of Brad Geyer)

Costianes was ordered to report to federal prison on Feb. 12 on his Maryland-based conviction.

The DOJ filed a motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit stating it believes the Maryland charges were covered by the presidential pardon. However, a judge has yet to act on the emergency Court of Appeals motion that should lead to Costianes’ release from prison.

Benjamin John Martin, 46, of Madera, Calif., also remains behind prison bars weeks after his D.C. Jan. 6 case was dismissed with prejudice. He continues to be held because the DOJ has maintained that the California-based federal weapons charges against him were not related to Jan. 6.

When the FBI raided Martin’s home as part of its Jan. 6 investigation, it pried open a gun safe in the garage that contained a number of firearms. As someone with a domestic violence misdemeanor on his record, Martin was not allowed to possess firearms, according to prosecutors.

In his federal appeal, Martin is challenging the constitutionality of the lifetime weapons ban based on a onetime misdemeanor conviction.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Stephen A. Smith Asks Top Dem When His Party Will ‘Let Go Of’ Jan. 6 — He Responds By Ranting About It

'Enough of that'

J6 defendant who plotted to kill FBI agents should not be released by presidential pardon, DOJ says



A former Jan. 6 defendant found guilty of plotting to murder dozens of law enforcement officers in Tennessee should not be released from prison under President Donald J. Trump’s Jan. 20 pardon declaration, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a new court filing.

Edward R. Kelley, 36, of Maryville, Tenn., had his Jan. 6 case dismissed Jan. 22 by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on a motion from the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C.

'Dismissal of this case is not warranted.'

Kelley is asking a Tennessee federal judge to vacate the jury verdicts in his other case, in which he was charged with conspiring to kill various federal, state, and local law enforcement officers. The DOJ opposes the move, saying the conspiracy case is unrelated to Jan. 6.

“This case is about the defendant’s entirely independent criminal conduct in Tennessee, in late 2022, more than 500 miles away from the Capitol,” the DOJ wrote in a Feb. 18 filing, “threatening, soliciting, and conspiring to murder agents, officers, and employees of the FBI, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Maryville Police Department, Blount County Sheriff’s Office, and Clinton Police Department.”

Kelley’s conduct in the Tennessee case was “unrelated in both time and place” to the protests and violence at the U.S. Capitol, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Casey Arrowood and Kyle Wilson wrote in a filing before U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan, an appointee of President George W. Bush.

“The crimes for which an East Tennessee jury convicted the defendant did not occur at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” Arrowood and Wilson wrote. “They occurred entirely within the Eastern District of Tennessee nearly two years later. By the plain language of the proclamation, dismissal of this case is not warranted.”

'He intended his executive order to sweep broadly.'

On Nov. 20, 2024, a jury found Kelley guilty of conspiracy to murder employees of the United States, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, and influencing a federal official by threat. He faces possible life in prison at his scheduled May sentencing hearing.

In his motion to vacate the verdicts and dismiss the case with prejudice, Kelley said the Tennessee case “directly relates” to Jan. 6 events at the Capitol. Attorney Mark E. Brown wrote that the same FBI agent led the investigation in both of Kelley’s cases.

“It is clear from the President’s executive action that he intended his executive order to sweep broadly,” Brown wrote. “If he had wanted it to apply to just the actions of January 6th he would have said so. Rather he styled his executive action as ‘related to’ events that occurred at or near the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“Thus, Kelley is entitled to the immediate dismissal of the indictment in this court and immediate release from custody,” Brown wrote.

The DOJ summed up its opposition by saying, “The defendant is wrong.”

Kelley is one of a handful of former Jan. 6 defendants who remain behind bars despite President Trump's Jan. 20 declaration on pardons and sentence commutations.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Whistleblowers: FBI Weaponization Is Real, And Here’s Proof

'Ensuring that they no longer work at the FBI is not retribution; it’s responsible leadership.'

Judge Chutkan Should Be Disqualified From Hearing Trump Cases After Defying His J6 Order

Chutkan's order refusing to dismiss the charges against John Banuelos is a mishmash of confusion, defiance, and intellectual incoherence.

Blaze News original: FBI agents: True servants of justice — or bullies 'just following orders'?



With the likely confirmation of Kash Patel as the new director, a welcome change in culture at the Federal Bureau of Investigation seems almost inevitable. However, the hiring process at the agency is selective and the turnover rate is low. So while new faces will take over as top brass, the vast majority of the rank-and-file membership will remain the same.

To get a better understanding of the nearly 13,000 everyday agents who compose about a third of the FBI workforce, Blaze News spoke with two former everyday agents who have since blown the whistle on alleged misconduct at the FBI: former Special Agent Steve Friend and suspended Special Agent Garret O'Boyle.

According to Friend and O'Boyle, the lion's share of FBI rank-and-file agents are hardly as patriotic or as dedicated to their mission as many Americans have been led to believe.

The FBI and Trump's first term: Erosion of trust

When the leaders of some of the most powerful government agencies in the world opened Crossfire Hurricane, an investigation into then-candidate Donald Trump, in 2016, many high-profile figures attempted to make a distinction between some bad actors at the tops of these agencies and the supposedly devoted rank-and-file membership.

  • At a November 2016 hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) claimed that 79% of Secret Service employees at the time didn't "believe that senior leaders act honestly and with integrity."
  • In May 2017, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed President Donald Trump, then early in his first term, had fired FBI Director James Comey in part because the "rank-and-file" agents no longer trusted him.
  • At a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in February 2018, FBI Director Christopher Wray called the FBI "the finest group of professionals and public servants I could hope to work for." He continued: "Our people are very mission-focused. They're accustomed to the fact that we do some of the hardest things there are to do for a living."

However, the investigation into the wildly specious claim that Trump had somehow colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election caused a major rupture in the trust the American people had for federal law enforcement. The investigation was led by special counsel Robert Mueller — himself a former FBI director — who staffed his team with rabid Trump-haters, including Andrew Weissmann of the Department of Justice Criminal Division and Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, two FBI officials who carried on an adulterous affair before and during the investigation.

'Just went to a Southern Virginia Walmart. I could SMELL the Trump support.'

Strzok and Page exchanged thousands of damning texts on their agency-issued devices, promising to "stop" Trump from being elected in 2016 and to implement an "insurance policy" on the off chance that he was inaugurated.

They also disparaged Trump voters as "ignorant hillbillies." "Just went to a Southern Virginia Walmart. I could SMELL the Trump support," Strzok once wrote.

The impact of their anti-Trump animus extended beyond just extramarital flirtations. Not only did Strzok edit Comey's statement about Hillary Clinton's email scandal in 2016 to claim she had been "extremely careless" rather than "grossly negligent," Strzok also conducted the fateful interview with former national security adviser Michael Flynn in January 2017 that turned Flynn's world upside down.

Flynn, a retired Army general, was fired and eventually charged with lying to the FBI during the Strzok interview. He pled guilty, though his sentencing was repeatedly delayed until 2020, when Trump pardoned him.

'Tremendous power': The FBI and January 6

The public perception of the FBI tanked even further after Trump left office after his first term, mainly on account of the unprecedented raid on Mar-a-Lago and the ruthless investigations into the melee at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

News reports in recent days confirm that perhaps as many as 6,000 FBI employees were placed on January 6 investigations between 2021 and 2024.

A class-action lawsuit against the Trump DOJ has also since been filed by nine FBI employees. Not only does the lawsuit imply some fear of public exposure for J6-related work, but it also makes plain the ardent anti-Trump political bias of the plaintiffs, who accuse the department of attempting to retaliate against them for investigating and prosecuting the "crimes and abuses of power by Donald Trump, or by those acting at his behest."

'There certainly are some true believers who ... were very eager to inflict as much damage on J6ers as they could.'

Jan. 6 does indeed appear to have been an inflection point for the agency. According to former Special Agent Steve Friend and suspended Special Agent Garret O'Boyle, the FBI altered protocols following the incident to expand the size and scope of the investigation.

Friend explained to Blaze News that standard procedures meant January 6 should have been treated as "one case in Washington," no matter how many people were involved. "But they didn't do that," he said. "They instead told everyone to open a separate case for every single person ... [and] investigate it where they live."

Friend and O'Boyle, who host a podcast together, also agreed that "domestic terrorism" provided the pretense for investigating J6 so extensively.

"The people that have come in in the last few years, the brand-new agents, they're all being put specifically only on January 6," Friend said. "And they're being told in the training at the academy that white supremacy is our biggest threat."

"The vast majority of new agents were being assigned to the domestic terrorism squads, and the vast majority of work that was happening on those squads was January 6-related," O'Boyle added.

Because the FBI chose to open a new case for each J6 defendant and then investigate these in their respective home states, the number of "domestic terrorism" cases in field offices across the country skyrocketed, assuring those in charge that they were doing important work, Friend said.

"So they all hit their metrics, all hit their quarters. And then the president, the AG, and the director can get up there, show a map, and say, 'Look at this huge spike in domestic terrorist cases that we have around the country.'"

When asked whether the rank-and-file agents agreed with the importance of targeting J6 defendants, Friend and O'Boyle indicated that feelings were mixed.

"So there's a lot of true believers amongst the new agents," Friend said, as well as "a lot of people that are just following orders."

In an entirely separate interview with Blaze News, O'Boyle used nearly identical language about "true believers" and "following orders."

"I think there certainly are some true believers who ... were very eager to inflict as much damage on J6ers as they could," O'Boyle told Blaze News. "But by and large, I really think it's just people who are content with following orders and not taking a stand for what they know is right and what they know is true."

The possible ramifications of "just following orders" are not lost on either new FBI recruits or career agents. Both Friend and O'Boyle explained to Blaze News that during their respective training days at Quantico — Friend in June 2014, O'Boyle in July 2018 — they and their classmates took a field trip to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., to appreciate more fully the deadly results that can come from "just following orders."

"They teach you that Auschwitz didn't happen on day one. It happened a little bit at a time because the police just follow orders," Friend recalled. "You are never to just follow orders if you believe that you're being ordered to do something that is unethical, immoral, out of step with your oath of office, unconstitutional, [or] unlawful."

O'Boyle indicated to Blaze News that the trip was the most "sobering" and "important" day of training because it hammered home the "tremendous power and tremendous trust" given to armed law enforcement officers such as FBI agents.

"And what are you going to do with it?"

In light of the explicit warnings against "just following orders," after Friend came forward with his allegations of misconduct at the bureau regarding J6 investigations, he felt betrayed by fellow agents who chose their careers and steady paychecks over morals and duty.

"I had conversations with people when I was about to make my disclosure ... and they were like, 'We agree with what you're doing here, but we don't want to risk our jobs on it,'" he said.

"And that, to me, is an even worse offense than the communists who think they're doing the Lord's work. Because at least they have principles. At least they think that they're going after the terrorists that are out there. They might be that deluded, but at least it's principles-based.

"It's the people that just follow orders that are the worst."

O'Boyle believes that J6 is a kind of poisonous tree at the FBI that bore insidious fruit, resulting in other apparently unconstitutional investigations, including into Christians praying outside abortion clinics, parents demanding answers at school board meetings, and those exercising their free speech rights in a distasteful but otherwise entirely legal manner.

"[In] the last five years or so, especially even going back to Russiagate, the FBI has, by and large, forsaken that field trip [to the Holocaust Museum] and forsaken that oath to the Constitution," he said.

The FBI did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

'Repulsive': The FBI, Steve Baker, and Blaze News

For Blaze News, the January 6 investigations were not simply a major story to cover. They became personal when our investigative reporter Steve Baker was swept up in them and, after years of threats and insinuations, eventually charged with four misdemeanors even though he had merely entered the Capitol that day to document the incident as a member of the free press. He was an independent journalist and not working for Blaze News at the time.

'They knew that each and every action taken would be amplified on social media and in the press.'

According to Baker, the special agent assigned to his case, Craig Noyes, acted in a "professional" manner during many of their in-person interactions and accommodated Baker's schedule when planning for interviews, even as the so-called statement of facts with Noyes' signature on it lied or grossly misrepresented Baker's actions related to J6.

Screenshot of FBI statement of facts

For instance, shortly after leaving the Capitol, Baker grabbed an adult beverage and sat down to film a podcast episode about the day's events with a colleague who walked about the Capitol grounds but never entered the building. During their conversation, Baker made several joking remarks, including that he regretted not stealing a laptop belonging to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) when he had the chance. "God knows what I could've found on their computers if I'd done that!" he chuckled.

Noyes and others at the FBI apparently didn't laugh along. Instead, they claimed such statements revealed that Baker saw himself as part of the riotous "mob."

Still, in light of the brutal treatment so many January 6 defendants received in the past few years, Baker considers himself lucky. Baker said he was never swatted, de-banked, placed on a terror watch list, forced to abide by travel restrictions, including to and from D.C., or had his social media accounts frozen.

"Why was I excluded from these actions when so many others were subjected to those and so many other punitive actions? I believe it directly correlates to the media attention I was able to stir up in the earliest days of their investigation in my case," Baker told Blaze News. "They knew that each and every action taken would be amplified on social media and in the press."

Screenshot of FBI statement of facts

Because Baker was never sentenced for the J6 charges, he was ineligible for the pardons and commutations Trump issued on his first day back in office. However, within days, the Trump DOJ filed to have Baker's case dismissed, and Judge Christopher Cooper, who had presided over several of Baker's hearings, soon signed off on the dismissal.

Baker told Blaze News that shortly after receiving word that his legal "nightmare" was over, he sent a text message to Special Agent Noyes, asking him to have a "beer meet-up" like they'd apparently previously planned. "Hahaha, appreciate the offer but I'll pass for now," came the reply, he said.

O'Boyle was less charitable in his characterization of Noyes, who was in charge of multiple J6 investigations, not just Baker's. "He is a disgrace to anyone who's ever worn the badge. He lives comfortably in a $800k 3600 sq ft house and yet everything about him is repulsive and not worth the slightest bit of envy," O'Boyle posted to X hours after Trump issued the J6 pardons.

Noyes did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

'Compromised moral character': The FBI and career advancement

Aside from J6, another major problem at the FBI, Friend and O'Boyle suggested to Blaze News, is the process of advancement, which they say encourages less experienced but more ambitious personnel to contrive ways to embellish their resumes.

In most cases, a new recruit joins the bureau between ages 23 and 37 and is forced into retirement after 20 years or at age 57, giving agents a narrow time frame in which to climb the ladder. One key to advancing quickly, Blaze News learned, seems to be to take credit for the work others have done.

Friend said that during his time working on Indian reservations in Iowa, new FBI project managers would introduce themselves, disappear more or less for about 18 months, and then reappear when they wanted to be promoted.

"They had six months to look for the new jobs, and they would start asking me questions about my cases. And they would say, 'Tell me about this case. Brief me up on it,'" Friend explained.

"They were looking through my cases and trying to find one that they could say they had some sort of oversight with [because] if they put one piece of paper with their name in the file that I had done everything on, they could claim credit for it."

Friend further claimed that most of these ladder-climbers had very little understanding of how law enforcement actually works. "They didn't know how to investigate crime," he said. "... They didn't even know how to arrest someone. They'd never put handcuffs on anyone."

'It's a lot worse in the lower levels than people think.'

O'Boyle painted an even grimmer picture of the lengths to which some lowly agents were willing to go to advance: "The type of people that promote, you'll often see that they only have five or six or seven years of actual investigative experience, because typically the people who are rising [through] the ranks are doing so at any cost, and they don't care how many throats they have to slit along the way to get there."

O'Boyle indicated that once in power, these agents then prove their mettle further by bullying subordinates and collecting metaphorical "scalps."

"Typically you would find one or two people on your squad getting singled out for punitive management. And it was often like, why are you targeting that guy? What did he do that was so different than anybody else?"

Such agents already have a "compromised moral character," O'Boyle said, and since they range from the lowliest recruits to the highest echelons, the FBI is riddled with those who do not uphold traditional American values.

"Maybe 15, 20 years ago, the rank and file were by and large patriotic Americans," O'Boyle said. But now, "it's getting closer and closer to just being completely overrun by the cultural Marxists."

"This is not just a problem with the people at the top. They clearly are the worst of the worst, and they're steering the ship. But I would say especially the last probably decade or so, certainly the last five years, the types of people they're hiring out of the wokest of the woke 'educational institutions' is fundamentally changing what the bureau used to be," he added.

"It's a lot worse in the lower levels than people think."

'Best-case scenario': Kash Patel and hope on the horizon

O'Boyle and Friend, who both indicated they joined the FBI because they believed in the mission and wanted to serve their country, are optimistic that the FBI can begin returning to that core mission under a second Trump term.

'We need @Kash_Patel confirmed ASAP.'

Not only are both men confident that Kash Patel will be confirmed as FBI director, but they believe that he will be able to effect change there, even if, as Friend suggested, the agency is still "infested" with people who want to thwart his efforts.

"I didn't think that there was a solution for the FBI. I thought we should just do away with it, shatter it to a thousand pieces, scatter it to the wind," said Friend, who was financially devastated after he came forward with his J6-related allegations against the FBI. Friend changed his mind about the bureau after he "looked at Kash Patel's resume ... [and] interacted with him."

"We need @Kash_Patel confirmed ASAP," he tweeted on January 23.

O'Boyle — who has been on unpaid suspension from the FBI for about two and a half years after blowing the whistle on a range of issues from alleged COVID and J6 tyranny to persecution of undercover journalist James O'Keefe — called the pending confirmation of Patel "the best-case scenario for me personally."

"I talked to one of my attorneys yesterday, and he's more than optimistic about what lays ahead for me."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!