Padilla Announces Troubling New FBI Whistleblower Disclosure: White House Allegedly Directed Kash Patel to Investigate LA Protesters Exercising 1st Amendment Rights

Whistleblower reveals White House, DOJ leadership, and FBI leadership pressured FBI employees to illegally investigate protesters of this Administration's cruel mass deportation agenda

FBI leadership allegedly acknowledged unconstitutionality of the investigations and nonetheless instructed employees to proceed

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, announced the receipt of a new whistleblower disclosure that alleges the White House instructed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel to have the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office open an investigation into protesters solely for their First Amendment activity. The whistleblower also alleges that in a separate incident, then Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove instructed the LA Field Office to open an investigation into any anti-Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) protesters demonstrating at federal buildings in Los Angeles without identifying any federal criminal activity, actual or potential national security threats, or vulnerability to such threats.

"Free speech and assembly are protected by the First Amendment because they are foundational to our democracy. This whistleblower disclosure is deeply alarming. It points to a President and political appointees who continue to weaponize the justice system against perceived enemies, and it alleges that FBI leadership believed these directives were unconstitutional yet carried them out anyway. Investigations like this undermine the Constitution, divert resources from real crimes, put careers at risk, and send a chilling message to anyone who might oppose this Administration: you could be next," said Senator Padilla. "I thank the whistleblower, and any who may come forward in the future, for speaking truth to power. Our democracy is bigger than one man, and each of us has a responsibility to shine a light on abuses of power and hold leadership accountable."

The disclosure received by Senator Padilla claims that:

• Trump allegedly directed the FBI to investigate protestors exercising their First Amendment right to free speech.
  • Trump allegedly saw video footage of a protest in Alhambra, California depicting "community members in a residential neighborhood using megaphones and other alerts to warn residents about the presence of immigration enforcement officers, while advising neighbors of their legal rights and encouraging them not to open their doors without a signed judicial warrant." Trump was "angry about the incident" and "wanted those protesters investigated and arrested," despite FBI agents concluding that the protests "never crossed the line into impeding arrest or being a threat." "The President wants this investigation," and "the directive had to be followed," the disclosure says.

• On a separate occasion, despite no apparent evidence of a threat, FBI employees were directed to open investigations into anti-ICE and CBP protesters at federal buildings in Los Angeles-again solely based on their First Amendment activity.
  • The whistleblower - in their capacity as a Supervisory Intelligence Analyst at the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office- was informed by Field Office leadership that Bove instructed FBI personnel to open an investigation into any anti-ICE and CBP protesters demonstrating at federal buildings in Los Angeles. This directive was issued despite the absence of any information indicating that the protesters posed a national security threat, had engaged in criminal activity, or were vulnerable to such threats.

• Field Office leadership followed the White House, DOJ, and FBI's directives due to political pressure, despite acknowledgement that it was unconstitutional.
  • Alarmingly, when the whistleblower raised objections to opening an investigation into the protesters, leadership asserted that even though they knew the act was unconstitutional, "a criminal investigation was being pursued because the President wanted protestors investigated and arrested even after a finding… that the protestors' actions were constitutionally protected." 
  • Field Office leadership subsequently told the whistleblower their job was at risk for their refusal to participate in the unlawful investigation. The whistleblower alleges that they were retaliated against for their disagreement, including by being removed from their supervisory position. Ultimately, the whistleblower resigned from the FBI before they could be fired.
  • The whistleblower's supervisor also expressed "fear of challenging leadership directives, even when they believed those directives were unlawful or unconstitutional," underscoring the chilling effect that the Trump Administration's weaponization of the justice system has had in silencing dissent.

• Resources were diverted from legitimate public safety missions to satisfy the White House's unconstitutional directive.
  • Additionally, the whistleblower outlines that significant law enforcement resources were diverted from core public-safety missions to satisfy the Trump Administration's push to silence its detractors. FBI intelligence analysts and investigative personnel were reassigned and resources were diverted from ongoing matters involving drug trafficking, violent crime, and transnational organized crime to support protest-related inquiries without evidence of actual or potential national security threats, criminal activity, or vulnerability to such threats that would have justified such a diversion of resources. This diversion impaired the Los Angeles Field Office's ability to focus on critical public-safety and national-security priorities.

In response to the compelling allegations in the disclosure, Padilla demanded Patel and Attorney General Todd Blanche provide answers on the nature of these investigations, transparency into any subsequent investigations into protestors, and documents related to these investigations.

"Throughout your appearances before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, you promised that cases would be based only on the facts and the law, free from political interference. But the Disclosure paints a starkly different picture and raises serious questions about whether other similar investigations have been initiated under your tenures. The Disclosure depicts an FBI and DOJ willing to surveil individuals solely for First Amendment activity criticizing the Administration-at the behest of the White House and Trump loyalists, over the objection of senior staff, and in contravention of agency policy and the Constitution. Such allegations raise grave concerns about the rule of law under your leadership, and the diversion of resources from ongoing criminal investigations, and the testimony that you provided under oath to Congress," wrote Senator Padilla.

The whistleblower is a former FBI employee and a licensed attorney represented by the Government Accountability Project and David Laufman.

The whistleblower's disclosure follows a chilling pattern in which the Administration has pursued Trump's baseless claims at the expense of Americans' safety. A separate, recent whistleblower disclosure alleges DHS and USCIS leadership abruptly diverted USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate immigration officers from their national security-related duties and directed them instead to use illegal procedures and questionable data to identify purported "unlawful voters," and create federal law enforcement records against them, including naturalized U.S. citizens. The Administration also redirected Homeland Security Investigations analysts from their typical work on criminal matters and to a so-called "tiger team" for the sole purpose of investigating, surveilling, and detaining students and other individuals based solely on their political opinions.

The whistleblower's disclosure is available here.

Padilla's letter is available here.

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