you know, exercise their first amendment rights. and just because they don t agree with him. and this is more of that. what do you think it says about, i mean, the state of where we are as a country and frankly the office of the presidency that a sitting president of the united states personally attacking former cabinet official, you know, as it pertains to you personally, someone that s given more than five decades of service to this country? well, it s not it s not something i particularly appreciate. but that s, i think the country s gotten used to the fact that that s just the way he operates. in your book, you say it s critical for those working in the intelligence committee to remain loyal to the key tenants of intelligence work and serve truth to power, even if the power doesn t listen to the truth. are you concerned about the community s ability to do that, given the circumstances? i do worry about it, and i would also say that this place is an additional burden on th
the rule of law and legitimate investigation himself, a legitimate investigation that has been authorized by his own justice department, that his former campaign associate, christie, yesterday, praised mueller, the director of that investigation, special counsel, and he s using this as a means of covering up whatever is at the bottom of this investigation and what the special counsel is trying to get at. point-blank, that s what it s about. of course it is. and it doesn t mean that the cover-up is necessarily about criminal activities by the president of the united states, though it might be. but what it means is that he is effectively and very effectively, because he s succeeding at this, burying the truth. the american system worked during watergate. it worked because the press, the politicians, the people were interested in the truth and the rule of law, the supremacy of the administration of justice in a fair manner in this country.
presidency that a sitting president of the united states personally attacking former cabinet official, you know, as it pertains to you personally, someone that s given more than five decades of service to this country? well, it s not it s not something i particularly appreciate. but that s, i think the country s gotten used to the fact that that s just the way he operates. in your book, you say it s critical for those working in the intelligence committee to remain loyal to the key tenants of intelligence work and serve truth to power, even if the power doesn t listen to the truth. are you concerned about the community s ability to do that, given the circumstances? i do worry about it, and i would also say that this place is an additional burden on the senior leaders in the intelligence community. my successor, dan coats, now gina haspel as director of cia and other senior leaders, and director wray of the fbi, it falls on them to provide the top cover, so those great men and w
or is this an escalation? oh, it s a continuation that the president has used the term spygate, to obviously invoke the ghosts of watergate here. and what he is doing is creating a fictional narrative to escape the rule of law and legitimate investigation himself, a legitimate investigation that has been authorized by his own justice department, that his former campaign associate, christie, yesterday, praised mueller, the director of that investigation, special counsel, and he s using this as a means of covering up whatever is at the bottom of this investigation and what the special counsel is trying to get at. point-blank, that s what it s about. of course it is. and it doesn t mean that the cover-up is necessarily about criminal activities by the president of the united states, though it might be. but what it means is that he is effectively and very effectively, because he s
information. and when they do so, they are assured of confidentiality. their identity is going to be protected. and so this informant is i believe is at risk right now and of course i would guess this will have a chilling effect on other informants who already work with the fbi and certainly make it more difficult for the fbi to recruit other informants. in the new book facts you talk about the vital role of confidential informants. you say it s essential for people working in the intelligence community to stay true to the key tenets, serve truth to power even if the power doesn t listen to the truth. how can they do that if the power doesn t listen to the truth? well, they have to keep the metaphor i ve often used, the intelligence community needs to keep shoveling that intelligence coal down there in the engine room.