Jim Jordan wants FBI agent leading Trump assassination plot probe to answer for alleged bias

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan on Wednesday reiterated his request for the FBI agent leading the probe into the second Trump assassination attempt to testify to his committee over alleged political bias against FBI employees. 

The agent, Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri, has recently come under scrutiny after allegations he and his office allegedly targeted conservative agents for their viewpoints and retaliated against them for making protected disclosures as whistleblowers, Just the News reported on Monday. 

In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray obtained by Just the News, Jordan says Veltri’s apparent biases have the potential to affect the probe into the second attempt of GOP presidential nominee former President Donald Trump allegedly by Ryan Routh in Florida earlier this month, warning at the very least the appearance of partiality could undermine the investigation. 

Federal prosecutor charged Routh on Tuesday with attempted assassination. 

“Veltri’s apparent political bias against President Trump and conservatives is highly troubling and will undoubtedly affect the FBI’s investigation into the attempted assassination of President Trump,” wrote Jordan, an Ohio Repubican.

“Even if Veltri were able to conduct an impartial investigation of this matter – which we doubt – it is undeniable that his well-established and widely known political bias would create at least the appearance of partiality."

You can read Jordan’s letter below: 

New allegations about Veltri and the FBI’s Security Division were first brought to Jordan’s committee by Empower Oversight, a group that represents whistleblowers. 

Group President Tristan Leavitt wrote in a letter last week that Veltri 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. Veltri headed that division when he served as deputy assistant director and section chief. 

According to the whistleblowers, Veltri presided over the revocation of security clearances from several agents that expressed conservative views or who questioned FBI policies targeted Jan. 6 defendants and pro-life groups. 

The whistleblowers also say that Veltri expressed anti-Catholic biases on at least one occasion, appearing to mock one agent invoking his faith when he was questioned about his motivations for questioning bureau policy. 

The FBI previously disputed the whistleblowers’s claims in a statement to Just the News. 

“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.”