Harry Bulkeley: Answers from DOJ needed about Mar-a-Lago raid

Come writers and critics who prophesy with your pen

And keep your eyes wide, the chance won’t come again

And don’t speak too soon, for the wheel’s still in spin

And there’s no telling’ who that it’s namin’

For the loser now will be later to win

For the times, they are a-changing’

Bob Dylan’s poetry occurred to me as I decided to write about controversy swirling around the FBI’s search of Donald Trump’s home. Many facts are still unknown, and I have to submit this a week before it’s printed which means things could change completely before you read it.

Nonetheless, this mess has given rise to several thoughts about the state of our nation’s politics. On the night the search was announced, commentators on MSNBC and CNN were sure we would remember the day in the same way some of us remember the assassination of JFK. On Fox, people were equally sure that this would be the rocket that would blast The Donald back to the presidency. It’s way too early to know which, if either, of those views will prove true.

Among the events that are still spinning are peoples’ attitudes toward law enforcement. Two years ago the Black Lives Matter movement demanded that we defund the police. Using the adjective of the moment, they decried police corruption as “systemic” and suggested that the only thing to do was tear it out by the roots and start again. It got so bad that in Seattle rioters burned down a precinct house and tried to trap officers inside.

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Since the search of Trump’s home, it’s the right wing that is criticizing law enforcement, specifically the FBI. Attacks on the FBI office in Cincinnati and demonstrations outside the Phoenix office have been followed by demands to “Defund the FBI.” How in the world did things get so turned around?

There seems to be a difference between the antipathy that the left and right are expressing toward law enforcement. Two summers ago, people were complaining about individual police officers who were perceived as racist toward suspects they stopped. Despite police forces around the country attempting to weed out rogue officers, there were still some out on the street.

In the Trump raid, the anger is focused on the leadership of the FBI and the Justice Department. It wasn’t what the agents did in Florida but what their bosses ordered them to do that provoked the right wing.

In Attorney General Garland’s press conference he spoke out against the “unfounded attacks on the professionalism “ of those agencies. In the past few years, that leadership has given much ammunition to its critics. In 2016, Hillary Clinton said James Comey’s actions 11 days before the election were “not just strange” but “unprecedented” and “deeply troubling.” No charges were ever brought against Hillary despite her having on her private, unsecured server 110 emails marked “top secret,” “secret” and “confidential.” Where have we heard those words lately?

Sandy Berger, the National Security advisor to President Clinton, stole classified material from the National Archives by hiding the papers in his sock. For that he received a fine, probation and community service work. Contrast that to unannounced pre-dawn raid on Mar-a-Lago and you begin to see why some people think the Justice Department is less than completely impartial.

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During the investigation into the Russia Collusion story, Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department’s Inspector General, testified "We are deeply concerned that so many basic and fundamental errors were made by three separate, hand-picked investigative teams on one of the most sensitive FBI investigations after the matter had been briefed to the highest levels within the FBI."

So, Mr. Attorney General, there are lots of reasons for people to be suspicious of you and your agency. The statement you made to the press castigated your critics but didn’t answer their questions. A federal judge has released a redacted copy of the affidavit for the search warrant with 18 of its 32 pages blacked out. In a typical investigation, this might be standard practice.

But this is far from a typical investigation. It is, like many things in the saga of Donald Trump, completely unprecedented. Even at the height of the Watergate flood, the FBI wasn’t sending a dozen agents to rifle through Nixon’s wife’s closet. Whether you want to see 45 put on a pedestal or hung by his thumbs, this turmoil needs quick and clear explanation. Why was it done and why in this way? Did President Biden know about it? If not, why not? Is this in furtherance of a criminal investigation? If so, is there more credible evidence than there was for the thoroughly debunked Russia case?

It is fair to ask those questions no matter how you feel about Trump, and they must be answered to calm the turmoil that is raging around this case. As Dylan said, the wheel’s still in spin. We don’t know who the winners and losers will be in this mess but it is not unreasonable to ask the questions and it is absolutely necessary that they be answered-now.

Harry Bulkeley is a retired Knox County judge and a local historian.

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Answers needed from raid against Trump at Mar-a-Lago by FBI