Congressman Tim Burchett asked a government whistleblower whether he believes anyone has been "murdered" in an effort to cover up the existence of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) during a House Subcommittee on National Security.
David Grusch, a former intelligence officer who claims the US has retrieved crashed UAPs and is reverse engineering them, was among three witnesses who spoke to congressional leaders on Wednesday during the subcommittee hearing.
Mr Grusch, who described himself as a whistleblower, said during the hearing that he was the subject of retaliation for his decision to go public with his claims.
During the hearing, Mr Burchett – who laboriously explained that the "Tic Tac" video showing a smooth, white aerial object, was not named for the "Chinese Communist Party app" TikTok — lamented that he could not secure a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) to discuss certain sensitive topics.
He then asked Mr Grusch if anyone had been harmed to maintain the alleged coverup.
"Do you have any personal knowledge of people who have been harmed or injured in efforts to cover-up or conceal these extra-terrestrial technologies," Mr Burchett asked.
"Yes," Mr Grush replied. "Personally."
Mr Burchett then asked, "has anyone been murdered?"
Mr Grusch hesitated for a moment before saying "I have to be careful asking [sic] that question," he said, citing a current investigation into whether or not he was the subject of retaliatory action for whistleblowing. "I directed people with that knowledge to the appropriate authorities."
Later, when Congressman Jamie Raskin asked him about retaliation, Mr Grusch said he was aware of "active planned reprisal" coming from "leadership at my previous organisation."
He referred to the alleged intimidation as "administrative terrorism."
Mr Grusch has not provided concrete evidence for any of his claims.
