Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
The FBI is dissolving before our eyes into a rogue security service akin to those in Eastern Europe during the Cold War.
Take the FBI’s deliberately asymmetrical application of the law. This week the bureau surprise-raided the home of former President Donald Trump—an historical first.
A massive phalanx of FBI agents swooped into the Trump residence while he was not home, to confiscate his personal property, safe, and records. All of this was over an archival dispute of presidential papers common to many former presidents. Agents swarmed the entire house, including the wardrobe closet of the former first lady.
Note we are less than 90 days out from a midterm election, and this was not just a raid, but a political act.
The Democratic Party is anticipated to suffer historical losses. Donald Trump was on the verge of announcing his 2024 presidential candidacy. In many polls, he remains the Republican front-runner for the nomination—and well ahead of incumbent Joe Biden in a putative 2024 rematch.
In 2016 then FBI Director James Comey announced that candidate Hillary Clinton was guilty of destroying subpoenaed emails—a likely felony pertaining to her tenure as secretary of state. Yet he all but pledged that she would not be prosecuted given her status as a presidential candidate.
As far as targeting presidential candidates, Donald Trump was impeached in 2020 ostensibly for delaying military aid to Ukraine by asking Ukrainian officials to investigate more fully the clearly corrupt Biden family—given Joe Biden at the time was a likely possible presidential opponent in 2020.
The FBI has devolved into a personal retrieval service for the incorrigible Biden family. It suppressed, for political purposes, information surrounding Hunter Biden’s missing laptop on the eve of the 2020 election.
Previously, the FBI never pursued Hunter’s fraudulently registered firearm, his mysterious foreign income, his felonious crack cocaine use, or his regular employment of foreign prostitutes.
Yet in a pre-dawn raid just before the 2020 election, the FBI targeted the home of journalist James O’Keefe on grounds someone had passed to him the lost and lurid diary of Ashley Biden, Biden’s wayward daughter.
At various times, in Stasi-style the FBI has publicly shackled Trump economic advisor Peter Navarro, swarmed the office of Trump’s legal counsel Rudy Giuliani, and sent a SWAT team to surround the house of Trump ally Roger Stone. Meanwhile, terrorists and cartels walk with impunity across an open border.
FBI Director Christopher Wray last week cut short his evasive testimony before Congress. He claimed he had to leave for a critical appointment—only to use his FBI Gulfstream luxury jet to fly to his favorite vacation spot in the Adirondacks.
Wray took over from disgraced interim FBI Director Andrew McCabe. The latter admitted lying repeatedly to federal investigators and signed off on a fraudulent FBI FISA application. He faced zero legal consequences.
McCabe, remember, was also the point man in the softball Hillary Clinton email investigation—while his wife was a political candidate and recipient of thousands of dollars from a political action committee with close ties to the Clinton family.
McCabe took over from disgraced FBI Director James Comey. On 245 occasions, Comey claimed under oath before the House Intelligence Committee that he had no memory or knowledge of key questions concerning his tenure. With impunity, he leaked confidential FBI memos to the media.
Comey took over from Director Robert Mueller. Implausibly, Mueller swore under oath that he had no knowledge, either of the Steele dossier or of Fusion GPS, the firm that commissioned Christopher Steele to compile the dossier. But those were the very twin catalysts that had prompted his entire special investigation into the Russian collusion hoax.
FBI legal counsel Kevin Clinesmith was convicted of a felony for altering an FBI warrant request to spy on an innocent Carter Page.
The FBI, by Comey’s own public boasts, bragged how it caught National Security Advisor designate General Michael Flynn in its Crossfire Hurricane Russian collusion hoax.
As special counsel, Mueller then fired two of his top investigators—Lisa Page and Peter Strzok—for improper personal and professional behavior. He then staggered their releases to mask their collaborative wrongdoing.
Mueller’s team deleted critical cell phone evidence under subpoena that might well have revealed systemic FBI-related bias.
The FBI interferes with and warps national elections. It hires complete frauds as informants who are far worse than its targets. It humiliates or exempts government and elected officials based on their politics. It violates the civil liberties of individual American citizens.
The FBI’s highest officials now routinely mislead Congress. They have erased or altered court and subpoenaed evidence. They illegally leak confidential material to the media. And they have lied under oath to federal investigators.
The agency has become dangerous to Americans and an existential threat to their democracy and rule of law. The FBI should be dispersing its investigatory responsibilities to other government investigative agencies that have not yet lost the public trust.
Defund the FBI
Truly. And don’t stop there. Defund 3/4 of the Federal government and they will never be missed. Move the DOJ to a Red State to restore some semblance of justice and impartial juries.
100% agree
👍
Give that money to ICE.
This is spot on. On paper we have a justice system. Functionally, it’s now 2 tiered. I’m fearful.
Im afraid many in Washington are saying to themselves “Well if I have to ‘ comprimise’ around the edges so be it…because it allows me to be in power to do dozens of other ‘good’ things. It grieves me that our generation has taken their education about law and their creative dynamism and used it to ask “how can we railroad certain people, but still stay close enough to the letter of the law to have plausible deniability. The spirit of our law is dead. I am cut to the heart.
All true
But I have no faith in backbone less politicians reigning in 1936 German style
agencies
Which government investigative agencies have not lost the public trust?
Everyone, at least on the Right knows of the felonies above that preceded this latest raid on President Trump’s residence. This latest outrage might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. We whose patience had been tested repeatedly since 2016 want to act in some kind of retaliation but that may be the point they wanted to make.
The Left is baiting us. They’d like nothing better than a violent reaction. They need fuel to feed a nearly extinguished January 6th fire. They’re hungry for justification. They need what they never had. Proof that the Right is an out of control mob.
Aristotle said, “Patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet”. As our patience is stretched almost to its limits, it is time to be even more patient. If the DOJ and the FBI are able to act with this kind of impunity it’s been suggested they believe the coming election is rigged and this stunt will be a lesson to others. No-one is beyond their reach. We should all know to control our emotions for the time being.
Well said.
CORRECT
Don’t lose your anger. Keep it.
All of a sudden, some Americans are angry with the FBI? Wath did these same upset Americans think about the FBI when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was attacked and under constant surveillance? We African Americans heard crickets from all of you angry Americans.
That was wrong, too. Probable many here hadn’t been born yet. I was a little kid then. Am I guilty anyway?
Wow, were you old enough to pay attention to politics then? Congratulations on your longevity. Next, let’s blame people in 2076 for having been silent about the raid on Trump way back in 2022.
This is the path of wisdom that must be walked. It will be hard. There’s many voices being raised that say the exact opposite. I pray for a spirit of wisdom to be on us in these dark days. All these evil players carry the seeds of their own destruction within them. Do not take the bait they are dangling.
The American Stasi/Cheka/NKVD/Gestapo goons are probably plotting a raid on your farm now Dr. Hanson. Sickening that this country has devolved so far.
The FBI has always had corrupt leadership. The FBI culture was shaped by J. Edgar, who spied on members of Congress to gain personal advantage using information his agents collected. So, the history of corruption is long and part of the agency DNA. What they are doing now is, plain and simple, insurrectionary. The agency is now an enemy of freedom and should be treated accordingly.
And will anything be done? I pray for some wrath.
I cannot imagine what J. Edgar Hoover would think of our current FBI ,an agency I once admired, but reform.is paramount including a thorough gounding in the Constitution
Fortunately you are still with us. Write more co.m.one se!
He’d put on a dress and make a play for Mayor Petey….
Seriously, FBI has been corrupt since its inception.
That’s pretty much right.
This saga is an excellent version of what happens inside a company in the thrawls of bankruptcy. Desperate management clinging to any shred of power in the hope they will survive. And soon we’ll see the democrats begin to feed on each other.
Absolutely spot on!!
The FBI is too deeply broken to be fixed, it has to be shut down. I know this will have downsides (e.g. mainland Chinese espionage), but they are outweighed by the damage they are doing in the US – it’s worse that what they are stopping.
The FBI has and continues to fail America in protecting us from Chinese espionage.
Victor, well written and spot on as usual. It’s a terrifying time to be a “normal” citizen as this devolving bureaucracy could well turn on any of us in an instant. We are all so glad that you and a few others have the courage despite your prominence to tell the truth and expose these frauds for what they really are. Us “normal” “deplorables” are fully and firmly behind you!!
The FBI was massively corrupt under J. Edgar Hoover. It was never cleaned up and it is still as bad as ever. Specializing in set ups, cover ups and blackmail since 1924. It needs to be abolished.
I will vote for Mr. Trump for president a 3rd time. If you are a Republican, and you want to be president one day, stay out of 2024, if you want my vote and support.
“If you are a Republican, and you want to be president one day, stay out of 2024, if you want my vote and support.”
This is a great point. We”ll soon see who the Rinos are.
As the vast majority of Federal employees are Democrats, most likely a majority of FBI employees are Democrats as well. There are no doubt exceptions and those FBI agents must be truly disgusted with the lawlessness of the FBI from the top down. There are ‘whistleblowers’ coming forward to reveal criminal activity. So there are at least a few on the inside who oppose the Democrat party takeover of FBI operations. The dominance of the Democrat party in Federal occupations has become a perilous threat to the Republic. Whenever Republicans are elected to the Presidency, or attain a majority in the Senate or Congress, Democrats in Federal jobs go to war against them. Employees of most Federal agencies donate to Democrats at rates of about 90% over Republicans. The Sussmann trial proved that even John Durham could not win a simple case against a DC Democrat judge and jury. The only solution is to make it easier to eliminate Federal jobs. And, as Victor Hanson suggests, relocate entire agencies around the country. If IRS employees opt out of the move to the new office location, give them a nice severance and move on. Neither the FBI, CIA, military or State Department should be exempted from a thorough purge and makeover. As law breakers, they are some of the biggest offenders of them all. Change is possible. All it takes is leadership. But that has long been in short supply.
This is all so very chilling, as in spine chilling; are we going to be caught unawares and disbelieving that we’re really being to taken to Death Camps as history washes rinses and repeats itself?
“The FBI should be dispersing its investigatory responsibilities to other government investigative agencies that have not yet lost the public trust.”
Therein lies the rub…
As had been said, do we doubt the atrocities that occurred in other countries will happen in America? I would have five years ago. I admit to having my head in the sand for many years while I lived my life in this great country. And all the while, for most of my 60+ years, evil has been spreading. Father, I pray you have not turned away from us.
Dear Dr. Hanson:
Looks like the FBI may be replaced by the gun “toting” IRS!?
Amen, Victor! I’m for VDH 2024. Unfortunately, reasonable, calm voices are drowned out by the insane clamor of our corrupt media and by Americans who refuse to be honest. We are in the “emperor has no clothes” era. It is devastating to see the slow and steady road to destruction we are on. We had Trump for four years and the man did a reasonable job as president despite 24/7 horrifically negative media coverage. We all know people who to this day defend Joe Biden’s and his band of merry men with the excuse that, “At least he’s not Trump.” It’s hard to see a way forward for us as a unified country ever again.
The only hope to salvage the FBI involves moving its headquarters away from the influence of politics (physically)!
I will donate my 5 acre property in the center of the country (Clay County, MO.) for a new FBI headquarters!
This property is well positioned to airports and interstate highways and already has an American flag posted proudly on the property.
President Trump wasn’t home…just Melania. 38 FBI agents plus the Secret Service to insure she wouldn’t resist the raid. What a real dangerous tiger she must be.
“A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”
We passed that point long ago.
When is anyone going to consider this to be revenge for not being put on the Supreme Court. Thank God he was not, look what would have happened by now with Roe vs Wade. You probably could abort a child at 3 years old if he had been.
It is so disturbing what has happened to our nation in the short time the Biden administration has been in charge. Destruction on so many levels to an unbelievable degree! Our own government by their egregious acts destroying the trust and hope and even the safety of its citizens. I am disgusted and saddened.
Evil is banal. Ordinary people are the ones who make repressive bureaucracies work.
We’re constantly told that the majority of FBI agents are good people and it’s only the leadership who is at fault. But, it took ordinary FBI agents to carry out the Mar-A-Lago raid, just like it took ordinary line cops to enforce the unconstitutional Covid mandates.
We have reached a scary point in our history where the government views us citizens as subjects fit only to provide our (coerced) taxes but who must otherwise be controlled.
The Constitution is a dead letter. The only thing that gave it force in prior years was the willingness of those in power to be limited by it and the zealousness of an informed citizenry to hold them to it.
The O’Keefe raid was in November 2021. Otherwise, great article.
It is stated in the constitution that if at anytime the government becomes tyrannical that we the people can abolish it and start a new, my question to you or to whoever may have this answer is How, where do we start?
The result of years of undermining beginning with the Clinton’s
The FBI should never have been created. It was started by a cross-dressing homosexual who went on to assemble dossiers on Presidents and Congressmen in order to blackmail them. What could ever possibly go wrong?
There I no greater threat to a Constitutional Republic than a two-tiered justice system.
Just a slight correction: Mueller took over for Comey.
Mueller was director from September 2001 to September 2013. Comey was director from September 2013 to May 2017.
I agree. But which government agencies would you be referring to–the ones that have not yet lost public trust? I can’t think of any.