Ex-FBI lawmaker says bureau has had management issues 'for several years'

January 7, 2023

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), an ex-FBI agent, said he loves his old agency, but that there have been problems in its management for years.

He said:

I’m career FBI, I’m the only one in Congress. And obviously, I love my old agency. The rank-and-file agents are tremendous human beings. The problem with the bureau, and this has been the case for several years now, is the seventh floor of the J. Edgar Hoover Building. It’s the appointed officials, the people that are in the management and policymaking roles. It’s not the line agents.

Fitzpatrick said that Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are going to call in FBI officials and those from other agencies to ask them questions and hold them to account for their actions.

"Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who’s set to lead the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), who’s set to lead the Intel. Committee, are ready to go," he said. "They’re going to bring in our intelligence agency officials, including the FBI director, the CIA director, the NSA director and ask them these questions. They’re going to have to account for all of this."

A series of flawed actions have led to questions about whether the FBI is acting lawfully, including the bureau's raid on Mar-A-Lago in August and actions to raid and arrest pro-life activists who they say are violating an obscure part of a law meant to protect abortion clinics. New reports from Twitter also claim that the bureau colluded with and even paid Twitter officials to censor news stories that was harmful to Democrats.

Republicans want the corruption to stop, and lawmakers will flex their new majority power in the House to move in the direction of accountability.