wanted to make sure at least somebody was going to try to protect this country from any of the abuses donald trump might engage in, and so i have no doubt whatsoever the things john kelly has said in these statements as well as many other things that trump was expected or planning to do or trying to do, and if you don t have people like john kelly, if you don t have people in the positions that are going to prevent the÷p abuse of power by presidents and others, this is something i think is really going to tear this country apart. we already are deeply polarized. but, again, if we have someone like donald trump who s the one going to select the attorney general, probably going to fire chris wray who has been doing just a tremendous job in my view to try to avoid the partisan and political waters he find himself involved in, and therefore i really am concerned donald trump who has a very well deserved
i m curious what you make of the hearing. tons of politics on both sides. wray has to defend the bureau in a season where budget cuts are potentially on the table for them. walk me through what we have seen in the first couple hours of this with democrats pointing out the desire to the conflict between investigating president trump or not, chairman jordan and republicans trying to pick the fbi apart. what stood out to you? bananas. absolute chaos in there. the fbi director who oversees 38,000 employees, investigating terrorism, child exploitation, national security, walks right into the partners meeting of insurrection llc, the largest law firm in d.c. with just one client, donald trump. the two main issues were why didn t the fbi let more people see contents of hunter biden s laptop and why did the fbi raid
leading this charge at a time when other republicans here on the hill have pressed so far as to say they want to impeach director wray. one of the things that democrats did during the course of the hearing was sort of try to lend facts to the idea that this is not an example of a two-tiered justice system, reminding people that wray was appointed by trump. we have seen some political moments here. frank, expand on that. give me your reaction to what we heard from house republicans taking on ironically a republican-led fbi. garrett, look, i understand that many americans will see this as nothing more than political theater. yes, there s an element of that. what i m seeing is actually far worse than mere political theater. i see a strategy here, a strategy to enact death by a thousand cuts to some of our key institutions. it s not just the fbi. it s not just the doj. it s a larger strategy to cause
expand on that further, if you wouldn t mind. the whole setup of the fbi is meant to be apolitical. it s why directors have ten-year terms. starting with james comey getting fired by donald trump. now you have new gop candidates running for office right now, running for the presidency saying they are ready to fire chris wray. how unusual is this in a historical context? politicizing the fbi is also part of the strategy. it actually favors the gop for americans to think and buy into the myth that the fbi is operating on a political motivation or mission when it couldn t be farther from the truth. all the people that have been investigated, arrested and convicted around trump have had that happen to them under an fbi director that was appointed by trump. under attorneys general that were appointed by trump.
is posting addresses of former fbi agents whose focusing on a hunter biden prosecutor as his number one objective and said he will make sure she answers for her crimes. i do worry that their safety is at risk if we start politicizing the work of non-political people. to the longer term element of this, you have a bunch of people running for office on the republican side of the aisle saying they will fire the fbi director right out of the gate. this is a position that has a ten-year term designed to be insulated from politics. my question is two parts. how do you reverse that, if you think it s possible? what do you think of the job that chris wray, who has been pointed out was a trump appointee, was confirmed with every republican vote in the senate. he might have been a voice vote confirmation. what do you think of the job he is doing of depoliticizing his