While I recognize the need for effective oversight of intrusive investigations, I am broadly sympathetic to the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller. Their counterintelligence mission and work is complex and necessarily controversial, but also very important.
That said, I have far less sympathy for those FBI officials who leak to the media during the process of their investigations so as to move the needle in the public favor.
That brings us to the Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway and her critique of the New York Times story on Wednesday about the FBI counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign. As Hemingway documents, the Times’ story works pretty hard to undercut President Trump’s complaint that he is the victim of a “witch hunt.”
I don’t buy Trump’s complaint at its core, but he clearly has a legitimate gripe when it comes to the kind of leaks that informed the Times story. After all, if those responsible for objective investigations are simultaneously trying to shape the public discourse, then their objectivity is obviously very much in question. It suggests that they are unfit to conduct their probe.
Yes, the president is also working hard to shape a public discourse while the special counsel’s investigation continues. But the difference between Trump and the FBI and Department of Justice is that Trump is a politician, and one who is, or at least was, potentially the subject of the investigation. The FBI, on the other hand, is a law enforcement agency that should operate beyond the tumult of partisan bickering.
For the vast majority of FBI agents, analysts, and other professionals, that ethic of honest work is the rule. But clearly it isn’t the rule for 100 percent of the Department of Justice’s staff.
For those individuals, FBI Director Christopher Wray offers a better example. Thus far, the director has avoided the headlines and focused on doing his job behind the scenes. For the good of the nation, all those under Wray’s authority should imitate his conduct.
