FBI officials were 'rattled' and 'blindsided' by Trump's call for Ukraine to manufacture dirt on Joe Biden

Reuters

• FBI officials were "rattled" and "blindsided" by President Donald Trump's calls for Ukraine to manufacture dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son ahead of the 2020 election.
• One special agent said officials were stunned not just by the nature of Trump's actions but also by his brazenness, which came just months after the bureau formally closed the Russia probe.
• "You walk down the halls and there was this sense of dread, and everyone's kind of thinking, did the president really do this?" the agent said.
• Officials are also frustrated by the Justice Department's decision not to launch a criminal investigation into allegations in a whistleblower complaint accusing Trump of breaking campaign-finance laws.
• Instead of allowing the FBI to investigate, "the DOJ made the decision right off the bat, and that was viewed by many as a slap in the face and usurping the FBI's independence and judgment," one US official said. It also added to concerns about whether the FBI was being "neutered as an organization."
• Complicating matters is the fact that all this occurred against the backdrop of Attorney General William Barr's investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.
• "There's a lot of concern among officials that they're going to get thrown into the blender, that they do all the work and then are ridiculed for it, and accused of facilitating a coup or doing the bidding of the deep state," Frank Montoya Jr., a recently retired FBI agent, told Insider.
• A former senior FBI official echoed that assessment, telling Insider that fear is a big part of why people at the FBI and the Justice Department haven't spoken out the way the whistleblower did.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Three years ago, the FBI launched an unprecedented investigation focused on one question: Did President Donald Trump's campaign help a foreign power interfere in the 2016 election?

Now, just months after that investigation was formally closed, FBI officials are stunned the president is openly calling for another country to intervene in another presidential election.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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