In an extraordinarily long and comprehensive editorial from the New York Times, the editors raised the red flag that Donald Trump's FBI is no longer up to the task of defending the interests of the U.S.
Basing their observations on interviews with former FBI officials, the editors warned right from the start, "Mr. Trump’s playbook for the F.B.I. is plain to see. He is turning it into an enforcement agency for MAGA’s priorities. He is chasing out agents who might refuse to play along and installing loyalists in their place. He is seeking to remove the threat of investigation for his friends and allies. And he is trying to instill fear in his critics and political opponents."
All of that is occurring at the same time that Trump-appointed FBI Director Kash Patel has "fired, pressured to leave or transferred" FBI officials, which has “obliterated decades of experience in national security and criminal matters at the F.B.I."
According to one former official, the purge at the agency has left it, "... completely unprepared to respond to a crisis, including the fallout from the current conflict in the Middle East.”
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After writing, "These developments should unsettle all Americans, regardless of party," the editors elaborated that Trump "has made clear that he considers the F.B.I.’s first priority to be loyalty. Consider the Signal scandal from this spring, when senior officials disclosed sensitive information in a group chat. In any other administration, the F.B.I. probably would have investigated. Under Mr. Trump, the bureau looked the other way."
Director Patel was also harshly criticized, with the editorial alleging, "His mission at the F.B.I. is to politicize it. He is dismantling key operations and reshaping the bureau into an instrument of Mr. Trump’s political will. Mr. Trump spent years baselessly accusing the F.B.I. and the Justice Department of being weaponized against him; now he is turning federal law enforcement into the very thing he claimed it was: a political enforcer."
After noting that over 650 FBI agents have recently filed for retirement under Trump and Patel, the editors added that the two, along with fellow Trump appointee Dan Bongino, "have put the reputation and effectiveness of the F.B.I. at risk. In doing so, they are risking the safety of the American public."
You can read the whole editorial here.
