'It sounds awfully McCarthy-like': MAGA lawmaker nailed for FBI dismissals over J6

Longtime CNN host Michael Smerconish butted heads with one of Donald Trump's biggest fans in the House on Saturday morning over the firing of key FBI officials late Friday to be followed by what is being called a "purge" of the department.

On Friday, acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove, who previously served as part of the president's legal team in a criminal case in New York where Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts related to business fraud, oversaw the firing of key FBI officials and then demanded the names and titles of all the FBI employees who took part investigating the insurrection at the nation's Capitol on Jan. 6.

Speaking with the CNN host, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) said he saw no problem with cleaning house at the FBI which led Smerconish to note it sounds like something disgraced Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) attempted in the 1950s.

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"Who in the world, in the FBI, if this takes place, is going to be willing to investigate any malfeasance alleged within this administration," the CNn host prompted his guest. "People are going to say, if 'I now pursue what is reported as someone breaking the law who works for this president, I’m going to lose my job.'”

The Florida Republican protested, "No. That’s simply not true because there’s a difference between you have actual evidence that would lead towards an investigation versus –– no pun intended, ––trumped up evidence, which is exactly what took place as far back as the Russia collusion scandal."

Claiming FBI officials "...led to the FISA courts knowingly to open up an investigation into President Trump’s first presidential campaign," Donalds maintained, "You have to deal with the fact that, yes, during this current presidential campaign, the Biden administration and the DOJ were either working with or allowing these indictments, which were silly."

"Everybody knew they were political, but they were allowed to continue. They brought in Jack Smith. They raided Mar-A-Lago. I mean, I can go on," he added, as the CNN host attempted to interrupt his guest's harangue.

"Real quick and I want to add this point," Donalds exclaimed. "I would add for the rank-and-file FBI agents who do their job every single day, they were shaking their heads, saying, 'What the hell is going on?' So we need this place cleaned up.”


"I myself have been plenty critical of [former attorney general] Merrick Garland and [ex-special counsel] Jack Smith and this whole process over several years and I'm not thinking about them," the CNN host countered. "I’m thinking about a woman, a man in a DC field office who played no policy role and was given an assignment to go out and conduct an investigation whose name now shows up on a list."

"It sounds awfully McCarthy-like and they might lose their jobs," he added.

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