A recently reinstated member of the FBI “Suspendables,” Stephen Friend, who has taken to social media and podcasts to cast doubt on the bureau’s arrest last week of the alleged January 6th bomber, has returned to the FBI this week in a new role as applicant coordinator for the Jacksonville field office – a far cry from the special agent position he previously held. 

His return to a staff job at the FBI will, in theory, prohibit him from speaking freely about his longtime employer — something he had enjoyed since resigning out of protest in 2023.

Last week, while appearing on the Kyle Seraphin Show, Mr. Friend suggested that the “thirsty” FBI leadership may have struck a backchannel deal with Brian Cole Jr., the man charged as the January 6th pipebomber, to satisfy President Trump and an increasingly wary MAGA audience. 

“Maybe this guy, this Cole character, was an entrapment playbook person you already had on the hook,” Mr. Friend told former FBI special agent and fellow Suspendable, Kyle Seraphin.

“Maybe you’re in a position of executive leadership, and you’re just so damn thirsty to get a win for ‘Dad’ that the President will be proud of you finally, and your fans will return and have devotion to you,” Mr. Friend said, in a thinly veiled reference to both the FBI director, Kash Patel and his Co-deputy director, Daniel Bongino.

Then, without addressing his threat to anyone specific, Mr. Friend warned he would “bring out my inner Commodus” if Mr. Cole’s arrest for placing two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties the night before January 6, 2021, turns out to have been another “put-up job” by federal law enforcement.

Mr. Friend was referencing the Roman Emperor Commodus, the son of Marcus Aurelius, whose inaccurate portrayal in Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” as a ruthless schemer and murderer was a sharp departure from historical record.

Mr. Friend then mixed his metaphors to invoke Green and Hindu gods. “You’d better pray to Gaia or Vishnu, or whatever your maker is, that the real Steve Friend is never in a position to be an instrument of God’s wrath, because I will be merciful. I won’t give you a trial and a hanging. I’ll allow you to breathe every breath that your body will have for the rest of its natural life inside of a box, and then when it ultimately fades to black,” Mr Friend added.

Shortly after that episode aired on December 5th, the nonprofit watchdog that represented Mr. Friend, Empower Oversight, fired him as a client. In a letter dated the same day, the group wrote that “contrary to our previous advice, you once again commented publicly on FBI matters today, risking further adverse administrative action by the FBI.”

On December 7, Mr. Friend was ordered to report to duty at the Jacksonville field office despite not holding a security clearance or being subject to a background investigation, Mr. Seraphin tells the Sun. 

“They are listening to Steve and [me],” Mr. Seraphin tells the Sun. “Now he is the future applicant communicator to shut him up, but also because they won’t let him be a regular FBI agent.”

An FBI spokesperson did not respond to messages from the Sun. Empower Oversight declined to comment.

Mr. Friend has been among the most vocal members of “The Suspendables,” a group of ex-agents who say they were punished by a “weaponized” FBI, under the aegis of former Director Christopher Wray and President Biden, for political reasons. In 2022, Mr. Friend was suspended without pay and his security clearance revoked after making a protected whistleblower disclosure to his immediate supervisor over his concerns about the FBI’s investigation into the Capitol Hill riots on January 6th. 

In 2023, while testifying before a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing, Mr. Friend criticized the FBI’s use of  SWAT teams to arrest suspects, saying it “created an unnecessary risk to FBI personnel and public safety” and may have been done in part “to inflate  the FBI’s statistics on domestic extremism.” Mr. Friend resigned from the bureau in 2023.

The Suspendables would become a cause celebre for Mr. Patel, who, before his surprise elevation to FBI director, provided several members with financial support through his Kash Foundation. In the months leading to his confirmation as FBI director, Mr. Patel sought input from Mr. Friend and other Suspendables to identify FBI officials who were “problems.”

In August, Mr. Patel announced a settlement with several whistleblowers to restore their benefits and back pay, along with a lump-sum payment for damages. As part of the agreement, the FBI would reinstate Mr. Friend and two other agents to duty.

But Mr. Patel’s support of Messrs. Friend and Seraphin has since proved to be a Faustian bargain for the 45-year-old FBI director. The two men have been among Mr. Patel’s sharpest critics, often taking to Mr. Seraphin’s podcast or X to excoriate the FBI director’s performance, including his handling of the January 6th pipebombing investigation. 

On December 3, Mr. Cole, 30, was arrested and charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce with the intent to kill and attempted malicious destruction by means of fire and explosive materials. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi last week credited Messrs. Bongino and Patel for reviving the cold case after it “languished” under the prior administration.

On Thursday, a U.S. Magistrate Judge delayed Mr. Cole’s detention hearing until December 30 after defense attorneys requested additional time “to review the significant amount of discovery provided by the government to date.”