FBI whistleblower probed for peddling extremist propaganda from RealClearPolitics

An FBI whistleblower was investigated and later had his security clearance pulled for peddling “extremist propaganda” after he forwarded news articles to supervisors and colleagues from so-called “questionable sources” — including well-known political news and polling aggregator RealClearPolitics.FBI staff operations specialist Marcus Allen had his security clearance suspended in January 2022, four months after emailing the “links from questionable sources,” which flagged him as “an insider threat,” according to a Thursday letter from the whistleblower nonprofit Empower Oversight to a congressional committee.The Sept.29, 2021, email questioned the accuracy of FBI Director Christopher Wray’s testimony before Congress earlier that year concerning the degree of involvement of the bureau’s confidential human sources at the Jan.

6, 2021, Capitol riot.The Post reviewed a portion of the unclassified investigatory file on the former FBI staffer, which shows that the bureau made the determination about RealClear solely based on an analyst’s “open source research” of a ranking provided by the website mediabiasfactcheck.com.Allen’s email also cited reports that had “originated with The New York Times,” Empower President Tristan Leavitt noted in the letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), that confidential informants were present at the Capitol.“There is a good possibility the DC elements of our organization are not being forthright about the events of the day or the influence of government assets,” he wrote in the letter to his leadership chain.Former FBI Washington Field Office Assistant Director in Charge Steven D’Antuono testified to the Judiciary panel in June 2023 that the bureau actually lost count of the informants — and later had to audit how many were in Washington, DC, to attend the attend a “Stop the Steal” rally thrown by former President Donald Trump.Former Capitol Hill Police Chief Steven Sund has als...