For liberals swept away by Russiagate mania, the FBI is worshipped as a fearless protector of democracy. According to a former FBI official, however, the bureau has actively worked to keep “progressives” out of office.
Terry Turchie, a former deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, appeared on Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s program to discuss congressional investigations into Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Russia. Criticizing the Democrat-controlled House for seizing on factually dubious news reports about Trump’s alleged Kremlin collusion, Turchie nonchalantly disclosed that part of his “mission” at the FBI was to try to keep “progressives” and “socialists” out of office.
“The electorate in some places is putting more and progressives and self-described socialists in positions,” Turchie told Carlson. “And, ironically, years ago – when I first got into the FBI – one of the missions of the FBI in its counterintelligence efforts was to try to keep these people out of office.”
The casual way in which Turchie admitted that the FBI had actively worked to prevent people with undesirable political views from assuming office sparked a flurry of comments on social media. Some found deep irony in the fact that a government agency which tried to sabotage liberals is now hailed as a flagbearer of the liberal, anti-Trump “Resistance.”
“Neoliberal centrist Democrats have portrayed the FBI as the Resistance, while its former leaders are openly boasting of how they waged counterintelligence campaigns against the left,” journalist Ben Norton wrote.
Others argued that the FBI’s documented penchant for discrediting and disrupting political activity deemed a threat to the status quo has been part of the bureau’s mission “for decades.”
The FBI’s most infamous domestic political meddling program, COINTELPRO, was officially shuttered in 1971 in the wake of a Senate investigation into the scandalous operation.
Turchie’s comments to Tucker, however, suggest that the FBI’s “counterintelligence” activities continued long after 1971. As Law & Crime noted, Turchie joined the FBI in 1976 and wasn’t appointed deputy assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division until 2000.
Under normal circumstances, Turchie’s open admission about sabotaging progressives – long after the FBI promised to end the practice – would likely set off liberals’ alarm bells. But an assessment of what the FBI is and what it does may endanger James Comey and Robert Mueller’s shared status as patron ‘saints’ of the #Resistance.
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