According to new reporting from NBC News, the FBI has disciplined three agents who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s probe into Donald Trump, firing at least two. FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed he had expelled several agents from the bureau, accusing them of “weaponization.”
During a discussion on Wednesday’s “Deadline: White House,” MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace said the firings are just the latest example of how the Trump administration is “decapitating” the FBI of “all of its expertise in service of loyalty.”
She said that the bureau, under Trump, has rid itself of an “entire top tier of expertise and leadership” in favor of installing and promoting the president’s allies, radically reshaping the institution to ensure total fealty.
Wallace asked MSNBC senior political analyst Alex Wagner why she thought that Republicans, who have considered themselves the party of law and order, were refusing to speak out about the administration’s continued “handicapping” of the FBI.
Wagner said there’s a simple reason behind the lack of outrage: “Trump owns the Republican Party.” She called the Republicans’ behavior “appalling” and added: “I think Republicans have made peace with the fact that the rule of law that was once the sort of bedrock foundation of the party — and the notion of upholding that law and coloring within the lines, and abiding the Constitution — they’ve made peace that power is paramount to everything, and Donald Trump holds the power, and so they kneel at his ring.”
Wagner said she had “become so cynical about the GOP and its ability to act as any kind of check on Trump’s worst impulses,” noting another example of retribution from the administration that hasn’t received condemnation from Republicans: the prosecution of James Comey, Trump’s former FBI director. “They’ve chosen a man over country, and this is the clearest example of that yet,” Wagner said. Wallace agreed and warned that the administration’s retribution campaign will not end with Comey: “Trump is not done with FBI directors — even in that category, he has stated publicly that he would like to bring his next case against Chris Wray.” You can watch Wallace and Wagner’s full discussion in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
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