True Blue: My Journey from Beat Cop to Suspended FBI Whistleblower

Stephen Friend had his dream job as an FBI special agent. After nearly a decade of combating violent crime, human trafficking, and child predators, he was reassigned to the FBI’s unprecedented investigation of the political unrest at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. Friend soon uncovered efforts by the FBI and Department of Justice to manipulate statistics and exaggerate the nationwide threat of domestic terrorism. Friend spotlighted how the politicized FBI was cooking the books to support an ongoing narrative from the Joe Biden administration to label Donald Trump voters as violent extremists. Friend witnessed overzealous practices to harass conservative Americans and realized the FBI was turning its investigative processes into a punishment. When the married father of two made his bombshell allegations in a whistleblower disclosure, leaders within the FBI exposed themselves as partisan, ambitious players who insisted that January 6th protestors killed police officers and attempted to seize American democracy. Hell-bent on suppressing Friend from exposing the truth, FBI officials seized his gun and badge and suspended him from working as a special agent. In this memoir, Friend reflects on the lessons and life experiences that led him to ultimately risk his career to uphold his FBI special agent oath to protect and defend the United States Constitution against enemies—both foreign and domestic.