Listen as Larry spoke with James Wedick, a Retired FBI agent, regarding his thoughts on the current state of the FBI.
O’Connor: Is it objectively true to say that there is an appearance of political impropriety with regard to how many of the top levels of the FBI and DOJ conducted themselves based upon what we’ve learned?
Wedick: No, that’s true and the bureau has definitely taken a big hit because of this latest controversy. I might add, controversies are not new to the bureau of the department or the FBI, but we are at a place where I don’t think we have been before.
O’Connor: When you were an agent you were one of the people actually doing the shoe leather detective work there, you always knew that you had this upper echelon of politically appointed sort of bigwigs, right? And they were in DC and they were dealing specifically with the administration and then there is politics involved with that. Did their political persuasions, there political alliances permeate down to the agents at your level? Was this something that was apart of the culture at the FBI?
Wedick: No I don’t think so. I think there was a sincere effort…as many controversial things J. Edgar Hoover did, agents and investigations were to be entirely separate from political considerations. And so today’s controversy, where we’ve got top officials that appear … and I’ll tell you amongst most career agents, they suspect that there was an effort to influence the election to the extent that the agents were talking about specific statutes that were probably violated.
O’Connor: Well I want to be clear here. When you say, in your opinion as a veteran of the FBI, that the majority of agents believe there was an effort to interfere in the election, I want you to be specific about that. An effort by whom and behalf of whom?
Wedick: By Comey, McCabe we feel that.. the agents that I have spoken with..and let me also say, just the other day I was on Fox News and I received an email from one agent. I had 20 responses that were in favor of what I said and one said that I should’ve felt embarrassed for myself because I was talking for President Trump. And my response back was we never mentioned Trump once during the interview. So, how you jump to Trump and you some how easily skated over the fact that we had some individuals who made some material omissions. You know, the political motivations of an informant financial consideration, personal motivation are key in any affidavit. I’ve done hundreds of them.
O’Connor: If I could even pull that thread a little further because in this case, you’re once of twice removed from the actual informant based on what we know. They just sort of hung their head on Christopher Steele, they didn’t actually know who Christopher Steele’s informants were.
Wedick: Right an affidavit…there’s mention of Director Comey talking about providing the dossier as facts, affidavits you’re supposed to corroborate any information they get. Well two months later when he testified to Congress, he says there are [inaudible] details most of which was not corroborated. Now how can that be?
FBI ‘needs to clean house,’ former agents say (Washington Times)
Former FBI agents say it may take a long time to wash away the stain of political-bias accusations lobbed against the bureau, which has long been viewed as the nation’s premier law enforcement agency.
Criticism of the storied bureau has been bipartisan. Republicans point to accusations that the agency mishandled the justification for spying on a Trump campaign figure, and Democrats are furious at the FBI’s investigation of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over her email and private server while she headed the State Department.
In between are a slew of embarrassing text messages from an agent involved in both the Trump and Clinton investigations, revelations of top officials’ partisan ties, and a wave of demotions and ousters.
“If people start looking at the FBI as a political organization, the taint will be incredible,” said James Wedick, a 34-year agency veteran who now works as an investigator. [Read More]
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