In recent months, the Trump administration and many of the Republicans in congress have stepped up their attacks on the credibility of the institution that is the FBI. This occurs as the Mueller investigation continues to uncover the links between the Trump 2016 campaign and the Russian government.

Those who discredit and attack the FBI and therefore the Mueller investigation have also hurt the effectiveness and public trust of the bureau itself. In addition, the recent attacks have set a dangerous precedent for other future investigations. The Mueller investigation is run by the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.

Recently, the House Intelligence Chairman, Devin Nunes (R) of California, issued his memo criticising FBI surveillance and the FISA warrant on Carter Page even though the FBI had concerns about publicising some materials in the memo. In addition, Rep Francis Rooney of Florida said that the FBI should be “purged,” and that some of the FBI is part of the “deep state.” The FBI is meant to be independent from political interference and a “purge” would damage the credibility of the FBI itself.  The President believes that the memo “totally vindicates” himself in terms of the Russia investigation which is false.

The Nunes memo accuses that the Trump-Russia investigation was based upon the Steele dossier which it was not. The Steele dossier was compiled by Christopher Steele, who is a former member of the British Secret Intelligence Service or MI6. Steele was hired by Fusion GPS which is a research firm. Fusion GPS was paid to investigate 2016 Republican candidates by a conservative media outlet. Later on, the Democratic National Committee paid Fusion GPS to keep investigating for the Clinton 2016 campaign.

The other side may think that the anti-trump text messages among two members of the FBI show that there is an internal effort in the FBI to attack the Trump administration. However, Mueller fired those two FBI members who sent those texts to eliminate the slightest possibility of bias. Also understand that many people who read the Nunes memo may believe what the memo said. However, the memo was written with many half-truths. This comes as no surprise because the Republicans who wrote the memo are trying to distract the public from the Mueller investigation. The memo also could mislead people who read the document.

On February 14, 2018, a gunman opened fire on students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The shooting killed 17 students and teachers. However, President Trump responded to the horrible events by tweeting: “Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign – there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!” Trump’s tweet related the event to an entirely separate issue which is an insult to those who died and survived the shooting.

The FBI is dedicated to finding the truth and its agents are dedicated to their job. The attacks by the Trump administration and the GOP hurt the trust that the FBI has in congress and the congressional intelligence committees. The attacks on the FBI are an attempt to obstruct justice and are a threat to our democracy.