(Bloomberg) — Two House Democrats want details of efforts to protect federal workers amid “a surge” of threats following the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence and recent passage of increased IRS funding.
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Oversight and Reform Chair Carolyn Maloney and Stephen Lynch, the chair of the panel’s National Security subcommittee, in a letter released Wednesday placed part of the blame for the threats on “leaders in the Republican Party,” including Trump, who they say have “promoted false conspiracy theories.”
“The Committee is extremely concerned that this volatile threat environment puts federal employees in grave danger and at risk of violence,” they wrote in the letter to Eric Patterson, director of the Federal Protective Service, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security.
The two lawmakers request assessments of the current threat levels facing federal employees, including whether threats are increasing and what actions are being taken. The FPS is charged with providing physical security and law enforcement services to protect approximately 9,000 federal facilities, employees and visitors, including more than 50 FBI field offices and other FBI buildings.
They also seek details of how the FPS goes about monitoring threats against federal employees and facilities, and how it works with social media companies to identify potential threats against federal employees or facilities. The letter requests a briefing to the Oversight Committee on these and other questions by Sept. 28.
The lawmakers cite a Bloomberg report last week that in the days following the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in August, FPS warned of a “spike in expressed social media threats against the FBI and to a lesser extent, other government and law enforcement agencies.”
Maloney of New York and Lynch of Massachusetts accuse Trump and Republican members of Congress of making “reckless statements demonizing federal law enforcement officers and even hinting of possible violence. “
They cited comments from GOP Senator Lindsey Graham in a Fox News interview in which he said there would be “riots in the streets” if Trump were to be prosecuted for crimes related to unlawful prosecution of classified government information.
They also said that Trump, in a recent speech, called the Justice Department and FBI “vicious monsters” and warned that the criminal investigation into his possession of classified government documents at Mar-a-Lago “is going to produce a backlash the likes of which nobody has ever seen before.”
They also write that passage by Democrats of the Inflation Reduction Act has led to Republican claims — including from House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy that an “army” of IRS agents was being created to go after Americans.
“These inflammatory statements are both dangerous and false,” they wrote. “Under the Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS will receive additional funding to ensure fair enforcement of tax laws.”
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