Key Republican witness may have lied under oath about receiving financial help from Trump ally: report

22 May 2023

A former FBI field agent and key Republican witness on the House Judiciary Committee’s “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government” may have lied under oath about receiving financial aid from a Donald Trump ally, the Guardian reports.

Garret O’Boyle — described by the Washington Post as "a suspended FBI special agent from the Wichita Resident Agency in Kansas" — was a star witness last Thursday for the “weaponization” subcommittee, a Freedom Caucus brainchild purporting to uncover clear evidence that the U.S. government, “and in particular the Justice Department, has unfairly targeted conservatives,” as NBC News reports.

Per the Guardian, O’Boyle was asked at one point "whether Kash Patel, who held multiple roles in the Trump administration, is helping finance O’Boyle’s legal counsel.”

“Not that I’m aware of,” O’Boyle said, according to a transcript of the exchange.

"The answer has raised eyebrows because, during a previous interview with the House of Representatives’ [weaponization] subcommittee in February, O’Boyle disclosed that his legal fees are being paid by a nonprofit organisation called Fight With Kash, also known as the Kash Foundation and run by Kash Patel," the Guardian reports.

Indeed, a Democratic Staff Report published on March 2 reveals:

During their interviews, Garret O’Boyle and Stephen Friend both confirmed that they ha received money from Patel. Committee Democrats have determined that Patel’s support for them extends beyond that to helping them secure legal counsel and promoting them and their causes.

According to that report, O’Boyle told Democratic Committee staff, “[Patel] asked me how he could help. So I told him a little bit of my situation. And he said that he thinks he could get the nonprofit to help.”

As the Guardian notes, “Lying to Congress carries a penalty of up to five years’ imprisonment.”

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who asked O’Boyle last week about Patel’s involvement, told the Guardian, “Mr O’Boyle’s answers in the subcommittee hearing on Thursday appear to contradict his previous testimony in the transcribed interview with subcommittee staff. In order to ensure witnesses are truthful when they come before the subcommittee, Chairman Jordan must determine whether or not Mr O’Boyle lied under oath on Thursday.”

Russell Dye, a spokesperson fro Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) (who chairs both the "weaponization" subcommittee and the House Judiciary Committee at large) accused Democrats of “[distorting] the facts in their report on our brave FBI whistleblowers.”

You can read the full report at the Guardian.

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