I have always been skeptical of the FBI, the DOJ, and the CIA...

[kentuck]

They have never been on my "most trustworthy" list.

However, if I must choose between the FBI and the Mafia, I will choose the FBI.

If I must choose between the FBI and an enemy of our democracy, I will choose the FBI.

I can remember when the FBI was ran by J. Edgar Hoover and his dishonest henchmen.

But, if I must choose between the honesty of the FBI and the honesty of a world-class liar and autocrat, I will choose the FBI.

Donald Trump and his cult have declared war on the FBI and the DOJ. If I must choose who is more truthful, then I choose the FBI and the DOJ.

I choose Jack Smith over the criminals.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. Same!

[erronis]

2. Agree. However the power of those organizations attracts some that lust for power.

When I was a kid I actually wrote to J.E.Hoover and he(?) sent me back a nice reply. Can't remember the topic but my father was in the government at some level.

I've watched the CIA get used and abused by various administrations (republicon and Democratic) and also by their own rogue operations.

DOJ has always seemed pretty straight at least outwardly until Barr became AG. Then it rapidly became a tool for djt.

Other groups such as the NSA and the intel specialties appear to be less prone to being politicized but the pressures to bend the rules are always there. IRS I respect its mission and duties - don't like them but they are doing what the law says (when they can with the budget constraints.)

The Congress (and now the SCOTUS) is a whole other matter. Lust for power is part of their M.O.

[peppertree]

3. Absolutely.

And you can't find better proof of that very danger, than with J. Edgar Hoover himself - whose attempts to use the FBI as a kind of Gestapo was very much endorsed by Roy Cohn, and by extension El Cheeto.

But then, Republicans have a history of such AGs - the kind that have that third-world vision of law enforcement.

John Mitchell, Robert Bork, Ed Meese, and Alberto Gonzáles were all very much of that mindset, as you know.