Agent investigating Trump assassination attempt at center of FBI retaliation, whistleblowers allege

The FBI agent leading the investigation into the second Trump assassination attempt was probed for allegedly targeting conservative agents for their viewpoints and retaliating against them for making protected disclosures as whistleblowers, according to a new letter delivered to Congress by a government watchdog which represents several FBI whistleblowers. 

The group—Empower Oversight—sent the letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan Thursday ahead of a planned hearing in the Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on September 25 about the retaliation allegations.

The group’s president, Tristan Leavitt, wrote that Jeffrey Veltri, current Special Agent in Charge of the Miami field office and agent leading the investigation into the second Trump assassination attempt, was at the center of the bureau’s retaliation against whistleblowers and agents that held conservative views, according to information from new whistleblowers from the FBI’s Security Division—known as SecD. 

Veltri headed that division when he served as Deputy Assistant Director and Section Chief of SecD. He worked with the division since 2021 when he was appointed section chief of the Security Integrity and Investigations Section of the division. In March, FBI Director Christopher Wray appointed Veltri to lead the Miami Field Office. 

However, Leavitt says Veltri’s appointment to that role was delayed because the Congress began to probe the FBI over allegations that the bureau was improperly suspending clearances. At the time, the FBI leadership also reportedly learned of an internal investigation into Veltri for retaliation against an investigator in his division for blowing the whistle. 

Several bureau whistleblowers—including Marcus Allen, Garrett O’Boyle, and Steve Friend—previously shared allegations with Congress that FBI officials retaliated against them for expressing concern about how the investigative handled Jan. 6 cases and allegedly targeted pro-life groups in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

“When Mr. [Marcus] Allen and I previously testified on May 18, 2023 alongside Special Agent O’Boyle and former SA Steve Friend, we had significantly less insight into what had happened behind the scenes in SecD than we do now—thanks to these whistleblowers from inside SecD itself,” Leavitt wrote. 

“Empower Oversight is now representing several of the SecD employees who worked on the Allen case, and has spoken to a number of other witnesses from inside the FBI. Through their disclosures, as well as the documents provided by the FBI, we have uncovered a more complete picture of the disturbing scope and breadth of the FBI’s illegal retaliation,” he added. 

You can read Empower Oversight’s letter below: 

FBI disputes the whistleblower claims

The FBI disputed the whistleblower’s claims in a statement to Just the News Friday. 

“Special Agent in Charge Veltri was selected through a competitive process to lead the Miami field office and is charged with carrying out the FBI mission in a fair and unbiased manner. The reported allegations about political bias impacting decisions, the targeting of former military employees, and SAC Veltri’s social media accounts and posts are demonstrably false,” the bureau  said in an email. “The FBI has full confidence in SAC Veltri’s leadership of the Miami Field Office and the investigation of the attempted assassination of former President Trump.” 

The bureau did not address any of the specific accusations against Veltri. 

The first case of politicization

The new whistleblowers from the Security Division say Veltri oversaw one of the first cases of politicization in the unit at the beginning of the Biden Administration. In that case, one FBI employee wrote on an internal platform that “he believed the 2020 election was possibly stolen and would like to see the outcome of voter fraud investigations,” according to the letter. 

In response, Veltri ordered the analyst’s security clearance be revoked and allegedly told witnesses the employee did not deserve clearance because he did not believe in the Constitution. 

The Marcus Allen case

In another case, then-Section Chief Veltri opened an investigation into another whistleblowers, Marcus Allen, who raised internal concerns that open source intelligence contradicted FBI Director Wray’s testimony to Congress about Jan. 6 investigations.

Allen—a combat-tested Marine who just a few years ago was named the Charlotte, N.C. field office employee of the year—eventually had his security clearance and paychecks revoked in January 2022.  

Leavitt notes that Veltri, rather than following the usual investigatory process, bypassed a preliminary review to determine if the concerns require investigation and sent the file directly to the Clearance Investigations Unit. Veltri’s successor would later call that decision an “abortion of the process.”

The investigation was opened under Adjudicative Guideline A—Allegiance to the United States, Just the News previously reported. Eventually, the Charlotte Field Office forwarded an additional complaint about Allen: that he would not "attest to his current vaccination status.” 

Despite a thorough investigation that flagged Allen’s perceived “hostility” and reliance on “extremist propaganda” for questioning the official narratives, the lead investigator expressed concerns that applying Adjudicative Guideline A would not warrant a suspension of security clearance. 

“Regardless, Veltri…by then serving as acting Deputy Assistant Director…directed that Mr. Allen’s clearance be suspended anyway, contradicting the investigator’s conclusion that it was unwarranted,” Leavitt wrote, citing a clearance file. 

The Clearance Investigations Unit investigator handling the case was later removed by Veltri and transferred to another unit because the employee would go on to make their own protected whistleblower disclosure about how the Allen case was handled. 

One official said the investigator was transferred because Veltri and his section chief were “not about the pushback they were getting on the Marcus Allen case,” according to Leavitt. 

Alleged criticisms of religious convictions

Since the lead investigator in the case was removed, Allen was not interviewed until several months later in March 2022. Allen confirmed to the new investigator that he had sent the email raising concerns about Wray’s testimony and “the Holy Spirit compelled him to do so.” The investigator said Allen told her he “believed he had a moral imperative to share the information[.]” 

According to a whistleblower client of Empower Oversight, in response Veltri “made comments suggesting Mr. Allen was delusional for referring to his religious belief instead of secular, moral or ethical reasons for disclosing wrongdoing,” Leavitt wrote. 

“The implication to other in SecD was that DAD Veltri believed Mr. Allen’s Christian beliefs as a devout Catholic were a reason to revoke his access to classified information,” he added. 

Garret O’Boyle suspension

Recent whistleblower disclosures to Empower Oversight show Veltri also had a central role in O’Boyle suspension under similar circumstances. Contrary to previous claims by bureau officials that O’Boyle’s suspension was not intentionally carried out on the first day of a new assignment in a different state, new whistleblower information indicates Veltri and his section chief may have planned to ambush O’Boyle on the first day in order to “surprise him into some sort of confession.” 

In testimony to Congress, O’Boyle raised concerns about internal bureau guidance released in the aftermath of the overturning of Roe v. Wade that identified pro-life activities as potential threats without raising any alarm about pro-choice activities, such as the protests in front of Supreme Court Justices’ homes.

The FBI suspended O'Boyle just as he was planning to move his family from Kansas to Virginia for a job transfer. He had sold his home and was waiting to close on his new one, he recounted in testimony. Yet, O’Boyle was suspended during the move and the FBI prevented him from accessing his family’s belongings being held by the bureau. This left him and his family in limbo for years as the bureau adjudicated his suspension.

"I thought the FBI was being weaponized against agents or anybody who wanted to step forward and talk about malfeasance inside the agency prior to this," O'Boyle testified. "But now, after what has happened to me, I don't think I can ever be convinced that it's anything different than that.”

O’Boyle had raised concerns that the FBI was prioritizing going after pro-life groups in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The bureau also accused O’Boyle of leaking that information to the press, even though another agent submitted a signed affidavit attesting that O’Boyle had not done so. 

Video previously obtained by Just the News, a whistleblower complaint, and interviews show the bureau indeed identified the wrong suspect.