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.”
According to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is committed to “holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people.” FBI Director Kash Patel stated that Comey participated in the “politicization of law enforcement.” He claimed that the false allegations that Trump colluded with Russia was “a disgraceful chapter in history we continue to investigate and expose.”
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 leftwing “blue state” prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, and New York City.
Comey maintains he is innocent and that he looks forward to a trial. The judge in his case is a former public defender who was appointed by President Biden. Trump posted that Comey is a “Dirty Cop,” but with the judicial assignment, his case is “off to a very good start.”
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. The FBI led the raid on President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 that featured agents ransacking the First Lady’s closet and Barron Trump’s bedroom.
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 6th pipe bomber. Why has so little information been released?
In the Charlie Kirk assassination, there are mounting questions the FBI needs to address about the suspected killer, the text messages with his partner and other aspects of the case.
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.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award-winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs Saturdays from Noon until 1 p.m. CT nationally on Real America’s Voice TV Network & AmericasVoice.News and weekdays from 7-9 a.m. & 6-7 p.m. CT on WGSO 990-AM & Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance, and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and at Crouere.net. For more information, email him at jcrouere@gmail.com
