Tweets fly while Donald Trump’s approval ratings spiral to the bottom of the barrel
Former President Donald Trump departed Washington, D.C. months ago but the political fires he started with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) continue to simmer as House Republicans do his bidding.
According to NBC News, a substantial number are still echoing Trump's remarks on what he believes is one of the most significant national security threats. Instead of focusing on major security issues like Russia, China, or North Korea which intelligence agencies have raised concerns about, Republican lawmakers opted to focus on minuscule issues only right-wing conservative news enthusiasts would be concerned with.
Republican lawmakers expressed concern about their distrust in the United States' security agencies.
"I'm telling you if an FBI agent came up and asked to talk to me, there's no way in the world I would talk to them without a lawyer present. I don't care what they wanted to know," Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) told FBI Director Christopher Wray.
For decades, Republicans had been heavily aligned with U.S. agencies like the FBI. However, that distinctively changed when during the Trump era. The publication notes how Trump had a habit of lambasting the FBI.
Under FBI investigation for much of his presidency, Trump referred to FBI agents as "scum" who "destroyed the lives of people" and branded as "rats" people who cooperated with law enforcement. His Republican allies followed his lead.
House Republican lawmakers have made it a point to continue Trump's fight over what they perceive as "wrongful FBI conduct during the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia." They have also expressed concern about "the intelligence community's involvement in President Joe Biden's approach to fighting domestic extremism equates to targeting conservatives."
However, the perspective appears to be different among Senate Republicans. "The intelligence community that I have come to know through my now 10½ years on this committee is one that's made up of patriotic, dedicated professionals, some of the finest men and women who serve in our government and who measure their success and their failure in terms of how many Americans they've kept safe," said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
He added, "Many of those Americans who are kept safe ... do not even know they've been kept safe and what they've been kept safe from because of the nature of the work that you do," he said. "And I hope we will all remember that. I know everyone in this committee does."