What doesn’t make sense is Trump’s callous disregard for policies and practices that are established to protect the president from legal liability. With everything that has transpired with Trump, Comey, and the investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia, what interests you most as an investigator? What doesn’t quite make sense? You’ve been trained by the FBI as an investigator. These statements make clear his intent was to interfere with the ongoing FBI investigations, which is potentially obstruction of justice, a federal crime. Trump has said himself that he was dissatisfied with the pace of the investigation and thought firing Comey would move the investigation in a better direction. President Trump made clear both in the termination letter he wrote to Comey and in subsequent tweets and interviews, not to mention his White House conversations with Russian officials, that his decision to fire Comey had more to do with ongoing investigations of his campaign and administration staff than Comey’s behavior regarding the Clinton investigation that formed the initial justification. Clearly, Comey’s actions, taken in violation of policy and against the advice of superiors, has damaged the reputation of the FBI and raised questions about its objectivity and partiality.Įven though you believe Comey deserved to be sanctioned, what concerns you about his firing by President Trump? These policies protect the public, candidates for offices, and the FBI. Once an agency is perceived to be political, efforts to depoliticize it tend to look more like re-politicizing it from the opposite direction. These rules exist to make sure the FBI is not undermining the democratic process, whether intentionally or not. Second, Justice Department policies strictly prohibit any investigative activity or other actions during the run-up to an election that might have an influence on that election. Doing so leaves the subjects without an adequate venue to challenge the government’s evidence and defend themselves. We give the FBI powerful tools to invade our privacy when it is necessary to investigate federal crimes or national security threats, but if they don’t find a chargeable offense, it is highly unfair for them to release derogatory information gathered using these law enforcement tools. First, the Justice Department has long-standing policies against making any public comment regarding FBI investigations that do not result in public charges. I think for whatever deficiencies people find in Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s memo, he certainly hit all the high notes. Mike German: So Comey’s action was so far outside the appropriate behavior for an FBI director that this could be a long answer. You’re an ex-agent, can you let people know what agency rules he broke and why it’s important for every employee of the FBI to follow them, no matter their title? Matthew Harwood: You’ve been publicly critical of Comey and believe he deserved sanction for his actions during the election in a piece for. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity. You can follow Mike on Twitter at and read his work at his website, Rethinking Intelligence: Reforms for a Failing System. In 2006, he joined the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington Legislative Office, where he worked on the many civil rights issues raised by the FBI’s rapid growth into a massive domestic intelligence agency before leaving for the Brennan Center in 2014. After two years fighting to effect change, he resigned. German did, reporting an illegal wiretap, and immediately was retaliated against by his superiors. At the time, FBI Director Robert Mueller asked agents to come forward if they witnessed anything unethical or unlawful during counterterrorism cases. In 2002, German reported serious mismanagement of a counterterrorism undercover case he was assigned to. Twelve of those years he spent in deep cover, infiltrating neo-Nazi and anti-government militia groups planning attacks on American soil. For 16 years, German was an FBI special agent who worked white collar crime and domestic terrorism. To help us understand these events as well as the future of the FBI under President Trump, I spoke with Mike German, a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program. (For a good breakdown of everything related to the Russia investigation, check out this piece from the Los Angeles Times.) A little more than a week later, the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein tapped Robert Mueller, the FBI director before Comey, to lead an investigation into Trump campaign ties to Russian interference in November’s presidential election and any directly related issues. It began with President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey last Tuesday night, May 9. history - raising the specter of a possible constitutional crisis. The last week and a half may be unprecedented in U.S.
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