Has the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) been politicized and weaponized against critics of the Biden administration, woke culture, and all things progressive? FBI Director Christopher Wray and his boss, Attorney General Merrick Garland, say absolutely not. For most conservatives, though, the answer to that question is a resounding yes – and the evidence appears to support them. On July 12 at 10 a.m. ET, Wray will defend his agency in front of the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee. He has an uphill battle in front of him in the face of GOP lawmakers furious that the nation’s pre-eminent law enforcement agency appears to have adopted separate standards for dealing with investigations, depending on the political affiliations of those being investigated.
Of course, the FBI does not have total autonomy when it comes to such things. It is a Department of Justice (DOJ) agency. When Donald Trump was president, Democrats accused him of weaponizing the DOJ, though the circumstances were a little different. The FBI and DOJ were not accused of targeting left-wingers, and they did not. Rather, they were attacked for not going after Trump himself. Yet, the FBI spent almost a year looking into bogus claims of collusion between Trump and the Russians. The agency subsequently worked with Special Counsel Robert Mueller as he took over the investigation. Still, leftists were angry and disappointed that none of this led to criminal charges for Trump, and so they accused both the DOJ and FBI of essentially protecting the then-president. It was of no concern to Democrats that no proof of Trump-Russia collaboration was ever found, and they quietly ignored the ultimate discovery that this conspiracy theory was invented by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign team.
Donald Trump (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Perceptions of the FBI Not Good
Fast forward to 2021 and then on to 2023. Conservative parents fighting school boards over what their children are learning and being exposed to have been targeted. Hundreds of Trump supporters remain incarcerated for demonstrating on Capitol Hill grounds in January of 2021. On top of that, the DOJ and FBI appear to be dragging their feet on the Hunter Biden investigation, and even credible allegations of Joe Biden’s involvement in a bribery scheme seem to not be taken seriously. The Bureau still refuses to release the memo that lays out the details of the scheme.
Then there’s Trump, indicted for allegedly storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home where the FBI conducted a somewhat heavy-handed raid even though its agents had known for some time the documents were there and where they were stored. Hillary Clinton was left untouched when it came to light that she possessed a private server containing classified information while she was secretary of state. And everyone seems to have forgotten about Joe Biden’s unsecured trove of documents spanning his time both as vice president and senator.
Wray can certainly argue that political considerations play no part in how he runs the FBI, but the perception, for a great many Americans, is quite the opposite. It doesn’t help Wray’s case that his disgraced predecessor, James Comey, has emerged as a partisan and fierce critic of Trump. Wray is a lot less pompous and a great deal more careful, but he’s got his work cut out for him if he is to come away from Capitol Hill with more trust from Republicans than he currently enjoys.
