Jenny Beth continues her conversation with former FBI Special Agent Steve Friend, who inadvertently became a whistleblower when he expressed concerns over operations that he believed went against his oath to the Constitution and his training. Be sure to go back and listen to part 1 if you missed it.
Jenny Beth continues her conversation with former FBI Special Agent Steve Friend, who inadvertently became a whistleblower when he expressed concerns over operations that he believed went against his oath to the Constitution and his training. Be sure to go back and listen to part 1 if you missed it.
Check out Steve's book:
True Blue: My Journey From Beat Cop to Suspended FBI Whistleblower
https://americarenewing.com/
Steve Friend (00:00:00):
It's been my fear since the beginning that because the FBI has been so politicized and now is openly targeting one side that is gonna raise the temperature on this boiling pot, and the pot's gonna boil over. And the premier law enforcement HD is going to have a hand in a lot of violence and, and destruction as a result of it.
Narrator (00:00:21):
Keeping our republic is on the line, and it requires Patriots with great passion, dedication, and eternal vigilance to preserve our freedoms. Jenny Beth Martin is the co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. She's an author of filmmaker and one of time magazine's most influential people in the world. But the title she is most proud of is Mom To Her Boy, girl Twins. She has been at the forefront fighting to protect America's core principles for more than a decade. Welcome to the Jenny Beth Show.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:00:53):
In today's episode, I continue my conversation with Steve Friend, a former F B I agent, who is now an F B I whistleblower. If you miss the first part of this interview, be sure to go back and listen to that episode in the previous podcast. Steve Friend, thank you so much for being back on the Jenny Beth Show. Um, in case people did not hear the first episode, they need to go back and listen to it, but let's bring them up to speed on who you are.
Steve Friend (00:01:19):
I am a former special agent with the fbi. I was with the FBI for about nine years, became a FBI whistleblower last summer, 2022. And I brought my concerns about the January 6th investigations being, uh, statistical manipulation about domestic terrorism in the country, and heavy handed tactics to arrest individuals that were associated with that case. And, and recently I am now a published author. I have a, uh, personal memoir that's out titled True Blue, my Journey from Beat Cop to Suspended FBI Whistleblower.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:01:52):
And you testified before Congress? I testified. What was that like?
Steve Friend (00:01:56):
It, it was, uh, it was surreal. I mean, I guess how many people can say they got a chance to do that? So there's definitely an element of, of novelty to it. Uh, but I gotta say, I, I think having been in a courtroom many times in my, in my career, testifying in front of juries or grand juries definitely acquitted me, uh, equipped me to, to handle the, uh, the incoming fire from, from one side of the aisle.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:02:21):
And, uh, were they, were they receptive to your testimony? How, how did that get?
Steve Friend (00:02:26):
Well, I think that the Republicans certainly asked me a number of questions and I'd, I'd done a deposition for multiple hours ahead of time. So they, they had a lot of material already. Uh, and they, they asked me some, some questions, but the Democrats certainly were more interested in attacking the messenger, which unfortunately has been, uh, my history with the FBI and, uh, the mainstream media, and now the Democrat Party where they try to paint you as a, a grifter or a conspiracy theorist. Uh, but interestingly enough, they never said I was wrong.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:02:56):
And one of your colleagues testified there, and he had a really horrible experience, right? Like when he moved and his wife was pregnant?
Steve Friend (00:03:05):
Yes, Garrett O'Boyle, who, uh, he had ma made whistleblower disclosures, brought them to Congress, the FBI con contrived away for him to be transferred to a new assignment across the country. And when he arrived before his household goods arrived, he, he sold his house, packed everything up. Uh, he walked in the door and they suspended him. And on the premise that he was leaking information to the media, which he did not do, I actually know the person who did. It's not Garrett. And, uh, they used that to facilitate his indefinite suspension and actually seized his house all goods and hold them hostage. He had to wind up coming outta pocket substantially to get his household goods. His wife was two weeks postpartum, and it was coming up on the winter in Wisconsin where they were, were stuck and didn't have winter coats for his children. Now, for little girls,
Jenny Beth Martin (00:03:53):
I, that is just maddening. I and you, they suspended you without pay. Your wife wound up also losing her job that was tied to, um, the government or the company she worked, worked for, had government contracts there. Their they do, it seems like they do everything they can to, to punish you for coming forward.
Steve Friend (00:04:17):
Yeah, I think that there's an element of, we're gonna make an example out of these individuals and certainly the, the recent training that I've gotten access to where you have to do the annual training, just like anybody who works in anything. And the FBI gives you training on whistle blowing, and it gives you tr training on identifying potential insider threats. Insider threat would be like a Robert Hansen who was taking information and sending it over to, to Russia for my entire career. They were separate training. And wouldn't you know it, this last year, the FBI combined the trainings into one slide deck, PowerPoint, and the, uh, the intimation was very clear that whistleblowers are an insider threat to the FBI to be on look for allowed for them.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:05:03):
When you first brought your concerns up to your supervisor and then the supervisor above, above your supervisor, you were told that, um, your concerns, you, let's just very quickly summarize. You were opposed to a SWAT team going, explain what you were opposed to that, that you raised as a concern.
Steve Friend (00:05:25):
Yeah, I was concerned that we were sending a SWAT team to arrest an individual who was being charged with a felony, but had pledged to cooperate with law enforcement when he was interviewed. And I felt that that was an unnecessary risk to public safety and to FBI personnel safety. Uh, and when I voiced that concern among, and in addition to my concerns about how the FBI has sort of manipulated the, the crime stats with the way it's handling January 6th, I was told that I represented a fringe minority within the F B I FR belief, and I was conspiratorial. And then my special agent in charge even said that, uh, she'd never seen anything like this in her two plus decades, and that she had been on the seventh floor of, uh, Jagar Hoover building, which is FBI speak for. I'm an important person because that director works on the seventh floor.
(00:06:14):
And so that sort of is her way of saying, I'm a position of authority. And she said, I was on the seventh floor that day, Steve, and those people tried to seize our democracy. And it was just very apparent to me that the FBI has bought in wholly to this narrative that we've been told that January 6th is the worst event that's happened in the history of the country, worse than September 11th, worse than the Civil War, uh, when in fact, whatever happened that day, that certainly the loss of life doesn't compare to anything that we saw on nine 11 or even in the summer riots of 2020. But the, the trough is pretty deep financially for people to attach themselves to January 6th. And, and we've seen that happen here in the last couple years.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:07:00):
Part of your concerns were that it, they were asking you to violate your oath of office and your training to disregard training that they had given you, such as using SWAT team forced to go after someone who said he would voluntarily cooperate. And, and when you brought all of this forward, they say you're a conspiracy theorist and in the fringe minority within the fbi, shouldn't the majority within the FBI want to ensure that you're using your proper training and procedures?
Steve Friend (00:07:32):
You would think, and, and every person, whether or not they're an agent or support staff or an analyst, everyone in the FBI goes to the Holocaust Memorial Museum and everyone goes to the MLK Memorial. It's a very specific trip that you take in the academy. And the point of that is to hammer home that those sort of civil rights abuses and genocide and atrocities can only occur with a law enforcement arm that is just going along as a, with a political appic and is weaponized.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:08:04):
It. It, and especially with the Holocaust, part of, um, the problem that we heard a after World War II that has been documented is that, well, those were my orders. I was told to, to go along. And you, you seem, you, you were indicating at the end of the last episode that some of the, the problems were that the FBI is woke and weaponized, that some people are just afraid to speak up because they're worried about their own own career. They are not aware of what is going on, or that they're just taking orders. And that that's kind of alarming, that they're not using more thought to the orders they're being given.
Steve Friend (00:08:47):
And I was specifically told that, I said, look, I have an oath of office, and I was told, you have a duty to the FBI to do what we tell you to do. And I think a lot of people accept that. And I don't think that there are students of history, because certainly history doesn't smile very kindly on individuals in the past who have, who have used that as an excuse to get away with committing some awful acts. And there's the financial component too. A lot of the people are beholden to that, that paycheck. And they say, I have to put food on the table to support my family. Um, my response to them and, and I come around to saying, look, I I would rather have hungry children than morally bankrupt children, and nobody raises their right arm and swears that oath thinking that they're gonna be Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos rich. There are other career paths where you don't have to compromise your values. And, and, and honestly, if you're willing to go ahead to, with doing these wrong deeds, misdeeds in order to keep that paycheck, then I think you've, you've compromised yourself.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:09:49):
You mentioned that you think that the FBI has become woke and that it also is weaponized. Would you elaborate on some of that?
Steve Friend (00:09:59):
Yes. I'm, I mean, I think we're in the month of June now, the, the holy month of, of June. And as we've seen now within corporate America, now, uh, the American government and the FBI is, is all in for that their, their social media is plastered with, with pride and, and the rainbow flag, and now the pride progress flag. They're flying that flag next to the American flag, uh, outside of the field offices, uh, next to it. In, in, in some, some instances, at least in mine, in Jacksonville, an entire flag display was put out in our office during June. Uh, and I think that that, and from what I'm understanding from is, is not a one off and, and beyond just the, the, the events and festivities of June, we have, uh, just the general work climate that they're going for, where it's almost like a Silicon Valley startup feel where you have wellness rooms that are springing up in, in Newark, in Los Angeles that are equipped with massage chairs. And, and in Newark, there's actual signage on the walls that say it's okay to not be productive today. And I don't,
Jenny Beth Martin (00:11:04):
I say that again,
Steve Friend (00:11:05):
It's okay not to not be productive today. And you are on the government dime, you're on the taxpayers dole here, and, uh, you're, you're supposed to be doing the work of the American people. It's, it's, if it's a private organization, if it's a social media empire and they wanna let you play ping pong, that's their prerogative. But as far as government service goes, that's, that does not have a place, uh, within the FBI or any place in the government.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:11:31):
And, and it should be productive using the proper metrics also, which we went into in the previous episode, massage chairs. Um, what, what about, um, is it affecting the training? I mean, f b I agents, you were dealing with child porn and violent crimes before you were assigned to January 6th. Um, those are heinous murder and child pornography and rapes. It's, those are awful things to have to, to deal with you, it seems to me you've gotta be a pretty strong individual to be able to handle that.
Steve Friend (00:12:09):
Yeah, and I, I, look, you can keep your head down and, and work those cases without distraction. It's, it's really just the administrative burden that comes on you. Where now it's been raised, we used to be two, now it's three diversity inclusion equity classes that you have to take every year in the fbi. And it's just detracting from the actual mission that I think people have an expectation for the FBI to perform. And, you know, we, we talked about this, uh, uh, offline, but the human resources branch was another example. And that this is an incredibly powerful, uh, section of the fbi. And the, uh, those folks organized coloring and art and chair yoga events that were supposed to be happening within the lunchtime to, to set up a, you know, a more friendly environment for everybody who was working there. And, and I, and that's not a one off, again, I talked to multiple people that said that there are coloring books that are in break rooms in the FBI offices, and just on a lark, they've gone through to see if anybody's done anything.
(00:13:16):
And there are pages that are colored in them that people are actually whipping out the Crayola and, and trying to stay in the lines. And it's something that we can laugh at, but anybody who's energetic in a position of authority can use this. Uh, it didn't take me very long to surmise that the human resources branch oversees the security division, and the FBI security division is in charge of all the security clearances for every FBI employee who must have one, should an energetic, uh, legislator decide to push to pause everything that the human resources branch is doing, that would mean that all the security clearances are paused in the fbi. And it would not function as an entity until that matter was resolved.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:14:00):
And I think that that should be looked into. The FBI does not need to have coloring books. It, it, and the fact that human resources, the people who you said that's a powerful position, why is that powerful?
Steve Friend (00:14:14):
You, you have the opportunity to cultivate the next generation of people. And we're seeing this with the hiring practices that have gone on where they've reduced standards, uh, on some things that all the, the agent population is up in arms over, they've reduced the physical fitness standards. And look, you don't have to be an Olympic decathlete to be an FBI agent, but I will say this, it's the most revelatory part of the application process because it's the only thing you know the answers to ahead of time. You know, the standards, you can prepare to meet those standards if you're unwilling to do that. I think it indicates something about your character or your commitment level. And those were reduced because the FBI wanted to open up to more minority candidates. And they minority candidates who had failed the physical fitness test, the FBI went back and recontacted once they reduced the standards and specifically had them come in to reapply. And
Jenny Beth Martin (00:15:07):
Wouldn't a better program if you really wanted to take care of, if you felt like for whatever reason, the fitness standards were unfairly hindering minority people, wouldn't it be better to create a program to help get the minor more minority people who couldn't meet those standards up to the standards and say, okay, we wanna make sure that you're getting whatever it is that you need, maybe, um, you need access to a gym or you need a coach, or whatever. Let's put you in this almost like a bootcamp program to get you where you need to be so that you hit the standards.
Steve Friend (00:15:43):
Yeah, I, I think that's fair. It's a, it's a, it's a honest solution you could have. Um, the only counter to that would be we have a standard, and we want anybody who applies the organization to meet that standard. And we don't, we're, we're colorblind, we're gender-blind, and I don't think anybody cares about the race of the person investigating the, the fraud or the bank robbery that they were a victim of. And, uh, and the FBI is not focusing on its core mission, which is to prevent fraud and force against the American pop population as opposed to some social experiment.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:16:19):
Well, and it is a social experiment, and the fact that they're changing the standards, they're putting coloring books in massage chairs who authorized that. It's okay to have a poster that says it's okay not to be productive today. Is that coming from the HR department?
Steve Friend (00:16:35):
Yeah, I, that's, that's a good question. I I think that it's probably within discretionary funds, but there's no way that that makes it on the wall without an, an executive's approval. And which means that it cleared multiple hurdles in order to get up there. And I think it's just indicates that the FBI wants to create this environment that is conducive to a certain type of personality, and that is the person that is not the alpha driven go-getter who wants to put bad guys in jail at the highest level. It's the person that's probably gonna be willing to go along to get along because they know they have a really sweet gig.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:17:08):
And that's the kind of people the HR department is hiring and cultivating right now. And that's the attitude that's permeating throughout the whole agency.
Steve Friend (00:17:19):
Yes, they've, and they've consistently, uh, elevated skills that I think maybe at one point there was an advantage to having, but I don't think is really relevant anymore. I mean, traditionally the FBI was lawyers and accountants. Uh, there's, uh, now this push within, especially because it's such an intelligence driven agency, that they, they get these highly educated folks in, uh, to become analysts. And they're, they're basically just writing college term papers for their career. And they're consuming nothing but news sources from one side. And they're not pushed to as much as the policy says they're supposed to consider counterbalancing news sources and sources of information. Look what Marcus Allen who said to my left at that congressional hearing, all he did was get publicly available news reporting about January 6th and bring it to the people that he wanted to make them aware of for their investigations. And he was suspended immediately because they didn't agree with the, the news source that he brought forward. He didn't draft it, he just found it.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:18:21):
Uh, and he is suspended for that.
Steve Friend (00:18:25):
He's been suspended now for, uh, about a year and a half without pay. And that's a, uh, a veteran of the armed forces who had received an employee of the year award from his division and has now been without pay for a year and a half, and was on the verge of having to sell his house to feed his family. Uh, unfortunately, we, uh, we live in a very charitable society and in the aftermath of the hearing had a GI GIBS and go account set up, and we're able to, to raise quite an amount of money that's gonna make him whole, gonna make Garrett whole and actually hold some backend reserve for a future whistleblower, because we don't think anybody should, their family should go hungry or suffer because they decide to, to do the right thing.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:19:10):
And we need more people to come forward. Yes. Because this is a problem and we need to show that it is Systemwide. I mean, you, I think you've already done that. You've got you and, um, New Mexico. Where, where were the three? Was it just three of you who came, were on that panel?
Steve Friend (00:19:26):
Uh, so Marcus Allen was from the, uh, Columbia division, and, uh, he was in, in, uh, South Carolina. Mm-hmm.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:19:52):
So you've, you've got a wide swath of America there, but there were 56, there are 56 field offices.
Steve Friend (00:19:59):
Yes. That's the way that they sort of break down the, the country geographically. And it's mostly population driven. So you have heavy population on the, on the East coast, you have a lot more field offices, and then you have a whole bunch in the middle where there's a lot of territory in there. I mean, I was in a smaller office in Iowa and Nebraska are decently sized, but we had 70 agents for the entire region.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:20:22):
Right. Um, we didn't, we talked about the management structure and how the managers get a bonus, um, for the number of cases that they open, and if people miss that, they can hear that in the first episode. But there's also, um, a promotion incentive. Right? Can you elaborate on that?
Steve Friend (00:20:45):
Yeah. It's, it's a, it's almost like a, a tempo that ha you have to move through. If you decide that you want to go the managerial track within the fbi, if you wanna just work cases, you can work cases. That was what I was sort of content to do. Um, I was making plenty of money and doing what I wanted to do. You just never appealed to me. But other people, they wanna do that. You obviously have to have a chain of command. You need a minimum of six years in the field to, to apply. And if you want to ascend that ladder to the highest levels, you have to start that process at six years. So you see a lot of these people that after six years were, what do you know, after six years in mean two years of probation. And really, you know, especially if you're working on a violation that's not, uh, high tempo, you might not have very much actual on the ground experience.
(00:21:31):
But nevertheless, they, they take a temporary transfer to Washington dc it's 18 months, the entire time they're collecting per diem. Uh, and they are a program manager over many times, uh, an area which they have no knowledge or, uh, experience. So I worked on an Indian reservation. I would have a new program manager every 18 months they'd be calling in and checking in. And they had never worked on an Indian reservation, but they were in charge of overseeing me. Now, if you want to continue to promote, it is a strict calendar. Every 18 months, you have to be looking to that next level up, and that's gonna require you to go to the field and then back to Washington, DC and then back to the field, then back to Washington, dc. So you're always making that pilgrimage back to the mecca of the fbi. And to ascend the ladder, you have to be coming up with something new and novel, find a solution or, or invent a solution, look for a problem to apply it to.
(00:22:30):
And the first six months that a supervisor arrives, they immediately want to, I have an idea, let's do this. And it'll be some sort of, it might not, might be useful. Most of the times it's not. But they'll, they'll start the wheels rolling on that. They'll spend the middle six months, uh, uh, canvassing for other opportunities. And then the final six months will be their departure to their next job. And they leave behind this unfinished project that we're forced to deal with either scrapping or implementing. And for the rest of their career on their resume, they're gonna say that they, they did some sort of initiative. Now, it's, it's a problem because it's politically, it's self-selecting for more of a, a left wing person. I mean, a conservative is gonna say, where's the waste? Let's get rid of that. Back to basics. Uh, and a left wing person's gonna say, I, I got a government program to do with that. I'm not worried about the spending. And as a result of that, those people select into management. They go to DC and they sort of imbibe that climate and that atmosphere. And then when they come back out, they infect the field with it. And the joke was that, uh, the new, the new boss is like, uh, kidney stone, you hope they're gonna pass quickly and with as little pain as possible.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:23:55):
Wow. Um, can you give, so you guys kind of made fun of new bosses coming in.
Steve Friend (00:24:02):
Oh, yeah. And then they, they, they sort of all tell the same story. They all say, this is where I want to be. This is it. For me, my entire career has led has culminated with me being the mid-level supervisor in Des Moines, Iowa. Meanwhile, my family is still in Fredericksburg or Arlington. They haven't made the trip yet. Uh, and we know that they're going to 18 months and they'll be gone. And, and the same pattern is always there. And there's not a, it's not dawned on them that we're all sitting there staring at them and knowing that they're bald face lying to us. In fact, the the best supervisors are the ones that are just honest. Now, I, I never had this, uh, but I, I know people who have had it where the boss said, I'm here for a year and a half.
(00:24:45):
You're not gonna see me at all. I'm gonna be in that office looking to the next job. I'll be here if you need anything. And they just kind of were laissez-faire with their management style because they trusted the people to do a good job, which most of the time they do, because they're professionals and they're experienced. And many times you have these squads that will be on a particular violation. It could be white collar, bank, robbery, gangs, whatever. And you'll have an agent on that squad who's been doing it for a decade, and he knows all the ins and outs, and he knows the local contacts. And that's the person that is the really running the show. It's the boss is the figurehead and kind of leans on that person to, to give him the talking points that he needs and, and handle it. Uh, and if, I think if you were going to run it effectively, that's the person that needs to be in a position of, of management or leadership begrudgingly, because they're, they're not gonna want to give up the work. But that has a vital knowledge base, right. That that person has, that they, they should bequeath to the next generation of agents. But that's just not the way the FBI operates.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:25:49):
And when they come to the field, they leave their family in, in Virginia or Washington, dc So there's kids who are still in school. If they have a spouse who's working, the spouse probably keeps a job in dc.
Steve Friend (00:26:02):
Many of them do. And it's, uh, a lot of times the hands are tied within the field offices. So they'll say, there's gonna be a supervisor position available. You cannot fill it from within your own ranks. You must accept somebody from Washington dc. And they'll say, well, they, they're up to date on the, the latest and greatest policies that are in headquarters. But really it's just sort of this train that they're all on, and they're, they're looking backwards to their bodies to pull them along to guarantee them a, a nice landing spot because they have to find a place. If you finish your 18 months, your first stop in Washington DC and you can't find a landing place, you're going back to where you came from. And nobody wants that. They wanna climb the next ladder wrong. And it gets very competitive. The higher up of that ladder you get the fewer spots there are, and it gets very political and, and nasty, which is why the agent rank and file agent population just looks at headquarters with utter contempt. And that's a problem for the fbi. There's this chasm between the management class and the, and the working class within the same agency.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:27:11):
This part that you're discussing right now is, is that part of what you've let Congress know about?
Steve Friend (00:27:16):
Yes. Yes, it is. And I think that there's some, some solutions to that. I mean, I think the, the very introductory promotion that those guys get, the program manager, if it is in fact an important position and they're managing a program, should be somebody who actually knows a thing about that program. It doesn't require you to be in Washington to do that. If you wanna do that, if you want somebody that that's gonna fill that role and, and be good at it and effective at it for a number of years, it should be a permanent position. And if you want to entice somebody to do that, why don't you put it somewhere nice? People are always fighting to get to somewhere like Charlotte. Why doesn't Charlotte have a bunch of program managers that are sitting there, but instead, it's an indoctrination, it's an initiation into the headquarters atmosphere that the management classmen the FBI has set up for itself.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:28:09):
What other solutions do you think there are to the problems that exist?
Steve Friend (00:28:16):
I have, uh, gone back and forth on this, and I think if you made me king for a day, I, I think that the FBI would probably be gone. But I don't, I'm, I'm pragmatic enough to know that, uh, that leaders in Washington are, are not gonna be, uh, quick to, to make that decision. And
Jenny Beth Martin (00:28:35):
Government, I think there are a lot of things that need to be gone. And it seems that Congress never wants to get rid of anything. Yeah. Ever. They don't have the will or the courage. Yeah.
Steve Friend (00:28:47):
And I, but I will, I would proffer this as a solution. And, uh, it's actually being beta tested now unintentionally. And I think that this solution would correct a lot of the problems and would actually make the FBI function better. And that is we eliminate the 1811 criminal investigator position from the fbi. No more guns in the fbi. Wow. No more armed special agents. They can be unarmed investigators. Now, the FBI enlists the help of local law enforcement from all over, because it's impossible to police the country with just 14,000 agents. That's all the FBI has. You have these local detectives from police departments and sheriff's office, and they come in and they're deputized by the United States Marshals, and they have cross deputization. They have their state authority from their, their local agency, and they have federal arrest. They also bring a wealth of knowledge because a lot of them have been detectives for a number of years.
(00:29:45):
They know their community, they know the problems. Uh, they bring the cases to the FBI that maybe their agency is not equipped to handle. Those numbers need to be beefed up. And the, the benefit to that is it's going to give you the, the main street usual suspect's knowledge as opposed to the the metric system, which, again, that needs to be gone, that that's coming from headquarters. But it also, it gives the local agency a stop gap measure against an out of control fbi. So if the FBI says, Jenny Beth is a domestic terrorist, we got a case on her. We're sending SWAT to her house. Well, you don't have a SWAT team, so you're gonna have to go to Jenny Beth's sheriff and his deputies who are cross deputized as federal agents. And that sheriff's gonna be a fine more accountable to you because he's directly elected by you, and he's gonna say, no, my people are not gonna do this. And I think of it as, uh, almost analogous to the way we originally selected senators. The way that our founders set it up was the senators were selected from the state houses, and the purpose of that was to make them more responsive to the needs of the state as opposed to being these federal officials. Same thing can happen here, where the personnel are coming from, the locals and the FBI or whatever. Federal agency is completely dependent on those personnel to enforce what it wants to do.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:31:11):
Um, the, I have spent about a month on the border in, in the second quarter of this year, and doing interviews with sheriffs and border patrol. And some of this may exist within the fbi. Um, and probably some of the problems you're describing within management of the FBI probably exists within border patrol as well. I, I don't know. But one of the things that I found of these border sheriffs consistently across the board is that they work very closely with customs and border patrol. So they are working very closely with the border patrol agents and a across the board. What I was hearing is that the border patrol agents live in the community, are part of the community, and they're, they're really partners in enforcing the border and, and stopping the, the problems that are coming from, from the lack of rule of law when it comes to the border. But, um, it seems to me that the FBI wants to be this lone ranger that doesn't partner as much with local law enforcement. Is that correct? Or am I misunderstanding that?
Steve Friend (00:32:24):
Uh, I, I think you, you make a point, and I think that it's, it bears itself out the, the field offices. Each one of the headquarters cities. So for me it was Jacksonville or Omaha, heavy concentration of agents and support staff, and they report to the office every day. And they're sort of just, they're looking at that city. Um, but the resident agencies, which I was in Sioux City, Iowa, I was in Daytona Beach, Florida. We live in those communities. We, as a result of that, are ensconced with local law enforcement and with the needs of the community. And if you look at any statistical breakdown of the productivity in the fbi, everybody knows all the good cases come from the resident agencies.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:33:02):
Okay. So I, that part at least is heartening to know that when the agents are, are creating roots in the community and understand that the actions that they have affect the place where they live, it seems like they're paying a bit more attention than the people from Washington who are coming in and out, or people who are on the, the train to get to Washington. Um, their priorities are much different than that of the local community and the state.
Steve Friend (00:33:35):
Absolutely. And I mean, you know what the concerns are within your community. What, what main street needs. And that was always the knock on what Jay Edgar Hoover brought in, which was this need to relocate people when they came because he was concerned about having a conflict of interest. You can't be in your community because you might have to investigate somebody who you know, and that's gonna create a conflict. That's not really the case anymore. I don't even know if there ever really was. I know from my fact when I was relocated from Savannah, Georgia to Sioux City, Iowa, they lost a person who had law enforcement contacts with a dozen agencies and knowledge about what was going on in Savannah and had to relearn all those same things when I was relocated. And meanwhile, when they filled a spot in Savannah, that person had to relearn all those things. So there was this, we're always behind the curve trying to catch up.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:34:25):
And that can wind up if there is truly, um, a domestic terrorism case or something that really is a serious crime, losing that kind of knowledge and those kind of relationships could, could put everyone behind the eight ball if something serious was brewing.
Steve Friend (00:34:43):
Yes. I mean, when you come in, you just, the, the process of having to introduce yourself around is cumbersome. It takes a long time. It, when I arrived in my first assignment, I would say it took me a year to a year and a half to build the trust, even a base level with a lot of the local law enforcement, because the FBI has this reputation of being this, those two jerk agents from diehard, they're Agent Johnson and Agent Johnson, no relation because we're the, we're the best. And they hurt themselves stretching to pat themselves in the back as by calling themselves the premier law enforcement agency. Nobody likes the fbi. Right. And for me to be there for the length of time that I was. And then finally they were like, oh, you're, you're the police. You're not, you're not bureau, you're police. And that's when we started to really roll with our productivity and, and actually bring a lot of cases in because those guys would be calling me and texting me.
(00:35:38):
And, and, and look, it's not fun to get woken up at two o'clock in the morning, but that's the job that I signed up to do. And, and it actually was, uh, you know, maybe the next day thinking about, well, that was really great. That crisis happened. What are we gonna do? We're gonna call Steve. You weren't gonna call the fbi. And they knew that that resource was there. And that again, was my prime directive. I wanted to make their job better. I get the answer, do whatever I could to get the answer to yes for them. And that should be always what is driving the fbi?
Jenny Beth Martin (00:36:10):
Uh, you mentioned J Edgar Hoover just a minute ago. I, um, have been in the fbi, I suppose it's the FBI building cuz it was a j Edgar Hoover building one time. And it was not a good experience. Um, but one of the things that I realized walking into the building is it's the j Edgar Hoover building. And I just sat there thinking, of course the FBI isn't going to do what it needs to be doing. Um, the building's named after someone who didn't even follow the law and protocol and had, um, surveillance going on, the never who of people who never should have been surveilled. And what was the reward or the punishment? Well, I don't know that there was a punishment, but the reward was he has a building named after him. And it just seems to me that if that is a kind of, um, reward that you get for breaking the law, it's sending a message to all the agents who work there.
(00:37:11):
It's okay if you cut corners or, or do things you shouldn't, we're not going to hold you accountable. I was there cause I was trying to get accountability of the IRS when they targeted our organization. And the statute of limitations had not run out. And I was making a case that it, it should be investigated further. And I walked away knowing that nothing was going to happen from it. And I decided in that moment, and this was years ago now that the entire agency, the Department of Justice is, has major problems. So mm-hmm.
Steve Friend (00:37:57):
Uh, I don't think most of the agents know it. I don't think, I think you're probably more well-versed on the history of the FBI than most agents or personnel in the FBI actually are. I think most people within the FBI kind of know the pop culture FBI that they see on TV and movies. But being a student of history and myself, I think that there's a good case to be made that the FBI's origins make it an extra constitutional organization. It was brought about as a bureau of investigations, not originally under the leadership of Jagar Hoover. But he, he took that home pretty quickly. And it was one of these situations where it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission. And it launched, and then Congress sort of backdated legislation. But because of that origin story being in its dna, the FBI is less about preserving the Constitution or protecting the Constitution and the continuity of our government, and more about preserving the status quo from whoever's in power.
(00:38:54):
Now, the Venn diagram from one may overlap with the other. And in, I think in the early days of the FBI that got a lot of people convinced that the FBI was an objective force for good. And you take the, the pursuit of communism in the thirties and the forties and fifties, and, and people assume that while the FBI is anti-communist, they, they must be pro constitution. Well, no, just the people in power were anti-communist. But when the people in power were against, uh, draft dodgers for the Vietnam War, the FBI opened cases and investigated draft dodgers. And when the people in power didn't like Martin Luther King, the FBI had co Intel Pro, where they tried to encourage him to commit suicide. That's horrible. And now, have we seen in the last two decades since the War on Terror has e has come home and this focus, this mission, this national security mission that the FBI has been tasked with since September 11th, the FBI has evolved from a cri criminal investigation, uh, organization and law enforcement agency into a intelligence agency.
(00:39:56):
Now, nine 11 happens and the threat is abroad. Our military engages that threat and stamps it down. The FBI receives a whole bunch of funding and a mission set that sort of to control that at home because the military can't do that. Well, the military did such a great job. There really wasn't a threat here. The FBI has to justify its existence. The federal government is a self looking ice cream cone. So they had to target somebody else. So they looked at homegrown violent extremism. And that's where you gotta tip your cap to, to our, our friends over on the left where who've been saying for years that the FBI targeted Muslim Americans unjustifiably and they entrapped them. And we all were kind of still in the, the gung ho post nine 11, no, no, they're all terrorists. And I think a lot of us looked away and, and just assumed that the FBI, again was an objective force for good.
(00:40:43):
Well, the homegrown violent extremist well ran dry. The FBI has to exist. It has to justify that. Now it's evolved into domestic violent extremism. And that is being characterized most recently, again, to preserve the status quo by our very left-leaning government, uh, anti-government extremism and anti, uh, ethnic extremism, parenthetically, white supremacy. So go backwards to September 1st of last year, the red speech that President Biden delivered where he characterized MAGA Republicans and then eventually just Republicans, their anti-government and they're white supremacist. Well, the anti-government piece of that, I'd argue there were 56 men who signed a Declaration of Independent. They were pretty anti-government. But, uh, nevertheless, the, those two anti-government and white supremacy are two of the top priorities within counter-terrorism division within the fbi. And the president commander in chief has now said that those are half of the people in the country.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:41:49):
Basically, anyone who didn't vote for him or they think didn't vote for him is a target of the FBI right now. Maybe that's overstating it.
Steve Friend (00:41:57):
I I'm well with the intelligence agency component thrown in with that sort of directive to, of, to targeting. And the, the combine that with the stats padding that they want to do all is in this vial stew. And as a result of that, you open an intelligence investigation up not to pursue a criminal, to get intelligence to then get more intelligence to then spin off more intelligence investigations against other people. And the dragnet gets bigger and bigger. We can write more intelligence reports now hit those quotas. And that's how you get radical traditional Catholic reports coming outta the Richmond Field office. And back to the status quo argument to that, read that report now, obviously the author of it had, uh, some animosity towards the Catholic church only consultants salon.com and the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Atlantic. And, uh, I would contend that looked at the political grievances that our ruling elite has, and that was pro-life, pro traditional marriage, pro border sovereignty, and said, those are make you radicalized. Those are the, the ideologies that can make you prone to become a anti-government extremism. That's a fairly significant portion of this country.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:43:15):
And then we see, yeah, I I, I'm a little bit speechless when it comes to this because I try hard not to be completely hyperbolic when I'm talking about things, but it's hard, hard not to think that they essentially are going after anyone who doesn't vote their
Steve Friend (00:43:39):
Way. That and or anybody who is a perceived political enemy, and they're willing to weaponize the processes to do that and be it sending a SWAT team to somebody's house when that's not necessary. Uh, I was part of the Gretchen Whitmer takedown. We were told that those guys were just as equipped, well trained, prepared, had encrypted communications and were intending on getting into a gun fight with us as a SWAT team.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:44:05):
And what was the reality?
Steve Friend (00:44:07):
They were completely entrapped and it was exposed to trial that they were not capable of carrying out anything like that. But that was the only instance in my entire time on SWAT, that I did not call my wife after I got my briefing and tell her what my responsibility was gonna be the next day, where I was, what I was gonna be performing because I was that convinced that I was going to get into a gun fight and I didn't wanna worry her. Now, that's one aspect of weaponization, take a completely different one. The, the the law fair aspect where the DOJ and the FBI are reinterpreting laws or they're weaponizing process crimes to go after their perceived enemies. So they reinterpret a law. And the best example is the obstruction or impeding of an official proceeding. That is a law that came from Sarbanes Oxley right after the Enron collapse.
(00:44:55):
And it was intended to shore up these rogue accountants that were shredding documents, essentially tampering with evidence to prevent this prosecution of the executives at Enron. So Congress drafts that law, okay, well, it's a felony and it's been reinterpreted now for people who walk through the capitol on January 6th. Now you can dispute the criminality of either one of those things, but certainly shredding documents and then walking through a public building are two completely different activities. But the DOJ is interpreted that way so they can tack felonies onto so many of these January 6th subjects. That law's also being reinterpreted to apply to Donald Trump with his dealings with the, uh, with the documents that were at Marri Lago. Again, completely different action activity. It shouldn't fall under the same law, but the F B I and the D O J are are interpreting it that way to, to use it against their enemies.
(00:45:50):
And then there's the process crimes. And I was almost a victim of it myself, where I was set up to lie in the hopes that I would lie and lack candor. The best example that I can come up with is Michael Flynn. James Comey has admitted publicly and laughed about the fact that he sent over two special agents in the early days of the Trump administration to go and interview Mike Flynn, the incoming national security advisor. Now, the, the predicate for their investigation was this very flimsy, not outright fake Russian co collusion case, but there's actual documents that came from high up in the FBI that said, what is the point of us doing this? Is it to get him to lie so that we can get him fired or prosecuted him for a crime? Which is exactly what they did. They confided him, which
Jenny Beth Martin (00:46:34):
Shouldn't be legal at all. They shouldn't legally be legally be allowed to just walk in and try to get someone to lie so they can fire them. They shouldn't be there talking to 'em at all.
Steve Friend (00:46:43):
No, a a process crime. I a a 18 USC 1001 is a, the lowest level federal felony you could have if I walked into a federal prosecutor's office and said, I think I have 1,001 charge on Jenny Beth, they would left me out of the room because that is a complete, the case fell apart. We, we can't quite make it well or it's a plea deal negotiation, something that's used. It's never the actual reason for the investigation. It's always a righteous investigation. And along the way, Jenny Beth lied, so we're gonna tack this on, but never the initiating crime or criminal offense. And that is now out, out the door. The FBI is initiating these in the hopes that they can start a lying to a federal agent investigation.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:47:29):
This is a major problem. And it's really shocking that, um, they used a law that they intended to prevent people from basically shredding evidence and uh, uh, white collar crime. Um, that they use that same law and, and to go after accountants for the people who walked through the capitol on January 6th. And for Trump keeping documents, which it doesn't sound to me like he ever intended to shred them at all. He was preserving them. It's very twisted. Um, have there've been whistleblowers that have come out in addition to the ones you testified with? We have seen reports and the transcripts of the IRS whistleblowers, and you have highlighted to me that what got lost in the news is the IRS whistleblowers came out, that there also was another FBI whistleblower. What, what have you, have you looked into those and what do you think of those whistleblowers comments?
Steve Friend (00:48:38):
The, uh, the FBI whistleblower was pretty significant to me and to, to my experience because that person who has remained anonymous was a 16 year veteran of the fbi, had been within the management chain for 10 years. So nobody I crossed paths with knows is in the belly of the beast at headquarters. And their information that this guy brought out was that, uh, in the aftermath of January 6th, in February, they were, there was these almost daily calls that were going on, uh, to give updates to senior executives around the country. So lots of people on the phone call and the comment was made by Paula Bate, who was newly elevated to deputy director, uh, and recently kind of testified in front of the Senate judiciary and, and refused to answer their questions. So it was pretty intransigent. But he, he made comments during this call that said that anybody who was comparing the FBI's lack of action against anything that happened in 2020 to its now seeming very aggressive action in January 6th, needed to consider job, uh, elsewhere outside the agency.
(00:49:43):
And that if anybody voice voiced, uh, concerns or disagreement with the way that the FBI was handling January 6th, that tho their managers should direct them to call Paula Bate directly and he would set them straight. And I think that that sort of chilling and open threat coming from that high up is significant for two reasons. One, it corroborates everything that I've been saying that I was canceled because I brought a concern forward. Whistle blowing doesn't require you to be right. It just requires you to be reasonable. There's no question that my concerns are reasonable and I was canceled as a result of that. And this corroborates it. Secondly, it corroborates what the Durham Report had and what John Durham spoke to when he was in front of the House Judiciary Committee. And that is the confirmation bias that is within the fbi. And it's reached all the way to the number two spot, uh, that we can definitely confirm. We don't know what Christopher Ray's actions are. He always just says, can't comment on an, an ongoing investigation. But Paula Bate is the number two, and he certainly has this confirmation bias where he thinks that this is not, is unwilling to even hear another opinion. And that is not what law enforcement is supposed to be about.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:50:58):
When in the first episode that I had with you, you mentioned that when you first were taken off of child pornography and put onto January 6th, that, um, you hadn't even paid attention to January 6th. W were you a political animal before all of this began?
Steve Friend (00:51:20):
Yeah, I I, I've always been a consumer of the news and, uh, and followed it closely, uh, probably as, as an adult I would say. Um, but that day I was on an Indian reservation without cell or internet. I didn't know what happened till I came home that night. My dad called me up and said, did you see what happened today? No idea. So the actual events of the day were a complete shock to me. And I, I was, I had questions about the 2020 election, I think just like a lot of people did. And I was hoping that we would get some of those answers. But as, uh, a rooting interest, and I told this to my supervisors, I didn't have a dog in the fight. I didn't vote for either major party in 2020. So it was not a question of sour grapes.
(00:52:05):
It has always been as it always was, a question of professionalism to me and upholding the oath that I took serious. And I wanted to be buttoned up in any prosecution that I brought forward. And at that point, even was taking it in good faith that my colleagues around the country had done their best to bring a case forward. And I didn't want it to fall apart because I'd actually been to trial and had those, those pitfalls that you have to sort of tiptoe around to avoid losing a, a good case. So I was concerned about that. Uh, and then the more I learned about January 6th and the people that we were bringing into this drag net, that's when I became concerned about the process is the punishment. And there's an eighth amendment concern here where we, there's where we have people in jail that have never had their day in court for years on Ed, and I don't, it doesn't matter what your offense is, you're entitled to your day at court.
(00:52:57):
And then I also have due process concerns. Look at the juries that are there and they're convicting these people of crimes within minutes. And you have, uh, the voir dire process where they're selecting juries. And I've talked to journalists that have sat through that process and I've sat through that process too. And they always, the joke is, you never want to go to a jury because it's 12 people who are too dumb to get on jury duty and to watch the people say whatever they can to get off that jury. Dude, nobody wants to sit there for days on it, but from what I understand that's going on in DC it's the exact opposite. People are saying whatever they can to get on the juries, and even if they do say things that you would think any objective, unbiased, ju jurist or, uh, judge would toss them off, it doesn't matter.
(00:53:45):
So they're being asked, did you watch the January 6th committee hearings? Yes. Well, how much? Several hours a day. Do you have any connection to anybody in the capitol who works there? Yes. Family members who work there, permanent staff, and they're all being allowed on the jury. So that's, that's a due process concern for me. And again, back to my training of this can only happen if nobody throws the flag. And I might not be in Washington DC but I have eyes to see in ears to hear. And if that's going on, we as an agency, it's incumbent on us. We took this oath to sound the alarm
Jenny Beth Martin (00:54:21):
You were told when you were raising concerns that multiple police officers died that day. Did you think that was true? And what is the truth about that?
Steve Friend (00:54:31):
No, at that point I was aware that that didn't happen. And that the, uh, the Brian Snick narrative that we were all fed was completely false and erroneous. And I pointed that out to my, to my supervisor and he said that I really need to go back and examine the facts. And, and then stunningly, when I did my deposition, my transcribed interview, the Democrat attorneys brought up the same point and they said that police officers were killed. And I said, no, they weren't that sick. Nick had died of the stroke the next day and there were some other health issues and a suicide. And the new narrative from what I learned at that point was that because the d o j has ruled three of those officers in the line of duty deaths, that that is the narrative that they're going with. They're saying, well, they were killed by January 6th protestors.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:55:18):
So suicide is an in the line of duty death.
Steve Friend (00:55:21):
They, the DOJ ruled three officers as in the line of duty deaths. Uh, and look, you could, you could say, well, maybe they were trying to just help the families with, uh, compensation cuz if it's an in the line of duty death, they'd probably get some benefits. And maybe they're trying to do that. And you can question the morality or the legality of that, but maybe they did that. But I would argue that and submit that they did that so they can continue to have the talking point that police officers were killed by January 6th protestors. And, and I pointed out to the democratic attorneys at my deposition, well, this one died on the seventh and this one died on the ninth, and this one died on the 12th. So I stand by my statement that nobody, no police officers were killed on January 6th by the protestors. And I think they're happy to have their one page DOJ memo.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:56:08):
No, and the truth doesn't matter.
Steve Friend (00:56:12):
No, no, it hasn't for a long time.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:56:15):
Uh, but they'll get you, if you lie to them
Steve Friend (00:56:21):
No. And, uh, that's been the fight that I've had for all this time. And I, I keep saying I don't have to be right. I just have to be reasonable. You can call me whatever you want. You certainly, Dan Goldman accused me of being a grifter. Um, Stacey Plaskitt implied that I was potentially committing espionage. You had Debbie Wasserman Schultz that threw everything she possibly could up against the wall and saying that I was a profiteer or a political activist. And in my statement I said all of that, and even tossed in conspiracy theorists for good measure. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It is incumbent on the people that I brought this to who are in that position, and they're supposed to take my information and consider it. They have to decide if it's reasonable, incorrect or reasonable and incorrect. But either way, I was doing my job and I said this earlier, you can accuse me of all those things. You haven't accused me of being wrong, and I get all the flack, and that means I'm over the target.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:57:22):
Absolutely. Um, I think that we're extraordinarily, extraordinarily lucky and blessed that you have come forward and that the others have come forward. We are learning more about what's going on inside these agencies. Hopefully at some point soon we can get accountability from Congress. If we, we don't, it, it concerns me because, um, because the, what the FBI fears could wind up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy because they're not cleaning up their own house.
Steve Friend (00:57:58):
It, it's been my fear since the beginning that because the FBI has been so politicized and now is openly targeting one side that they've cut off the Overton window for political discussion from people. Uh, you and I can sit across this table and talk about any issue we want. Let's just say like tax rates. We could have a disagreement, we can reach a compromise. We might not, it doesn't matter. We can have a conversation. If you think I'm a domestic terrorist, you're never gonna have that conversation with me. Right. And as a result of the FBI's conduct in the way it's treated, half of the country that is gonna raise the temperature on this boiling pot, and the pot's gonna boil over, and the premier law enforcement HC is going to have a hand in a lot of violence and, and destruction as a result of it.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:58:49):
Well, I hope that what the House Republicans are doing to, to investigate all of this, we can bring, bring forward the truth. I hope that people buy your book and read more about what happened so that they understand what you went through. I hope the other whistleblowers write their stories out as well. We need this public record of it, and we need to be able to use what has happened to try to correct the problems. I would contend the FBI needs go away and that we don't even have a Department of Justice. It's much more department of injustice than justice. But if we're going to be stuck with, with the agency, then it, it, it needs to be handled properly.
Steve Friend (00:59:37):
Yeah, I agree with you. And I mean, I, I think that there's, it's gonna be a tough hill to climb with, with Congress or anybody in government to remove or end an agency. Uh, but I kind of laid out a potential reform here, uh, and I think with the, the willingness that I'm seeing recently with the, the Holman rule being available and at the fingertips of the house to zero out some salaries and, and end some specific programs, and they've reached out to me for suggestions. So there's definitely some appetite amongst some of the members to do it. And maybe just get that percolating within the conversations up on the hill. Maybe there can be some, some nibbling around the edges here before, uh, if there's a, a change at the, at the top that, uh, we could maybe have some massive reform, which is definitely necessary.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:00:22):
That makes a lot of sense. And you're working for, remind people who you're working for right now where you're able to make these recommendations?
Steve Friend (01:00:29):
Yeah, I, I work for Center for Renewing America. It's a, uh, 5 0 1 C three that focuses on identifying and making policy recommendations against woke and weaponized government. And I'm a senior fellow on domestic intelligence and security services there. And if you wanna learn about them, they do great work, not just on the fbi, all across the board. It's America renewing.com
Jenny Beth Martin (01:00:50):
And Russ Vo head set up.
Steve Friend (01:00:51):
Yes, he does. He's the president.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:00:53):
Yes. And he's really good. So everyone should check out that website and check out what they are doing. And then as you
Steve Friend (01:01:17):
Agreed. Agreed. I mean, I think that's, that's really, they gotta use the power of the purse strings. It's, it's the, the days of these strongly worded letters have, uh, reached their end. We need to actually put some, some teeth behind it. Otherwise, it's like having a, i I said it's like having a gunfight where one side brings their six shooter and the other side brings a letter from mommy that says you can't use a six shooter. You're, you're gonna lose that gunfight. You, you have to use the powers that you have and, and when, when the, in the argument and the, uh, in the arena of ideas.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:01:46):
Okay. And I just wanna say something because I think people are gonna listen to this and they're gonna be v very, very discouraged. And what I recommend to everyone is we'll do everything we can in the policy fights right now, given the makeup of Congress. And then in 2024, our focus has to be on securing and winning elections. So don't give up hope. We just have to buckle down and or dig down deep in 2024 and make sure we're doing those things so that we can have the change at the top and try to get even more change in 2025. Yeah.
Steve Friend (01:02:19):
Agreed. Agreed. I mean, the solution is at always will be grassroots starts at the lowest level. The doctors are the lesser magistrate as far as, you know, where, where you look to for your, your actual impact on your life. Uh, and then the impact that you can make. Paint the fence. It's always applicable. Paint the fence in your yard and do what you can and, and we'll get this whole thing painted
Jenny Beth Martin (01:02:39):
And we, no one should lose hope. It's frustrating. It's easy to get really discouraged and be very cynical, but you haven't, you've gone through all of this and you've sacrificed personally, and you're not losing hope. You're standing up for what is right and urging others to do the same.
Steve Friend (01:02:54):
I wouldn't have done what I did if I wasn't long on America. It, it just would've been too easy to just go along to get along and, and have a long career. And, uh, that that's not what I signed up to do. I had signed up to serve the country because I want the country to continue and, and, and prosper. And, and I have children that I wanted to set an example for and, and have them enjoy, uh, this country. Uh, but my biggest thing that I, I've been come around to saying is that America, we always say that America is an idea. I think America is an action verb. You, you have to do America. And, and that requires you to get outta your comfort zone. It's not a leisure pursuit all the time, but if you do that, you're, you're gonna have a, a good time in it. We're, and that's why our nation has prospered so greatly. So I'd encourage everybody to, to look what you can do at in your life and, and, um, if we all do that, I, I think we can pull this thing out.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:03:45):
Alright. Audience, you've heard Steve, friend, we have to do America and make sure that we are doing everything we can to preserve and protect liberty and don't lose hope in America. Thank you so much, Steve, for being with us today. I appreciate
Steve Friend (01:04:00):
It.
Narrator (01:04:01):
The Jenny Beth Show is hosted by Jenny Beth Martin, produced by Kevin Mohan and directed by Luke Livingston. The Jenny Beth Show is a production of Tea Party Patriots action. For more information, visit tea party patriots.org.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:04:21):
If you like this episode, let me know by hitting the light button or leaving a comment or a five star review. And if you wanna be the first to know every time we drop a new episode, be sure to subscribe and turn on notifications on whichever platform you're listening to. If you do these simple things, it will help the podcast grow and I appreciate it very much.