During his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray heard some strong criticism from Republican lawmakers over what they called the “politicization” of the bureau.
Alabama’s chief law enforcement officer reacted to Wray’s testimony and agreed there are problems with the agency that need to be addressed.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall called for reforming the FBI during an appearance Wednesday on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program.”
“I think anytime a law enforcement agency targets people, and not facts, we stray from our mission,” Marshall said. “I think that it’s important that anyone wearing a badge and has the authority to engage in investigations stays true to their principles.”
Marshall emphasized the need for justice to be nonpartisan in this country.
“The law is very clear,” he said. “And to force or to engage in investigations for political reasons is clearly wrong, whether that’s investigating the left or investigating the right.”
Marshall said he’s talked with people in the agency who aren’t happy with some of the politicization they’ve seen from the leadership at the FBI.
“I’ve worked with the FBI for years and many dear friends, I know that many of them are frankly embarrassed by what they’ve seen from those at headquarters,” he said. “And I think revealing those examples is an opportunity to be able to reform a system to make sure it’s doing things the right way.”
The attorney general wouldn’t go as far as saying the FBI needs to be abolished, but said some of the issues there need to be fixed.
“I don’t think we want to abolish the FBI, knowing its historical mission,” he said. “But I do think that people need to be able to look very candidly at what took place. We see John Durham’s investigation and kind of what that revealed. We obviously now have been able to see some of the documentation internally about emails among investigators or the FBI and what they did during the Trump administration. Those are not examples of of law enforcement at its finest.
“And when we see ways in which we can improve the system so that the justice system works appropriately then we need to do that.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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