New AG William Barr Must Restore Reputation of Justice Dept., FBI Attorney General William Barr arrives at a Rose Garden event on border security at the White House February 15, 2019, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
By Bernard Kerik
Thursday, 21 February 2019 12:38 PM
For close to 110 years, the FBI has been considered the premier law enforcement agency in the United States, known for its honesty, integrity, and credibility, and as an independent, objective, and non-biased federal investigative agency. However, that reputation has been shattered in the past two years as a result of the findings of numerous Congressional hearings and investigations, and according to their own internal watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Throughout these hearings and investigations, we have witnessed an FBI director, James Comey, admit that he leaked a confidential memo to The New York Times through a personal friend, with the sole intent of forcing an independent special counsel to investigate possible Russian collusion between President Trump and Russia, when we now know that there was no evidence of collusion in the first place, and that Comey’s release of this classified document was retribution for being terminated by the president.
The Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Justice found that the Deputy Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, made false statements on four separate occasions to government investigators and members of Congress while under oath. We’ve heard from several sources that the U.S. Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, discussed with senior members of the FBI the possibility of him wearing a wireless transmitter to covertly intercept communications between him and President Donald Trump, in an attempt to use that to remove the president from office under the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
We’ve also heard statements through public testimony, and seen reports, that members of the FBI’s national security division possibly provided deceptive and false information to a federal judge in a FISA application, to intercept Americans conversations, and that those names of the Americans intercepted, were then illegally leaked to the press and general public in violation of U.S. federal law.
Throughout this two year period, President Trump has aggressively criticized the Justice Department and the FBI for leading a politically motivated investigation, which he has called a witch-hunt, knowing full well that their allegations where misleading, false, and a politically motivated attack to destroy the president in the court of public opinion, and remove him from office.
Given what we know today, and based on fact, public testimony, and statements, the president — and his frustration and anger — has been more than justified from the very beginning. This was a selective and political prosecution by politically motivated leaders in the FBI and Justice Department, who used their official power and capacity, first to try to prevent Donald J. Trump from being elected president, and then to do everything in their power to remove him from office once he was elected.
There is no greater threat to our sovereignty as a republic, than a government that abuses its authority to politically target its citizens, and that is exactly what happened in this case.
This isn’t assumption or conjecture or political rhetoric. These are conclusions based on real testimony, statements, and facts that have been revealed through a series of government investigations, and unfortunately, when the smoke clears and history is written, this will be one of the most devastating scandals in the history of the FBI and U.S. Justice Department.
On February 15, 2019, William Barr was sworn in as the 85th U.S. Attorney General. He will oversee the United States Justice Department, which has a number of federal agencies… the FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, just to name a few.
His first priority should be to remove every and all senior ranking holdover executives in the department, particularly the Justice Management Division (JMD), the National Security Division (NSD), and those assigned to the Asset Forfeiture Section.
By doing so, he can have a fresh and new set of eyes looking at why two years into this administration, clearances for the president’s cabinet have still not been fulfilled, and how and why the ethical and criminal conduct took place in the FISA court.
However most importantly, the AG must implement an internal system of accountability to ensure that politically motivated prosecutors and investigators are removed from the department.
He needs to ensure that there are performance measures created to meet the goals and objectives of the department, and then create an accountability system to ensure that those performance measures are met successfully. Selective and political prosecutions must stop, and those responsible for ethical and criminal misconduct, must at all cost, be held accountable.
Throughout the Mueller probe, numerous people have been convicted or pled guilty to making false statements to federal investigators or Congress, yet we have had the most senior level executives in the FBI that have not been charged with the a crime, for the same thing. In fact, their conduct is much worse, because their false statements were an abuse of power, with which they attempted to influence an election and an investigation, in an attempt to overthrow a sitting, constitutionally elected president.
There is nothing more important that Attorney General William Barr can do in the next two years than to hold accountable those that have destroyed and impugned the integrity and credibility of the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI. Just because you have the power of the entire government behind you, that does not mean you can break the law to enforce it.
Without accountability, there will never again be integrity and credibility within our federal criminal justice system. It’s time for the Attorney General to ensure that the reputation it once earned is rightfully returned.
As New York City’s 40th Police Commissioner, Bernard Kerik was in command of the NYPD on September 11, 2001, and responsible for the city’s response, rescue, recovery, and the investigative efforts of the most substantial terror attack in world history. His 35-year career has been recognized in more than 100 awards for meritorious and heroic service, including a presidential commendation for heroism by President Ronald Reagan, two Distinguished Service Awards from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, The Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and an appointment as Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
Poster Comment:
Are we patting ourselves on the back, Bernie?