FBI stonewalling charity to suspended whistleblower, watchdog says

The FBI suspended whistleblower Marcus Allen without pay in 2022 and, though he has not received a paycheck for two years, the bureau has refused all compromise with his attorneys to permit his receipt of charitable funds raised to help his family, Allen's legal team confirmed.

Allen came forward this year with allegations that the bureau had retaliated against him, including by suspending his security clearance, for questioning the accuracy of FBI Director Christopher Wray's testimony to Congress about the presence of federal agents at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The bureau has insisted that Allen remains bound by the bureau's rules on accepting gifts, despite his suspension, and Allen refuses to accept the charitable funds without clear guidance from the bureau as to whether doing so would affect his ability to challenge his suspension.

"[T]he Bureau has failed to approve compromise proposals offered by his attorneys to screen individual donations to ensure each compliance with the regulations," read a press release from Empower Oversight, which represents Allen. The same dilemma has also affected a second whistleblower, whom the watchdog group does not represent.

"The evils of old Scrooge have nothing on the FBI’s weaponization of administrative inertia and inaction to violate the legal and constitutional rights of whistleblowers. The process is a vice designed to squeeze Marcus and his family financially until they give up the fight to vindicate his good name," Empower Oversight Found Jason Foster said. "The FBI has yet to learn the lessons of generosity and kindness that transformed Scrooge and that motivated thousands of Americans to open their hearts and wallets to the families of these whistleblowers. Instead, the Bureau is standing between those generous donors and the families they wanted to help."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.