Last week, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray. Grassley claimed that FBI whistleblowers have accused senior FBI leadership of abusing their authority to benefit the Democratic Party.
After reading Grassley’s letter, I found myself reminiscing on my time in law enforcement, focusing on one incident in particular. In December 2014, I was a lieutenant and the night shift duty officer for the Garden City Police Department. I received a solemn, early morning phone call from a patrol officer telling me they had pulled over former mayor and Chatham County Commissioner Dean Kicklighter, whom they suspected of driving under the influence.
Dean’s mother, Bessie Kicklighter, was a longtime city councilwoman and future mayor pro-tem. So influential in the area was the Kicklighter family that in 2020, one of the main thoroughfares through the city was renamed “Kicklighter Overpass.” Recognizing a potential political storm, as I made my way to the traffic stop, I called my then-chief of police, David Lyons. He advised me, “Handle it just like you would anyone else.”
With this, my police department’s CEO sent a powerful message that the law should be applied equally — even when it involved prominent local politicians. In the ensuing press coverage of Grassley’s letter, accusations of the FBI stonewalling the investigation into President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, for possible criminal financial activity took center stage.
But this was only one of several claims of politically driven misconduct by whistleblowers. Other partisan misdeeds included influencing investigations into election fraud and establishing a quota system for field agents to “find” domestic terrorism cases. In a video posted to Twitter, Sen. Grassley said Director Wray would appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee this coming Thursday to “answer on how he’s going to stop political bias at the FBI.”
With Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) on the Judiciary Committee, Wray’s testimony should make for delightful political theater. I do, however, hope that Wray realizes he has a significant problem in the FBI right now.
It can be argued that being accused of bias by politicians and the public is somewhat expected. Yet, when those working from within believe a climate of prejudice exists, that’s a severe problem.
Whether or not any senior FBI officials have ever formally or informally tipped the scales of justice for political favor is irrelevant. The fact that some at the FBI apparently believe politics has a pervasive influence on how the law is applied is more than enough to ensure bias in how agents perform their jobs. In essence, the officers let the influential county commissioner drive off drunk, without so much as a phone call to their supervisor, because they assume that is the “right” thing to do.
When a law enforcement agency adopts the attitude that doing the categorically “wrong” thing is “right,” even informally, that belief becomes a poison that erodes employee morale and, more importantly, destroys public trust. Going back to that 2014 traffic stop, after failing a series of field sobriety tests, Kicklighter was arrested on suspicion of DUI.
To his immense credit, months later, Kicklighter pleaded guilty to the DUI charge. He received the same standard sentence of probation, community service, and hefty fines as virtually all first-time DUI offenders.
Years later, Kicklighter remains an immensely popular county commissioner for Chatham County’s 7th District, named “Best County Commissioner” by readers of Savannah Morning News for seven years straight. Perhaps it’s unlikely that Kickligher’s popularity directly results from him doing the right thing and owning up to his DUI mistake, an act that seems incredibly alien compared to most politicians. However, he definitely earned my respect.
When it comes to my former chief, David Lyons, in 2018, he was appointed U.S. marshal for the Southern District of Georgia by President Donald Trump — a position he still holds today. Assuredly, there are plenty of examples with differing outcomes. But, at least in this case, it’s hard to say that anyone involved suffered any consequences for doing the right thing. As for Wray, he faces two critical tasks.
Wray must investigate whistleblowers’ claims, and if substantiated, he must summarily purge the FBI’s ranks of any who would use their authority to benefit either side of the political spectrum. Equally as important, Wray must ensure that every FBI employee believes there are never consequences for equal application of the law, and no matter who comes across their desk, the answer will always be, “Handle it just like you would anyone else.”
Tim McMillan is a retired police lieutenant, investigative reporter, and co-founder and executive director of The Debrief. His writing covers defense, science, and the intelligence community. Follow him @lttimmcmillan.
