FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin says DOJ has opened retaliatory grand jury probe of him

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include a statement from the FBI National Press Office.

The U.S. Department of Justice appears to have opened a grand jury investigation into former FBI Special Agent Kyle Seraphin in retaliation for his role as a whistleblower over the past two years and his promotion of other whistleblowers who sought to expose malfeasance at the nation’s top law enforcement agency.

Seraphin told Blaze News that a federal grand jury has subpoenaed his social media postings on X/Twitter and those of suspended FBI Special Agent Garret O’Boyle. Both men have had a prominent role since 2022 exposing what they allege are abuses within the bureau that threaten the civil rights of agents and the general public.

In May 2022, Seraphin exposed various abuses at the FBI in a video interview with investigative journalist James O’Keefe III at Project Veritas. In the Veritas broadcast, Seraphin’s face was hidden and his voice was masked to protect his identity. On the program, Seraphin disclosed that the FBI had opened “sensitive investigative matter” investigations into news media organizations.

“The FBI is trying to jam me up for an obstruction of justice charge, probably that 1512(c)(2), on the actual [Veritas] video that was released,” Seraphin told Blaze News.

'O’Boyle should have his clearance immediately reinstated, be returned to duty, and be provided back pay and benefits for his time on unpaid leave.'

That charge, under 18 U.S. Code §1512(c)(2), was used against more than 350 defendants who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Its novel, unprecedented use was challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled on June 28 that the 20-year felony could be used only if the person charged had impaired the use of documents or some other evidence in an “official proceeding.”

O’Boyle was notified through his attorney that he was not the target of the grand jury probe, Seraphin said. Seraphin did not receive such a notice, which he said likely indicates that he is an investigative target.

“If that’s what they’re trying to do, then it should be public and they [the FBI] should know that I know,” Seraphin said.

O'Boyle wrongly targeted

Seraphin also disclosed that the FBI revoked O’Boyle’s security clearance in July 2024 after denying him a paycheck for the past 18 months — even though the bureau knew that it was Seraphin and not O’Boyle who was interviewed by Project Veritas.

O’Boyle had taken on a new role at the FBI in September 2022 and was in the process of moving his family to Virginia from Kansas. On the day he was to report for work, his service weapon and FBI credentials were seized and his employment suspended, all based on the false assertion that he had leaked information to Project Veritas.

The FBI’s sudden suspension left the O’Boyle family without a place to live since all of his belongings were en route to their new home. They were forced to head to Wisconsin and took shelter in a camper parked in a relative’s driveway.

"If the FBI is going to do this to their own employees, what do you think they're capable of doing to normal people in our society?" O'Boyle said in an interview with Blaze News. "The depth of the wrongdoing here on what they've done to me and my family is so deep that it's close to impossible to even untangle."

FBI Special Agent Garret O'Boyle with daughters Iris and Gwen during his days as a police officer in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Photo courtesy of Garret O'Boyle, used with permission

In response to a request for comment, the FBI National Press Office told Blaze News: "The FBI does not have any comment."

The whistleblower cases of both men — and the recent expulsion of a 27-year FBI veteran just 90 days shy of retirement — shed light on an agency that has pursued vengeance against insiders for making lawful, statutorily protected disclosures about alleged abuses inside the FBI, Seraphin said.

Revelations from current and former FBI employees have not led to reforms inside the bureau but rather have resulted in vindictive campaigns to silence and punish those who dared to speak up about COVID “vaccine” mandates, Jan. 6 SWAT raids, investigations of the Catholic Church, and various other civil rights violations, he said.

In spring 2022, Seraphin was suspended under the guise of an investigation into him for doing target practice with his service weapon at a shooting range on federal land in New Mexico. The sound of the shots had prompted calls to local police from a nearby school.

The police officer who made contact with Seraphin at the range concluded that Seraphin did nothing wrong. The officer left the scene without taking any action, Seraphin said. The land was often used by the public for target practice.

The internal investigation started by the FBI was actually because Seraphin had refused to take the COVID-19 shot that was being pushed as a vaccine on bureau employees, he said. Seraphin filed for an exemption from the FBI’s vaccine policy based on his Catholic faith, because the COVID shots were developed using cell lines from aborted babies.

Seraphin was the organizer of an FBI chat group on the encrypted app Signal that focused on the vaccine mandates.

“They went after Garret simply because we were connected together, we were good friends,” Seraphin told Blaze News. “My belief is they lined it up because they knew we both had gotten into that COVID group that I started on Signal, which had 300 FBI employees.”

House Judiciary testimony

O'Boyle offered emotional testimony before the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary in May 2023 about the damage done to him, his wife, and four children by the false accusation and resulting suspension without pay.

O'Boyle appeared with former FBI Special Agent Steve Friend, suspended FBI analyst Marcus Allen, and Tristan Leavitt, president of Empower Oversight, an agency that supports and represents government whistleblowers.

Leavitt sent a letter on July 22 to Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz and the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility demanding that O'Boyle's security clearance be reinstated.

Suspended FBI Special Agent Garret O’Boyle tells the House Judiciary Committee on May 18, 2023: "The FBI will crush you. This government will crush you and your family." (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

"Despite knowing that SA O’Boyle had accepted a transfer, sold his family’s home, and had a newborn baby, the FBI — in violation of its own policy — waited until after SA O’Boyle reported to his new duty station to suspend his clearance, leaving him and his family homeless," Leavitt wrote.

"Because the FBI’s actions against SA O’Boyle were clearly retaliatory, SA O’Boyle should have his clearance immediately reinstated, be returned to duty, and be provided back pay and benefits for his time on unpaid leave."

O'Boyle said the FBI has not reimbursed him for the $30,000 cost to move his family from Wichita to Virginia. An FBI official told O'Boyle in a November 2022 email that reimbursement was not possible until the investigation into him was finished.

Seraphin has brought numerous examples of FBI overreach to public view, including an internal memo directing agents to look for threats against local school boards or administrators in order to open domestic terrorism cases. Many parents said in response that they felt like the weight of the federal government could be used against them for asking for redress of grievances about drag queen story hours or school libraries that stock pornographic homosexual books aimed at children.

Seraphin also disclosed that the FBI was seeking to infiltrate and investigate so-called radical traditional Catholics, many of whom prefer the Traditional Latin Mass, as some kind of domestic extremists.

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