Federal Government Policy and Business

Internal Emails Show FBI Agents Were Shocked and Shaken After Trump Fired Comey

Government Executive: A trove of internal FBI emails released over the weekend shows the dramatic impact President Trump’s firing of then director James Comey had on the bureau’s workforce last May. The messages portray agents deeply shocked and saddened by the news, and they contradict Trump’s description of a bureau “in tatters.”

The blog Lawfare, run by Brookings Institution government studies Senior Fellow Benjamin Wittes, filed four Freedom of Information Act requests for the documents back in June. After the FBI delayed in answering, Wittes filed suit.

The resulting direct messages from special agents and field office heads show a reaction of “shock” and “profound sadness” at the removal of a “beloved figure to whom the workforce was deeply attached,” the blog said. “It also shows that no aspect of the White House’s statements about the bureau were accurate—and, indeed, that the White House engendered at least some resentment among the rank and file for whom it purported to speak.”

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