Tom (Retired FBI Agent)

I remember a number of years ago, there was an investigation that led to a search the bureau conducted of, I believe it was the senator's office in Capitol Hill.

And senators from both sides of the aisle were unhappy because that felt very threatening to them.

I think law enforcement generally is often a confrontational business.

If you're investigating someone, especially someone with power, with clout, with a microphone, you can expect they're going to push back.

Police agencies are very limited in what they can say about a matter as it's ongoing.

Historically, they're loathe to comment about things that may wind up in court, whereas the public official or the supporter of that official or prominent person, if it's not a public official, they're not limited in that same way.

And so they can make statements and

Unfortunately, we're in a hyper-partisan era.

So in the short term, I see this as going to be a continuing challenge.

The challenge for the agency, there's no avoiding the job.

There's no avoiding the case you get assigned to investigate.

The challenge is to keep your head down and to do your job.

Part of being a professional is putting one's personal feelings aside.

And if those feelings are so strong that you can't fairly investigate, then I think an agent should.

And I've done that.

And years ago, I was asked to be part of the Rampart investigation.

of the LAPD major corruption scandal.

And I had some experience with civil rights cases, so I was approached.

But at the time, I was engaged to be married to an LAPD officer who'd been part of that division at one time, knew many of the officers that were going to be scrutinized.

I'd met some of them socially.