Michael Feinberg

There is a sense of shock that something like this can happen in a republic or a democracy that the president can use in a political arm of government to specifically target a political enemy whom, as you mentioned, previous inspectors general, special counsels, internal reviews have all found did nothing wrong.

But while there's shock, there's unfortunately not really surprise.

The Department of Justice and its components like my former home, the FBI, have really been on a downward path essentially since January 20th when their new leadership decided to explicitly politicize the organizations.

Seeing them now go after a political enemy on very spurious and dubious charges without really offering a scintilla of evidence is not a good sign for the health of our democracy.

Very much so across both DOJ and within the FBI.

I have one friend whose last day is going to be next week.

I have others who have already left.

And to a person, everybody I know says,

If they're not going to resign immediately because there are like legitimate financial reasons and personal reasons and reasons of public service not to, they're still counting down the days until retirement.

I don't know a single person who does not a little bit dread walking into their field office or headquarters right now.

The organization has changed immensely in a mere eight months, and there's a lot of doubt about whether it's ever going to come back.