{"id":1602522,"date":"2022-08-12T07:48:32","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T11:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1602522"},"modified":"2022-08-12T07:49:37","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T11:49:37","slug":"fbi-director-calls-legit-criticism-of-corrupt-fbi-violence-but-we-werent-born-yesterday-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fbi-director-calls-legit-criticism-of-corrupt-fbi-violence-but-we-werent-born-yesterday-2\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI Director Calls Legit Criticism Of Corrupt FBI \u2018Violence,\u2019 But We Weren\u2019t Born Yesterday"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffbi-director-calls-legit-criticism-of-corrupt-fbi-violence-but-we-werent-born-yesterday-2%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1602522&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>FBI Director Christopher Wray\u2019s Thursday statement represents a disgraceful attempt to silence critics by conflating condemnation of the bureau\u2019s conduct with violence and threats against law enforcement. This outrageous tactic will not work, and that Wray resorted to it confirms he no longer deserves to be FBI director.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfounded attacks on the integrity of the FBI erode respect for the rule of law and are a grave disservice to the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect others,\u201d Wray began his short, four-sentence <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/news\/press-releases\/press-releases\/statement-from-director-wray\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a>, before immediately pivoting to the truism that \u201cviolence and threats against law enforcement, including the FBI, are dangerous and should be deeply concerning to all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By calling criticism \u201cattacks\u201d and then immediately warning the country of the danger \u201cviolence and threats\u201d against the FBI pose, Wray deceitfully framed legitimate speech as violence or, at a minimum, the threat of violence. The object of this framing is obvious: to silence Americans who have finally found their voice following the FBI\u2019s raid of Trump\u2019s private residence at Mar-a-Lago.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In a country founded on first freedoms \u2014 foremost of which is free speech \u2014 Wray\u2019s statement proves shocking. But worse still is the reality that the FBI already identifies patriotic and historic speech and symbols as suspect of violent extremism, such as when groups profess, \u201cDon\u2019t Tread On Me\u201d on an emblem of the Gadsden flag or challenge with the Gonzales flag, \u201cCome and Take It.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Wray\u2019s effort to equate speech and violence proves the most offensive part of his Thursday statement and one that merits universal condemnation, the director\u2019s attempt to sweep away the legitimate criticism of the bureau as \u201cunfounded\u201d deserves derision as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There is nothing \u201cunfounded\u201d in the condemnation of the FBI for its handling of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, and it is because of that widespread misconduct that Americans doubt the legitimacy of the FBI\u2019s decision to search the former president\u2019s home.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Crossfire Hurricane revealed that agents at the highest levels in the bureau held an anti-Trump political bias. The inspector general\u2019s report established that the FBI submitted four FISA applications replete with lies and material omissions, allowing agents to obtain a court order to surveil Carter Page in violation of Page\u2019s constitutional rights. And Americans discovered the FISA court served as no real check on the FBI\u2019s abuse.<\/p>\n<p>The country also learned that the FBI used a backdoor conduit in Bruce Ohr to continue to accept \u201cintel\u201d from Christopher Steele after terminating him as a \u201cconfidential human source.\u201d The Mueller report revealed that for all the talk about investigating Russian interference in the election, the FBI ignored the obvious question of whether Steele had been fed Russian disinformation to meddle in our affairs. And the trial of Michael Sussmann revealed how nonchalant the FBI was about being misled.<\/p>\n<p>There is nothing \u201cunfounded\u201d about any of these criticisms, and it is precisely because of their legitimacy \u2014 and that they all flowed from a \u201cget-Trump\u201d mentality \u2014 that the country now condemns the FBI\u2019s raid on Trump\u2019s home.<\/p>\n<p>Further, even if this time the FBI (and its sources) didn\u2019t lie and the court didn\u2019t rubber stamp the search warrant, the raid still deserves condemnation because of the obvious double-standard.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The FBI never raided Hillary Clinton\u2019s home during the FBI\u2019s investigation of the former secretary of state for mishandling classified documents. Consequently, Clinton had <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/08\/09\/opinion-america-has-a-two-tiered-justice-system-and-the-fbi-just-proved-it-cleveland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">time<\/a> for her minions to wipe her homebrew server with BleachBit, making it impossible for the FBI to recover some emails.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The FBI also didn\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/08\/09\/opinion-america-has-a-two-tiered-justice-system-and-the-fbi-just-proved-it-cleveland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">raid<\/a> Clinton\u2019s houses to search for the 13 mobile devices it believed she might have used to email her staff. The DOJ instead asked Clinton\u2019s lawyers to provide the Blackberries and other devices to agents. Clinton\u2019s attorneys later <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/08\/09\/opinion-america-has-a-two-tiered-justice-system-and-the-fbi-just-proved-it-cleveland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> the FBI \u201cthey were unable to locate any of these devices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The double standard appears also to apply to Hunter Biden, unless the FBI somehow succeeded in quietly searching his residences without anyone\u2019s notice. But even that would contrast with how agents <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/08\/09\/opinion-america-has-a-two-tiered-justice-system-and-the-fbi-just-proved-it-cleveland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">treated<\/a> Roger Stone, when the media amazingly knew to be handy during the pre-dawn raid and search of the Trump ally\u2019s home. And these are but a few of the <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/08\/09\/opinion-america-has-a-two-tiered-justice-system-and-the-fbi-just-proved-it-cleveland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">many<\/a> examples of disparate treatment based on political affiliation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Nor is criticism of the FBI\u2019s broader handling of the Hunter Biden case \u201cunfounded,\u201d as multiple whistleblowers recently made clear when they told Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that FBI headquarters buried verified or verifiable evidence implicating the son of the now-president. That those whistleblowers only came forward with these details in the last two months, even though the alleged misconduct dates to 2020, raises other well-founded reasons to \u201cattack\u201d the bureau.<\/p>\n<p>If \u201cevery day [Wray] see[s] the men and women of the FBI doing their jobs professionally and with rigor, objectivity, and a fierce commitment to our mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution,\u201d as he claims, then why did these whistleblowers only now come forward? Were they not as rigorous and committed as Wray thought? Or were they too afraid of what would happen to them and their careers if they blew the whistle, suggesting they aren\u2019t quite as \u201cfierce\u201d as Wray assumed? Or maybe there\u2019s a more widespread lack of commitment to the Constitution?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wray should ponder these questions and also ask himself why he seems more offended at the public\u2019s criticism than he is at the agents and leaders who caused the country to consider the FBI the bad guys. And with yesterday\u2019s outrageous attempt to spin Americans\u2019 criticism as calls to violence, Wray should be given lots of free time on which to reflect.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Margot Cleveland is The Federalist&#8217;s senior legal correspondent. She is also a contributor to National Review Online, the Washington Examiner, Aleteia, and Townhall.com, and has been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. <\/p>\n<p>Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize\u2014the law school\u2019s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Cleveland is a former full-time university faculty member and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. <\/p>\n<p>As a stay-at-home homeschooling mom of a young son with cystic fibrosis, Cleveland frequently writes on cultural issues related to parenting and special-needs children. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FBI Director Christopher Wray\u2019s Thursday statement represents a disgraceful attempt to silence critics by conflating condemnation of the bureau\u2019s conduct with violence and threats against law enforcement. This outrageous tactic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":1897927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1602522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_finder_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/12\/fbi-director-calls-legit-criticism-of-corrupt-fbi-violence-but-we-werent-born-yesterday\/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fbi-director-calls-legit-criticism-of-corrupt-fbi-violence-but-we-werent-born-yesterday","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1602522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1602522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1602522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1602522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}