FBI Email: Whole Lot Of Agents Think January 6 Capitol Raiders Did Nothing Wrong (original) (raw)

from the if-you-want-to-disrupt-peaceful-elections,-join-the-CIA dept

Trump threw his unquestioning support behind law enforcement. He did it right after he was elected, promising to elevate cops above the people they served. He claimed the “anti-police atmosphere” police had created themselves was “dangerous” (he didn’t specify to whom, however) and that he, the newly-elected dumpster fire, would get this fixed.

Even if Trump could have fixed it, he didn’t. Cops continued to set their own reputations ablaze, which led to plenty of other things being set ablaze. Trump’s support never wavered. If anything, it encouraged him to deliver more pro-cop vitriol, making it clear he was only the man of some people.

His loyalty to the Blue Line was repaid on January 6, 2021. Among the thousands who invaded the Capitol building with the intent of preventing the certification of Trump’s election loss were plenty of people who should have known better. And those who should have known best were the law enforcement officers who willingly engaged in lawbreaking for a man who had been legally deposed via a process — one often derided by supporters of the losing candidate — most Americans agree does a pretty good job ensuring peaceful transitions of power.

Until 2021, that is. Now, law enforcement was needed to investigate the hundreds of lawbreakers who entered the Capitol. This meant bringing in the feds, since nearly all the crimes committed were federal.

That seems to have posed a problem for some FBI agents with extremely questionable takes on the January 6 insurrection attempt. An email obtained by NBC News details one FBI employee’s growing concern that there wasn’t wholehearted support across the agency to bring rioters to justice. In fact, some of those spoken to by the unnamed employee (whose email was sent to the FBI’s second-in-command, Paul Abbate) expressed support for the rioters’ actions.

As you read through the email [PDF], the frustration and shocked disbelief emanating from the page is palpable. It may even trigger some unpleasant flashbacks for Techdirt readers. I’m sure some of you have probably participated in discussions with people that hold these views and similarly found yourself truly dismayed by both the ridiculousness and the strength of their beliefs.

It opens with this:

There’s no good way to say it, so I’ll just be direct: from my first-hand and second-hand information from conversations since January 6th there is, at best, a sizable percentage of the employee population that felt sympathetic to the group that stormed the Capitol, and said it was no different from BLM [Black Lives Matter] protests of last summer. Several also lamented that the only reason this violent activity is getting more attention is because of “political correctness.”

Ah, “political correctness.” The last refuge of someone without a cogent argument to make. The reason the Capitol riot got more attention was because it was unprecedented and showed lots of American Trump supporters would rather destroy the democratic process (and anyone who stood in their way, like cops, elected politicians, etc.) than accept the fact their guy lost.

The frustrated email continues, describing the writer’s personal experiences.

I literally had to explain to an agent from a “blue state” office the difference between opportunists burning & looting during protests that stemmed [from] legitimate grievance to police brutality vs. an insurgent mob whose purpose was to prevent the execution of democratic processes at the behest of a sitting president.

You see? It’s not just your uncle/grandpa/that guy at the bar cranking out this false equivalent to excuse insurrection. It’s government employees, too. And not just rank-and-file.

I was talking to an A/SSA [Asst. Supervisory Special Agent] in a “red state” office who was telling me that over 70% of his CT [counterterrorism] squad + 75% of the agent population in his office, disagreed with the violence “but could understand where the frustration was coming from” which led to the “protestors getting carried away.”

Somehow I doubt this particular SSA would extend the same benefit of a doubt to BLM protesters, but sadly this follow-up question was not asked by the email’s author.

Another person the writer talked to (an analyst in a “purple state”) considered the insurrection to be nothing more than some sort of backlash to COVID prevention efforts that keep people “quarantined in their homes for months” and/or people angry about losing jobs or income during the pandemic. I have yet to hear of any arrested Capitol rioter raising “cabin fever” as a defense, but there’s still hundreds of cases to go.

Other tidbits:

• One FBI office turned its common area TVs from Fox News to Newsmax because Fox was apparently not far-right enough for FBI office consumption.
• A retired senior analyst known to the author now spends his time filling his Facebook feed with “Stop the Steal” content.
• African-American agents were turning down SWAT team invitations because they did not believe every member of the team “would protect them in an armed combat.”

As the writer notes, plenty of officers from law enforcement agencies around the country were involved in the riot. The FBI is a law enforcement agency. There’s no reason to believe it’s somehow unique and filled with the sort of people who would never turn their backs on their duties, coworkers, and the democratic process to somehow steal an election back. What’s demonstrated in this email shows the FBI likely has the same percentage of shitheels who support extremism… as long as it’s their brand of extremism.

Filed Under: fbi, insurrection, january 6th, law enforcement, police