If you’re trying to dispute the notion that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have lost credibility or have become politicized, you would probably want an upstanding surrogate to make that point.
However, CNN on Monday chose probably one of the worst people they could to defend the integrity of the FBI and DOJ to push back on that claim: former FBI agent Peter Strzok.
On Monday, Strzok appeared on a CNN panel that discussed Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s (R-Texas) suggestion that the DOJ has lost credibility, and that the raid of Mar-a-Lago is “political.”
“Representative Crenshaw is absolutely wrong. First off, there was more than a year-long investigation, extraordinarily intrusive, into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the time she was running for President of the United States. So I don’t want to hear that this is some sort of one-sided Department of Justice or FBI who only investigates Republicans,” he said.
Strzok noted reports that law enforcement engaged in a lengthy process of trying to retrieve documents from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate before its raid two weeks ago.
“Representative Crenshaw is wrong on the facts, without question,” he added.
Watch the video below:
One of the only people to be fired from the federal gov't for performance, @PeteStrzok, attacks @DanCrenshawTX for saying the DoJ/FBI has lost "credibility."
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 22, 2022
Strzok says the FBI's Hillary probe shows the DoJ is not "one-sided." pic.twitter.com/eZwrDDB3Ht
During an appearance on CNN on Sunday, Crenshaw argued that the raid was “automatically political.”
“And you know that when you’re going after an ex-president who may run again that this is automatically political. You cannot separate the legal aspects from the political aspects. You can’t,” he said, adding, “It’s hard to justify what the Department of Justice did here, in my opinion.”
Crenshaw also insisted he had not seen evidence that Trump was asked to return classified documents before the raid.
“It does seem unjust, and there does seem to be a long history of loss of credibility at the Department of Justice at the hands of Democrats. And I think people are rightfully frustrated about that,” he insisted.
Strzok, who helped lead the Russia probe, was famously fired after it was discovered that he sent negative texts about Trump. He has denied that his personal views impacted his work.
You could argue that Strzok’s firing is proof that DOJ is not one-sided or biased against Republicans. You could also argue that Strzok should have been fired sooner and that he only was because he got caught and it was looking bad for the FBI.
And it’s important to note that the appearance of impropriety or malfeasance is not evidence of it. But in politics, perception becomes a reality for people and that can be dangerous for institutions.
So far, the FBI has not given us a lot of information about the raid, which to a certain extent is understandable. If there is an ongoing investigation, they do not want to jeopardize it by releasing critical information that could tip off any potential targets.
But at the same time, the seeming lack of a clear communication strategy about the raid — which officials should have known would have been explosive — is baffling. In the absence of any authoritative explanation from law enforcement — as in not just leaks to the media — Trump and his supporters have been pushing the narrative that the raid was politically motivated.
There are still a lot of questions about the investigation and the raid. And judgment about the probe should be withheld until we have some concrete information.
But why on earth, if you’re trying to defend the integrity of the FBI and DOJ, would you send Strzok to do it?