America Trends Podcast
EP 803 Are the Justice Department and FBI Free From Political Influence?
Many presidents have attempted to influence the actions of the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI for political means. I am old enough to remember the Saturday Night Massacre, as it was called, in Richard Nixon’s presidency during the Watergate scandal. And the FBI had its own political agenda on the remarkably long, and dubious, tenure of J. Edgar Hoover. However, few presidents have been as indifferent to the distance that should exist between federal law enforcement and the president’s personal desires or prejudices than Donald Trump. New norms established in the wake of the Watergate scandal have been trampled over. He sought to use the attorney general, special prosecutors, U.S. attorneys and the FBI as tools to help himself and his political allies and punish his enemies. Examples too numerous to recount are detailed in David Rohde’s new book, “Where Tyranny Begins.” A Pulitzer Prize winner and national security editor at NBC News, Rohde tells remarkable stories behind headlines long forgotten about the pressure Trump tried to exert on cases like the Russian campaign interference, the Election results in 2020 and many others. It’s recent history and it’s a foreboding reminder at this critical juncture.