The legal reason for hearing it at all was whistleblower protections. That was what the committee was hearing about, were whistleblower protections actually violated? Watch AOC’s line of questioning, it’s extremely telling.

The committee exists to oversee exactly that law because the people who would violate it are government employees. The reality of his claims are irrelevant, and the validity of his claims is also irrelevant.

The questions are “did her feel he had a valid concern to report”, yes, and “did he report it through the appropriate channels” (we don’t really know, this was exactly the topic of AOC’s questions, and this made Grusch visibly nervous), and finally, “did he suffer duress from superiors for having made those duly obligated reports?”. The answer to the last one depends entirely on what those proper channels are. You do not have protections by simply going to the public. You have to inform superiors up the chain of command.

It all feels incredibly tailored to make Congress a media side show while carefully dodging culpability for doing so. The entire point of “well I didn’t see anything, people told me and I believed them” is just far too conveniently placed, the stories he has all fall in line with what the alien sub culture already had well established in their lore. Too too convenient. I believe AOC was on to that because while she’s smart, it doesn’t take a genius to figure this out.