Steve Friend and Nicole Parker slam Garland, Wray over comments denying bias at Justice Department
Former FBI Special Agents Steve Friend and Nicole Parker join 'Hannity' to sound off on attorney general's bouts with Cruz, Hawley.
Two former FBI agents were asked Wednesday to respond to Attorney General Merrick Garland being grilled by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., over perceived political bias – as well as FBI Director Christopher Wray's interview with Bret Baier.
Nicole Parker, a now-former agent who worked out of the Miami field office, told "Hannity" that she left the bureau because of everything the host just showed the audience from Garland's hearing and Wray's interview.
"[O]ne thing after another, after another. You know, Christopher Wray says that the FBI is fair and that they follow the evidence – if that was the case, I wouldn't have left the FBI," she said. "And the employees that are extremely frustrated probably wouldn't be frustrated either."
Parker said years into a long career, which began following the September 11 terror attacks, she felt she didn't have an avenue to voice concerns as an agent.
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Attorney General Merrick Garland (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
"I was working violent crime. I worked shoulder-to-shoulder with incredible heroes. You know, the individuals at my violent crime squad – we were out there saving individuals and putting bad people behind bars. And that is why I came to the FBI. But I was getting drowned out by this constant noise."
She said the issues became clearer after then-FBI Director Jim Comey made what she called a "prosecutorial decision" in 2016 when he recommended against charges for Hillary Clinton regarding information mishandling.
The bureau is supposed to present evidence to the Justice Department which then makes such a decision, not the bureau itself, Parker said.
The "Operation: Crossfire Hurricane" that enveloped Donald Trump was the next glaring aberration, she said.
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"[Q]uite frankly, I felt like I could probably make a stronger impact outside the FBI than inside the FBI. And that is why I chose to leave," she later concluded.
Steve Friend, another former special agent reportedly of the Jacksonville division, was also asked by Hannity about both Garland and Wray.
Friend said he keyed into one particular question from Baier's interview with Wray, regarding public perception of the bureau.
When Wray responded by touting the FBI's strong recruitment, Friend said it revealed the bureau "does not consider the American population their customers."
"It is very obviously the Biden administration and the political left, and [Wray is] ready, willing and able to provide a well-staffed and well-compensated workforce that's going to do their bidding," Friend said.
Friend also criticized the Justice Department's arrest and prosecution of Mark Houck, a pro-life demonstrator from Kintnersville, Pennsylvania, who had numerous heavily-armed agents show up at his home in connection with alleged violations of a federal abortion clinic access law.
"It uses these overly aggressive SWAT team arrest tactics and large-scale arrest operations when it's just not necessary when you have individuals who were being cooperative and pledged, like Mark Houck did, to be cooperative and surrender themselves should charges come," he said.
"It's not necessary to send a tactical team in a Bearcat or 30 agents in body armor with slung M4s."
Houck was accused of violating the act after a confrontation with a pro-choice individual outside a Philadelphia clinic.
The city's far-left elected prosecutor, Lawrence Krasner, declined to prosecute Houck, but the Justice Department detained and charged him nonetheless, as Hawley noted in the hearing Wednesday.
The father of seven was acquitted by-jury in approximately an hour or so, according to Hawley and other reports.
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