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Maddow Blog-The latest personnel purge at the FBI adds to a destabilizing problem
Almost immediately after Donald Trump’s second term began, FBI officials targeted by Republicans have been ousted.
The latest personnel purge at the FBI adds to a destabilizing problem
— Resistfascism (@docdavehawaii.bsky.social) 2025-06-07T08:13:31.247Z
The US is so screwed
flip.it/zO12cN
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/latest-personnel-purge-fbi-adds-destabilizing-problem-rcna211508
Among the many problems that have emerged in federal law enforcement during Donald Trump’s second term is the campaign against key personnel. Indeed, there’s been an unsubtle campaign to purge federal law enforcement of prosecutors and FBI officials for unsubtle political reasons.
As The New York Times reported, those efforts are ongoing.
The rationales behind the reported moves have varied. Evans, for example, apparently became a target after a stint at the FBI’s human resources department, where he was reluctant to approve exemptions for Covid vaccines. Republicans didn’t like Meador after his office issued a memo in 2023 related to possible threats from anti-abortion activists.
As for Feinberg, the Times’ report added that he issued a statement a couple of weeks ago, explaining that he was threatened with an investigation and the possibility of a demotion because of his friendship with Peter Strzok — who appeared on FBI Director Kash Patel’s infamous “enemies list.”.....
It was the first such purge on Team Trump’s revenge tour, but it was hardly the last.
The Times added in a separate report earlier this week, “Behind the scenes, [Patel’s] vision of an F.B.I. under President Trump is quietly taking shape. Agents have been forced out. Others have been demoted or put on leave with no explanation. ... The actions have obliterated decades of experience in national security and criminal matters at the F.B.I. and raised questions about whether the agents taking over such critical posts have the institutional knowledge to pursue cornerstones of its work.”
I don’t know if the bureau will ever recover from the efforts to Trumpify it, but I know that recovery won’t happen anytime soon.
As The New York Times reported, those efforts are ongoing.
The F.B.I. has targeted another round of employees who ran afoul of conservatives, forcing out two veteran agents in Virginia — one of whom is friends with a critic of President Trump — and punishing another in Las Vegas, according to several people familiar with the matter. Two of the men, Spencer Evans and Stanley Meador, are senior agents who ran F.B.I. field offices in Las Vegas and Richmond, Va. The third, Michael Feinberg, a top deputy in the Norfolk, Va., office, had ties to a former agent whom Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, identified in his book as part of the so-called deep state.
The rationales behind the reported moves have varied. Evans, for example, apparently became a target after a stint at the FBI’s human resources department, where he was reluctant to approve exemptions for Covid vaccines. Republicans didn’t like Meador after his office issued a memo in 2023 related to possible threats from anti-abortion activists.
As for Feinberg, the Times’ report added that he issued a statement a couple of weeks ago, explaining that he was threatened with an investigation and the possibility of a demotion because of his friendship with Peter Strzok — who appeared on FBI Director Kash Patel’s infamous “enemies list.”.....
It was the first such purge on Team Trump’s revenge tour, but it was hardly the last.
The Times added in a separate report earlier this week, “Behind the scenes, [Patel’s] vision of an F.B.I. under President Trump is quietly taking shape. Agents have been forced out. Others have been demoted or put on leave with no explanation. ... The actions have obliterated decades of experience in national security and criminal matters at the F.B.I. and raised questions about whether the agents taking over such critical posts have the institutional knowledge to pursue cornerstones of its work.”
I don’t know if the bureau will ever recover from the efforts to Trumpify it, but I know that recovery won’t happen anytime soon.