The FBI Faces A Long Road To Redemption

Long ago, Americans viewed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with tremendous admiration. It was considered a premier law enforcement agency and was favorably depicted in countless television shows and movies. Sadly, that reputation has suffered in recent years. It changed from being viewed as unbiased and revered to having a reputation as partisan and untrustworthy. This turnabout accelerated during the tenure of James Comey as FBI Director.

In May 2017, President Donald Trump fired Comey. Among other issues, Trump was disgusted with Comey’s handling of the phony Russian collusion investigation. He refused to publicly exonerate President Trump, although he privately told him he was not the focus of an investigation.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wrote a memo recommending that Comey be fired for his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s improper use of a private email server. Comey infamously refused to charge Clinton even though she likely committed numerous crimes.

On Thursday, a grand jury indicted Comey. He was charged with “serious crimes related to the disclosure of sensitive information.” Specifically, Comey was indicted for obstructing a congressional investigation and making a false statement that “he did not authorize someone at the FBI to be an anonymous source.”

By using an anonymous source to leak to the media, Comey successfully created a special counsel investigation into President Trump, led by Robert Mueller, that lasted almost two years and cost taxpayers $32 million. The investigation found Trump was not involved in Russian collusion, and Mueller refused to charge the President with obstruction of justice.

While the Mueller investigation failed to indict President Trump, it did succeed in creating a two-year distraction that harmed the administration in many ways. Comey knew the “Steele Dossier” was an unverified document, but it was used by FBI officials to obtain warrants from the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

This allowed the FBI to, in effect, spy on Trump during his campaign, his transition, and after he took the presidential oath of office. Only later did the DOJ admit that the requests to surveil Page “lacked probable cause” and included 17 “misstatements or omissions.”

As FBI Director, Comey was a disaster. He should have charged Clinton, exonerated Trump, and completely dismissed the bogus “Steele Dossier.” He should never have authorized warrant applications based on lies or sanctioned media leaks.

He seemingly lied to Congress, which is why he was indicted. Of course, the liberal media is saying that President Trump is pushing the Department of Justice to indict Comey as a way of retaliating against his political enemies.

The media has no problem with Trump being the victim of a Russian collusion hoax, or their colleagues receiving Pulitzer Prizes for false reporting about the fraud. The media was fine with the outrageous “lawfare” conducted against President Trump, which was initiated by President Joe Biden’s DOJ allies and left-wing “blue state” prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, and New York City.

Comey will appear in court on October 9 to be arraigned. He will have the charges read to him, and he will enter a plea. Such respectful treatment was not afforded to Trump advisor Roger Stone, who was charged by Mueller.

He posted online, “James Comey and I were charged with the exact same crimes. Why did 29 heavily armed FBI agents storm my home at 6 AM to arrest me after tipping off CNN, while James Comey still has not voluntarily surrendered for his arrest and has until October 9 to do so?”

Yes, Stone asks a legitimate question, for there is still a double standard at the FBI. Fortunately, Christopher Wray is no longer the FBI Director, as he could be facing the same legal trouble as James Comey.

In congressional testimony in July 2023, Wray said “As I sit here right now, I do not believe there were undercover (FBI) agents” embedded in the crowd of protesters at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. However, in a report released last week, it was revealed that there were 274 plainclothes FBI agents among the crowd around the U.S. Capitol.

U.S. Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) posted online that Wray “will be held accountable for this lie.”

Patel has a tremendous challenge to restore the country’s faith in his agency. He needs to update the American people on the investigation into the two assassination attempts on President Trump’s life and the mysterious January 6^th pipe bomber. Why has so little information been released?

Also, Patel needs to clean house at the FBI. Last week, it was a good start to fire the 20 agents who were photographed kneeling during a June 4, 2020, demonstration protesting the death of George Floyd.

FBI agents should not be participating in political demonstrations or unfairly targeting President Trump and his supporters. One day, let us hope Americans will again recognize the FBI as the nation’s premier law enforcement agency.