The FBI is refusing to say if it will reinstate whistleblowers who said they were previously retaliated against after disclosing information about the agency’s Biden-era corruption, The Federalist has learned.

The saga became public roughly two years ago, when a handful of FBI officials came forward with allegations highlighting “egregious abuse, misallocation of law-enforcement resources, and misconduct with the leadership ranks of the FBI,” as the House Judiciary Committee summarized. The list of whistleblowers included special agents Steve Friend and Garret O’Boyle, Staff Operations Specialist Marcus Allen, and Supervisory Intelligence Analyst George Hill.

As The Federalist previously reported, several of the whistleblowers testified in a House committee hearing on their experiences in May 2023, in which they “accused the FBI of engaging in a complex series of highly corrupt and partisan activities, including the manipulation of statistics, targeting of political opponents, and retaliating against whistleblowers seeking to expose the agency’s corruption.” With the exception of Hill (who had retired), Friend, O’Boyle, and Allen faced suspension in apparent retaliation after filing whistleblower complaints and raising concerns about the agency’s conduct.

Allen “voluntarily resigned under a settlement agreement with the FBI that includes full restoration of his pay and benefits for the entire 27 months of his suspension by the bureau,” according to a June 2024 Washington Times report.

With President Trump having returned to office and Director Kash Patel now leading the agency, The Federalist decided to reach out to the FBI to inquire about whether it is in the process of or planning to reinstate the agency whistleblowers who faced apparent retaliation under the Biden administration. The FBI did not respond to The Federalist’s request for comment, however.

The agency’s refusal to answer whether it will fully reinstate officials such as Friend and O’Boyle comes shortly after both former agents marked 1,000 days since being placed on suspension. In a recent X post recognizing the latter’s anniversary, Friend called O’Boyle’s continued punishment “unconscionable.”

“My buddy ⁦@GOBactual⁩ reached 1,000 days of indefinite, unpaid suspension from the FBI today. The FBI already determined he didn’t commit any infractions. This is retaliation against him for making whistleblower disclosures to Congress,” Friend wrote.

[READ: New Whistleblower Report Corroborates Charges Of FBI Retaliation]

In his House testimony, O’Boyle told the story of how the FBI purportedly “allowed [him] to accept” a position in the country after he filed his whistleblower complaint. It was only after he had sold his house and moved “halfway across the country” that the agency suspended him, according to the Army combat veteran.

“They allowed us to sell my family’s home. They ordered me to report to the new unit when our youngest daughter was only two weeks old. Then, on my first day on the new assignment, they suspended me; rendering my family homeless and refused to release our household goods, including our clothes, for weeks,” O’Boyle said.

Friend similarly testified to facing retaliation from the FBI after filing protected whistleblower disclosures in summer 2022 over concerns he had about investigations handled by his office that involved the Jan. 6, 2021, demonstrations at the U.S. Capitol. 

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood