COLUMN: Americans should be concerned about Trump's efforts to undermine FBI
President Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller should scare Americans.
News recently broke that Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe has stepped down, while some sources are reporting McCabe was forced out.
Whether he stepped down or was forced out is irrelevant — Trump wants Americans to doubt the FBI and those investigating him.
“How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin’ James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wife’s campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?” Trump tweeted.
McCabe is not the first target of Trump’s push to cast doubt on the organization. Between Trump’s criticism of the FBI as a whole, Mueller and others, Trump has shown he is not afraid to go further.
Trump’s first move was to fire James Comey, the ex-director of the FBI. Recently, news has come out that Trump considered firing Mueller in June 2017.
Due to Attorney General Jeff Session’s recusal — a move that angered Trump — someone in Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s position is the only person able to stop Mueller’s Russia investigation.
This detail in itself is alarming.
“Mueller’s attempted firing, plus everything else, looks like an attempt to install more sympathetic law enforcement officials and possibly even cover up something nefarious. At the very least, it betrays a concern about what these people might find or accuse you of,” The Washington Post reported.
What’s even more alarming is the constant onslaught of propaganda targeted at the FBI.
Even before the election, Trump used his Twitter account to cast doubt on the objectivity of Comey. Then, he fired him.
Since then the criticisms have become routine.
The next step is for Trump to fire these targets.
As mentioned before, Trump’s next targets appear to be Rosenstein and Mueller.
Both have been subject to criticism and Trump has tried to fire Mueller on at least one occasion.
In this effort, he doubted Mueller’s objectivity by saying people working for Mueller donated to Democrats, the time Mueller worked with a law firm representing Trump’s son-in-law and Mueller’s disputes with the Trump National Golf Club.
Trump has also led countless other attacks on Mueller, such as asking Senate Republicans to end the Russia investigation.
On Jan. 29, Trump and the GOP pushed to release a memo that allegedly casts doubt on Rosenstein.
“Over the weekend that Trump recently sought the release of a “secret” memo that Republicans say could cast a spotlight on bias within federal law enforcement — and bias on the part of Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller,” The Washington Post reported.
Trump doesn’t want the American people to trust the FBI and by extension, the investigation into him.
It is imperative that Americans recognize these attempts, or at the very least are skeptical of them.
If not, Trump could get away with whatever he wants.
