Politicization and weaponization of the FBI have been a concern of House Republicans, as evidenced by the House Weaponization Subcommittee. Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has recently gone so far as to say that the FBI is "rotten to the core."
To this end, Rep. Gaetz has introduced the "FBI Washington Field Office House Arrest Act," which would prohibit any funding of the proposed FBI headquarters outside Washington, D.C.
Rep. Gaetz's press release in describing the FBI in its Washington Field Office is nothing short of fierce, comparing the apparent political corruption of the FBI to cancer that has metastasized, in addition to the initial "rotten to the core" comment.
"The cancer at the Washington Field Office has metastasized so large that the entire body is in critical condition," said Gaetz.
Because of this, allocating funds toward a new headquarters would only enable further corruption.
"Gifting the FBI a new headquarters larger than the Pentagon would condone, reinforce, and enable their nefarious behavior to levels we have never seen before," Gaetz added.
Additionally, he describes the testimony of whistleblowers telling of this corruption as "extremely disturbing."
"Through our investigations in the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, we have uncovered extremely disturbing testimony from FBI whistleblowers that the Washington Field Office is targeting Americans who oppose their corrupt political agenda," Gaetz said.
Easily the most immediate instance of apparent politicization that comes to mind is the August raid on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence for supposed classified documents.
At the same time, when a similar situation happened under President Biden in January, the reaction was far milder.
Gaetz nonetheless acknowledges that the apparent corruption comes primarily from the top, saying that "there are still good men and women in the FBI whose task and purpose are to defend our country, but the FBI’s weaponized Washington Field Office is rotten to the core."
