Politics and prose along with my wife in behalf of everybody here at gw, welcome. I thank you very much for coming. He does a number of events each year end jean w on the great auditorium integrate other revenue and we value our partnership with gw and the crew here is terrific and they make events like this possible, for us and i want to express our gratitude for effort that they put into tonight event. The featured author is Josh Campbell he spent more than a decade at the fbi in various roles and kidnapping investigation and multiple overseas assignments as well as a stint as a special assistant to fbi director james comey. Josh resigned from the bureau about a year end a half ago in february 2018 and walking out of the field office in los angeles for the last time and for the Law Enforcement that he had really enjoyed and he says played an Important Role in his own career development. He says he left because he could no longer stand silently by in the face of a Relentless Campaign by donald trump and his political allies to undermine and discredit the fbi, these days josh appears on cnn reporting on long for smart issues, he describes his own political leavings as a fiddle in the road knowing he supported republicans and democrats, his new book, crossfire hurricane actually is not out yet. You all are getting a jump on it the release is tomorrow. Its unusual to hold an event in this definitely the title of crossfire hurricane comes from the fbi codename for the initial investigation in the trunk campaign spice to russia. That codename intern was taken from the Rolling Stone song jumping jack flash. Josh retraces the early days of the russia investigation and both on his firsthand experience and also from sources some of whom are still the fbi. He provides an informative behind the scenes account and adds to the public understanding of the fbi into russias efforts to tilt the u. S. Political process. Josh is reluctant to be profiting from the store he tells and has announced that half of his earnings from the book will go to a fund established by the fbi agent association. That Fund Supports the agents killed in the line of duty. [applause] as an added attraction josh will be in conversation with his exboss james comey. He was just saying he really does event likes list in the first time you been in conversation with another author which gives you a sense of his guards of josh. He wrote his own book which was published nearly a year end half ago, not only recounting the highlights of his distinguished career but seeking for Ethical Leadership and our values. Ladies and gentlemen during the in welcoming Josh Campbell and james comey. [applause] a personal privilege. [laughter] that is huawei and geo, the names i still remember who are comfort dogs for the fbi who have done so much good for so many people who have suffered, mass shootings, terrible things and those dogs have brought peace to hundreds and hundreds of people. That is why i wanted to greet them first when we found out they were here. A was trashed and i also know you work closely with Robert Mueller who came close to getting fired but was definitely trashed. [laughter] so my question is are you the problem with x. [laughter] [applause] are they all going to be like this . I figured we would start to slow. At the beginning, tell the folks how you ended up in the fbi. Thanks everyone for being here. My first time doing this and im glad you were a part of it and its even more special that its happening before the actual release so thanks for coming out and for your support. To the question inside the fbi, my career started in earnest september 11, 2001 and i was a College Freshman at the university of texas at austin. I had been just over a week into my College Career when the attacks have been inducted that point, i thought i was going into the service. That was my goal at the point was to work in Foreign Policy to serve as a diplomat at the state department. But watching that incident occur ooccurred on that day like so many of us it can feel very diplomatic of that moment and i write about that in the book a little bit just kind of calculus but as i watched the event take place and the response, i was focused on the First Responders in the aftermath of the fbi agents that were trying to deal with what had just occurred and try to investigate what happen happened. They come here to the hoover building a. A. I was fortunate enough ut austin and i came and spent a summer with the fbi and immediately loved it and was fortunate enough to come back after graduating and that is how it all started. So he became a special agent in what year . In 2008 to the academy and graduated in august of 2008. That is a way that they come in and the non agent role. Where was your first assignment . First was almost up to los angeles. I write in the book at graduation youve done a couple of these graduations and the state will represent the class and so i was supposed to speak before Robert Mueller who was seated at an area just like this and i saw going in that if i wanted to describe the fbi mission since i had the opportunity to work in the Directors Office i heard him speak numerous times about the agency because he was someone i respected i decided to quote him in my speech but i did think through what i used some of his greatest hits as im giving the speech i turned to look at him and there is a glare and he is marking out a so when he got to the podium after the speech there was this kind of status that he embraced so they started off and said some of you may not know i told him if he screwed up the class of speech. Los angeles was the first office thankfully, that was a great experience. So, wha so, what was great about the bureau and what was less great, what were the expectations ask the great part is easy and its not just a throwaway line. At the bureau there was a law firm in college and at different places where you meet people that do good things and good work. But its the mission, people that dedicate their lives and there is someone in the audience today. That was special and i saw that from the beginning of the moment i began as an intern in the organization what is interesting is its like any company. There was always that one pers person. Scratch that. It really was a great place to work. Its protecting the American People and upholding the constitution of the United States and just not too fast forward to far i want to add one caveat to the intro talking about the fbi defending people, i do want to point out so all of us know what i do now is not in defense of the fbi that at times its defending our institutions of justice from unfair political attacks, which is a lot different than defending the agencies. The fbi can defend itself and screws stuff up just like any other agency and they are held to account. I think its important to point that out. But overall, if any of you have the opportunity to meet someone that is with the fbi, you will notice something to print it. He was a nut job ive heard. [laughter] sounds like a direct quote. Its hard, and its not a copout but there are did difficult things. I had the opportunity to spend time at the International Team that worked a lot of cases overseas. Just like anything else, you deal with bureaucracy. Theres a colleague of mine in the audience i wont name that has been with me overseas overt of these missions and he would be halfway around the globe and get a call from some number at the fbi headquarters at 3 00 in the morning and the first thing, are you awake and its like i am now, but can we buy you a globe said you can see how the sun orbits around and obviously theres still a Mission Driven to say there is a lead in a new investigation or something we have to do. Or your credit card bill is due. Sometimes it is very administrative. So you deal with that but that happens in any company or organization you find that that bureaucracy. But to circle back to the good part, the people made a great. How did you end up and i realized this could sound like a critical question how did you end up as my special assistant . [laughter] im glad you did that you did, l folks how you ended up. Out tcounted by end up as yor special assistant. Yes, what did you do. So, it all started with a tweak actually. [laughter] which is true. Correct me if im wrong. Before i went to work for the director, i was doing a headquarters tour, management assignment in the office of Public Affairs and one of the duties include managing the fbi twitter account, which was fun, but also nerveracking because before you would click send, youd have to see your career flash before your eyes. Did i misspell something or release something that was inappropriate. So, scenic [inaudible] [laughter] but back in the day. [laughter] back in time. Sorry, its been so long its actually funny. I sent one. Do you ever watche watch the shs and rec . Great show. So there is a guy named bert maclin whos the one of the fbi agent and it was chris pratt who played this kind of goofy character, am i right . He had his jacket and he was doing all this cool stuff. When data showed off the air i was devastated because they had a great power of having the fbi twitter account. I descended t to bush than defed a Farewell Speech when they went off the air and i said some thing along the lines of, you know, you were unconventional but we will miss you and then it just exploded. People were like the fbi has a sense of humor. [laughter] they watch television. They watch modern television. [laughter] but it was funny in the bureau. I thought screw it, so i just did it. But then the polls immediately started up the chain of command like what are you doing this is not what we do. And i wanted to tie this back like command wor come and work. [laughter] so it caused all this consternation at what was so funny is i come into work monday, i think it was on a monday, over the weekend, and i have a voicemail. I knit you a couple of times just in passing, you didnt know who i was but theres a voicemail that says this is jim comey and i just want to say thank you for that message. That was so great. Are kids that it was awesome or something so then that went up and thank you for doing something unconventional and pushing the envelope. I played that voicemail to all of the people that were criticizing me. [laughter] and asked him som as in some or, some leaders changed their view immediately upon hearing that the director had now endorsed this. So i guess that is how i got on the radar and then i had the opportunity to we were at an event with Chuck Rosenberg who was the acting head of the dea. You will see him on msnbc talking about legal issues, he issuescommittee was the chief of staff with director and went too the head of the bea. So they were at an even better i think that it was on opioid abuse. So he was running very late and we are there at the event, and i found myself in this room i was there for Public Affairs with the director, and he just i guess this was the norm he would interview peopl people and Start Talking to them, who are you and what do you do, that sort of thing. I knew he called me about the tweet but i didnt realize it was a bit of a job interview, said he asked msohe asked me hog in the fbi. Then he asked how am i doing. And i remember pausing and felt okay so the ceo is asking how i think that hes doing. The beauty there is i was a week and a half ending my headquarters assignment going back to the field, so i thought this happened in a split second but if youll click in eternity. Im leaving the headquarters going to the field and theres nothing they can do to me. [laughter] sent me to the field. What am i going to have in the audience to tell the head of the company. Any organization you love if you have the opportunity you want to say what is underlined, so i explained the things i had issues with and some challenges and he probed a little bit of said tommy moore. So i left the meeting and i felt confident like thats cool i get to talk to the director of the fbi and get off my chest things i want to change and about a week goes by and i learned ive now been hired on to his staff. [laughter] to be a special assistant, and i were member of the first time i saw you after that, the first thing you said is yeah you are here to fix all that stuff that you said was screwed up. [laughter] which is pretty amazing. And i think that, for folks who dont know, that set the stage for i think our relationship. I even got a cool nickname out of it, not to be contrary and that doctor no. [laughter] i would come off of an event and in any leadership role but especially the fbi directors fs roll a lot of sucking sucking up goes on. I would come out of an event and people would tell me that im off him and josh would whisper in my ear though. [laughter] good, but not your best. Not your best. So it became a running joke that i was eager to get to the car or plane, what, what. That is a true story about the tweet. Ive never watched parks and rec. I am home having dinner this weekend with the kids and one of my daughter says dad, someone sent a hilarious tweet from the fbi and she explained it to me and i said i dont know who he is. She said it doesnt matter. Find out who that person is. [laughter] so i tracked him down. So we traveled a lot together. Why were my hotel room is always so small and smaller than yours . [laughter] we are really digging in here. [laughter] i have the true story. He would call sometimes did you know how in the back of the room sometimes they get a fire map that shows the size of the hotel. He said im looking and you were in 208 and its like this big. My room is like a third of the size of yours. [laughter] im spending all my time in this room while you guys are out having fun. I dont have an answer for that. It was to keep me safe is what they told me. We need you in the interior tiny space so that we know you are safe. It worked beautifully. [laughter] so, i got fired. You were there that day. You read about it in the book. I guess we wont spend the time on that. But tell me what happened with your career at the bureau after i was fired. Welcome it was a very tumultuous time. A. So again, going back to make him a 2017, the fbi director was fired, and that essentially sets the stage at it for the buck because again, the theme of the book is that the campaign of attack that is transpired against the fbi, against the Justice Department for political reasons to undermine Robert Mueller, to undermine these investigations, they have real consequences on Public Safety. And what i point out, and this is why a lot of folks inside of the bureau believed then and still believe is if the public loses faith in Law Enforcement and the fbi in these agencies, then we are all less safe because of an fbi agent knocks on someones door and they need help solving a crime or they are trying to recruit a source to go where the fbi cant go in for a moment they hesitate and say wow, i dont think im going to be part of this, because ive heard, ive see seen on seen hir her right our elected leaders say these people are bad corrupt people, that has consequences to Public Safety. So, i mentioned that the practice because it was around that time after the firing and then we were in that time. Co. Where andrew mugabe is the acting director and the bureau is trying to grapple with what just happened. The public didnt get to know at that point about the loyalty dinner, about the president as you mentioned trying to get you to drop the flint investigation and the like. But once that came out, it was very chaotic and again, not only was it the bureau, but the country trying to figure out whats happening here and i will say its a partisan thing or political but these are the actions taking place at the agency is staring at trying to, you know, determine what happened. And Robert Mueller comes on the scene and then there was some sense of normalcy so to speak whenever that investigation vendors to him. I write a lot about that and about anin thebook and how the s dealing with this and then what was interesting, that leads to later that year where my colleagues and i would see this i call it the campaign of attacks, the political campaigns, the rhetoric heating up in escalating where do you know, you have a commanderinchief saying that i am being targeted by people who are breaking the law essentially to say ive been targeted politically. President obama sent a spy into my campaign, things that we know on their face is illegality being claimed wasnt true. And so that led to the meat and making that point in the book that the fbi isnt perfect, i cover the fbi now and other agencies and again all the time we unearth wrongdoing things that happen as we sit here right now, its easy to say whatever organization you are with whether it is a Large Organization or agency theres someone in the agency doing something right now that they shouldnt be doing so our job right now is to help them figure that out and so the public understands whats going on. But at that time when i was still in the fbi, my focus was on the public. There was a public that was being manipulated to believe something that he wasnt true. So, i made the decision that my ultimate focus i served over a decade as an fbi agent to protect the public so obviously i cared about the American People, and so in the face of no one in sight of leadership, the Justice Department speaking up to say this is wrong. As are good people. They make mistakes we are going to get to the bottom of what happened. We have congressional oversight committees when they are doing everythinthe right thing we holo account if we were an appearance of time no one was stepping up to say this is wrong so i just made that decision to step out if the fbi and help explain to folks like you, to the American People i get to do this every day now whats true, whats pol