Emily Bazelon

Yes.

She is the scapegoat for this whole convoluted story.

Right.

It's not that anyone is saying that this report about the Chinese trying to steal votes for Biden was true.

What she is told is that the FBI, that Patel does not want to go to Senator Grassley and explain that the person who is named in this email, who from just that email looks like they withdrew the report, is currently the head of intelligence for the FBI.

Yes, we did.

And I think one of the striking things we saw was that for some employees, it wasn't one discreet action they took that got them pushed out, like not one single email.

It was the major cases they were assigned to, their whole line of work, like the things that had made them valuable to the FBI before were now being held against them and making them vulnerable again.

There are thousands of agents who'd worked on the January 6th investigations and plenty who'd also worked on the four investigations of President Trump.

So now they're worrying, is this work that I did before, because I was assigned to it, going to put me in jeopardy?

And one of the people we talked to who was in that position was Blair Tolman.

So before Trump took office for a second term, Blair had been the supervisory special agent of this elite public corruption unit called CR15.

And that was the unit that conducted the investigation against President Trump about whether he interfered in the 2020 election.

Then now fast forward to 2025, and that investigation, which is called Arctic Frost, becomes a huge target for Trump and also for critics like Senator Grassley.

So Blair is watching some of the agents who she picked for this assignment because of their great skill, because she saw them as very independent and utterly nonpartisan.

They're starting to get fired.

And she's just kind of waiting for them to come for her.

And then, of course, they do.

So if you got a tip that there was corruption or even a terrorist threat from someone who was perceived as an ally of this administration, it could be really costly to your career to come forward.

And so you might stay quiet.