Garret O’Boyle, an FBI agent who was presented in a public hearing by House Republicans as a whistleblower, was suspended by the bureau because internal investigators had concluded that he leaked classified information to the right-wing group Project Veritas, according to a bureau official.
House Democrats are now accusing O'Boyle of lying to the committee and are referring the matter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, according to a letter obtained by NBC News.
Lawmakers learned about the reason for O'Boyle's suspension, which was previously unreported, in testimony that Jennifer Moore, executive assistant director of the FBI for human resources, provided to the House Judiciary Committee's Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Portions of her testimony are included in a letter that top Democrats on the Judiciary and Weaponization panels wrote to Garland, alleging that O’Boyle lied to the committee about leaking information prior to his suspension.
In the letter, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands, detail several instances of O'Boyle, in interviews with committee staff and in the panel’s public hearing, denying that he had leaked FBI information to the media.
O’Boyle testified that he made Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who chairs the Weaponization subcommittee, aware of his suspension and had provided him with the letter informing him of the FBI’s decision. But O’Boyle described the charge as nothing more than an allegation and claimed that he never provided anyone outside the agency with nonpublic information prior to being suspended.
Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.
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