'Vocally anti-Trump' FBI agent leading probe of Florida assassination attempt: whistleblower
The FBI's lead agent investigating the second assassination attempt on former President Trump allegedly posted anti-Trump rhetoric to social media, according to a whistleblower.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s lead agent probing the second assassination attempt on former President Trump’s life allegedly posted anti-Trump rhetoric on social media, according to a whistleblower’s account to Congress last year – though the bureau calls these claims "demonstrably false."
Jeffrey Veltri is the FBI’s special agent in charge of its Miami bureau, which oversees neighboring areas, such as West Palm Beach, where suspect Ryan Routh was arrested on Sunday after being accused of pointing a gun at the former president and current GOP presidential nominee.
Veltri took the podium during a Monday press conference, reassuring the public that the FBI was digging in and investigating thoroughly.
"We view this as extremely serious and are determined to provide answers as to what led up to the events that took place," Veltri said.
"I want to emphasize we are just a little over 24 hours into this investigation, so we are going to provide as much as we can publicly while our investigation is ongoing," he added. "We must also stress the U.S. attorney’s office is pursuing charges, and that limits some details we can publicly disclose."
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But soon after Veltri's appearance, reports resurfaced on social media outlining an FBI whistleblower's claims last year to the House Judiciary Committee that Veltri was allegedly ordered by the FBI to delete anti-Trump social media posts. The accusations first emerged in a Washington Times article in November.
Veltri was named special agent in charge of the Miami field office in March 2023.
"The home of President Donald Trump is located in the area of responsibility of the Miami Field Office. It was well known that Veltri was adamantly and vocally Anti-Trump," the whistleblower said in the disclosure, the outlet reported last year. "Wray, Abbate and Moore wanted to ensure that Veltri appeared non-political, Veltri was ordered to remove all of his Facebook and Social media posts that were Anti-Trump."
The whistleblower alleged that top FBI brass, including FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, Deputy Director Paul Abbate and Executive Assistant Director Jennifer Moore were involved in directing Veltri to scrub his social media accounts.
The person also charged that FBI leaders were not concerned with Veltri’s apparent anti-Trump bias, but whether "information related to Veltri’s political bias can be removed from the public domain."
The 2023 report resurfaced this week as news broke that Trump was targeted in a second assassination attempt at his golf club in West Palm Beach. Conservatives on social media resurrected the article, slamming Veltri for allegedly having a "history of anti-Trump posts" while now leading the investigation into the attempt on Trump’s life.
The FBI denied the whistleblower’s claims last year, when headlines first surfaced.
"Special Agent in Charge Veltri was selected through a competitive process to lead the Miami field office and is charged with carrying out the FBI mission in a fair and unbiased manner," the FBI said at the time. "The reported allegations about political bias impacting decisions, the targeting of former military employees, and SAC Veltri’s social media accounts and posts are demonstrably false."
More recently, the agency said it has "full confidence" in Veltri’s leadership overseeing the investigation. An FBI official additionally told Fox News Digital this week that bureau leadership did not ask or require Veltri to remove any alleged social media posts.
"The FBI has full confidence in SAC Veltri’s leadership of the Miami Field Office and the investigation of the attempted assassination of former President Trump. This investigation is of the highest priority of the FBI. We are working closely with our partners and have hundreds of personnel from FBI Headquarters, Quantico, and multiple field offices supporting these efforts. All of us in the FBI are committed to conducting this investigation by the book, following the facts where they lead," the FBI said in a statement to Fox Digital.
Veltri was again cited by a whistleblower this year alleging the bureau improperly suspended security clearances for agents with "conservative views." The whistleblower's legal representative, Tristan Leavitt, argued the DOJ Inspector General should conduct a full audit of alleged abuse of security clearances, pointing to Veltri specifically.
"In light of SecD’s [FBI’s Security Division's] pattern of abuse of the security clearance process and retaliation against SecD employees who try to stop that abuse, I also request that the OIG conduct a full review of the FBI’s security clearance process, how it has been abused – particularly by Dena Perkins and Jeffrey Veltri – and the role of FBI leadership in allowing these abuses to multiply," Leavitt wrote in the complaint.
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Veltri joined the FBI in 2002 as a special agent, where he took on assignments such as deploying to Iraq in 2006 to support the Regime Crime Liaison Office, serving as a supervisory special agent with the Cyber Division at FBI Headquarters in 2011 and heading up the agency’s Civil Rights Unit in 2016, according to a press release in 2023 naming him as the new Miami bureau chief.
The suspect in the apparent second assassination attempt against Trump this year, 58-year-old Ryan Routh, was arrested after reportedly pointing the muzzle of a rifle through a chain-link fence toward Trump on Sunday afternoon at his West Palm Beach golf club.
Trump was not injured in the attack. Routh was arrested in his car on I-95 after fleeing his location near the golf course.
Routh prolifically posted on social media about world events, the war in Ukraine, politics and Trump in the lead-up to the attempt, including calling on Vice President Kamala Harris in July to visit those injured at the assassination attempt against Trump in Pennsylvania, because "Trump will never do anything for them."
Routh was brought to federal court on Monday morning, when he was seen laughing and smiling ahead of his first court appearance in the case.
He faces charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Authorities said he could be hit with additional charges.
Routh will face a bond hearing on Sept. 23 and will be arraigned on Sept. 30.
