by Steven Richards and John Solomon
A senior FBI official told Congress last year that he believed one of the FBI agents, informant Garret O’Boyle, was suspected of leaking information in an anonymously recorded interview with a secretive citizen journalism organization. Project VeritasThat claim even prompted some Democrats in Congress to call for a criminal investigation into the agent.
There is only one problem.
Video obtained by Only newsa new informant complaint and interviews show the office identified the wrong suspect.
Raw footage from Project Veritas shows that former agent Kyle Seraphin, another informant, actually conducted the interview in question. Seraphin confirmed that Only news he was the agent being questioned, not O’Boyle (pictured above), whose security clearance was suspended in part because of bureau accusations that he had passed confidential information to Project Veritas.
The disclosures shed further delicate on the agency as its director, Chris Wray, prepares to meet face-to-face with lawmakers during another round of oversight hearings on Wednesday.
“The FBI has so far evaded accountability for what it did to SA O’Boyle. It continues its endless cycle of retaliation even today,” Tristan Leavitt, president of the whistleblower group Empower Oversight, wrote to the House Judiciary Committee this week ahead of Wray’s appearance before the committee.
Leavitt’s group represents O’Boyle, and his letter revealed even more disturbing information about the Project Veritas fiasco: The office knew O’Boyle was not the whistleblower, so it failed to notify Congress or correct the documents, according to testimony from a new whistleblower mentioned in the letter.
The FBI declined to comment Tuesday on Leavitt’s letter.
Project Veritas confirmed in a statement to Just the News Tuesday evening that it was Seraphin, not O’Boyle, who gave the interview.
“After we released our suppressed interview, FBI Special Agent Garrett O’Boyle was wrongly singled out and punished by the bureau as a suspected whistleblower,” the group said. “He was retaliated against by the FBI, and his family was harmed by these actions.
“We can now reveal that FBI informant Kyle Seraphin was our source, not O’Boyle. Kyle gave us permission to reveal his identity as our source in order to stop the unjust persecution of his former colleague. As is now clear, the FBI is untrustworthy and cannot be trusted, even when identifying its own agents.
The story began when then-executive assistant Jennifer Leigh Moore, who testified before the Judiciary Committee in April and June 2023.gave lawmakers information on the basis for suspending O’Boyle’s security clearance, saying the FBI suspected he was the agent who appeared anonymously in the Project Veritas video and who allegedly leaked vital information from the investigation.
“We received a report from our Insider Threat Office that an individual had leaked information about an ongoing FBI criminal investigation,” Moore said, describing what information her office had to support concerns about O’Boyle’s safety.
“What was the context of this leak?” investigators asked.
“This person leaked investigative information that compromised the case and was interviewed, apparently, behind a cover. And that opened the leak case. He was reported as a referral,” she replied.
When Moore was asked if the bureau had credible information to confirm that O’Boyle was indeed the agent who appeared in the recording disguised as software, Moore declined to provide further information to the committee.
“Yes. And what information does the FBI now have that Mr. O’Boyle was behind the shield?” congressional investigators asked.
“I can’t talk about it,” she replied.
She later stated in her testimony that, according to the Empower Oversight letter, the FBI was not actually sure which agent gave the interview.
However, the FBI actually sent the Project Veritas video recording to Quantico for voice analysis and “ultimately discovered” in early 2023 that the person under the voice mask was not O’Boyle. Voice analysis revealed that the masked person was actually another whistleblower and FBI agent Kyle Seraphin, who was suspended shortly before Project Veritas released the video recording in May 2022, according to Empower Oversight.
Only news obtained an uncensored version of the Project Veritas interview, which revealed that Seraphin was an informant interrogated by James O’Keefe, who has since left Project Veritas. Seraphin confirmed that Only news that it is really him in the video. Seraphin also said Only news that the FBI never informed him that he was under investigation for his participation in the Project Veritas interrogation.
When O’Boyle came under the FBI’s scrutiny, Seraphin sent a statement that was reviewed by Only newsoffice, making clear that O’Boyle had not provided any information to Project Veritas and noting that the FBI had never contacted him during the course of its investigation into O’Boyle’s alleged leak, despite helping O’Boyle obtain contact information for the House Judiciary Committee.
Still, top Democrats on the Judiciary Committee and the Arms Subcommittee used Moore’s testimony to refer O’Boyle to the Justice Department for criminal prosecutionclaiming that he lied to the committees in his testimony when denying allegations that he had disclosed non-public information to the public.
“As if the FBI’s treatment of S.A. O’Boyle and his family by suspending him were not reprehensible enough, the fact that the FBI is withholding critical information from Congress is further evidence of its vindictive, retaliatory attitude. By withholding this critical information and permitting a false charge of perjury based on false information, the FBI is responsible for significant damage to S.A. O’Boyle’s reputation.” written by Tristan Leavitt, President of Empower Oversight.
“He continues his endless cycle of retaliation even today by revoking O’Boyle’s SA clearance and suspending our SecD whistleblower client’s clearance in retaliation for speaking out against SecD’s abuse of the process against O’Boyle’s SA and others. He is using the same playbook of delaying tactics and will continue to do so until Congress enacts fundamental reforms to the security clearance process and the FBI’s criminals are held accountable,” he added.
O’Boyle was suspended in 2022 after previously disclosing information to FBI superiors and Congress about alleged violations of FBI policy related to COVID-19, the politicization of the office and what he believed was a politically motivated investigation into Project Veritas.
O’Boyle he also raised issues related to the office’s internal guidelines released after overthrow Roe v. Wade which identified pro-life activities as a potential threat, but did not raise alarm about pro-choice activities such as protests outside the homes of Supreme Court justices.
O’Boyle told the committee he believed the FBI’s suspension and revocation of his security clearance were retaliation for his confidential disclosures of information about the bureau’s activities.
The FBI suspended O’Boyle just before his family was set to move from Kansas to Virginia for a job transfer. He sold his home and was waiting for the new one to close, he testified in a deposition. Still, O’Boyle was suspended during the move, and the FBI blocked him from accessing his family’s belongings stored by the bureau. That left him and his family in limbo for years while the bureau ruled on his suspension.
In his opening statement at the May 2023 hearing, O’Boyle sharply criticized the office’s conduct.
“Despite our oath to uphold the Constitution, too many in the FBI are unwilling to make a sacrifice for the hard right over easy evil,” his remarks read. “They see what happens to whistleblowers; how the FBI destroys their careers, suspends them under false pretenses, strips them of their security clearances and pays them off without giving them any real options for real remediation or remedy. This is intentional; it creates an Orwellian atmosphere that silences dissent and discussion.”
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Steven Richards is a reporter for Just the News.
John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist, author and digital media entrepreneur who serves as CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Just the News.
Photo “Garret O’Boyle” by PBS News.
