FBI whistleblower says White House pushed unconstitutional probe of protesters

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration pushed the FBI to investigate Los Angeles protesters in violation of their constitutional rights and the bureau’s policies, a former FBI supervisor alleges in a new whistleblower complaint.

Jill Fields, a former supervisory intelligence analyst in the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, made a formal whistleblower complaint to Senate Judiciary Committee leaders over the federal response to anti-ICE protest activity around federal buildings, as well as in a residential area, early last year.

Fields asked Congress and the Justice Department’s watchdog to investigate the allegations, her attorneys said in a letter to lawmakers. She says they violated the First Amendment right to free speech and to peaceably assemble.

Fields says Emil Bove, then the acting deputy attorney general, told the head of the field office to open an investigation into activities outside the federal building even though, she says, the activities were protected free speech. Separately, she says the White House gave a directive to FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate a group of protesters using megaphones during immigration enforcement operations after FBI agents had conducted a check into the conduct and declined to open an investigation.

President Donald Trump had viewed a video of…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business