Kash Patel stuns with surprise FBI announcement - Brian Tyler Cohen and Glenn Kirschner

[TexasTowelie]

Legal Breakdown episode 645: Kash Patel announces closure of FBI building.

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BTC: You're watching the Legal Breakdown. Glenn, this one was especially curious for me. Kash Patel, the FBI director, came out with a tweet confirming what a lot of reporting had already suggested that he's looking to close down the Hoover building, the main FBI building in Washington DC. What are the implications of this move?

GK: You know, there are quite a few implications. There are some critics that would jump right to, look, this is Kash Patel carrying out Donald Trump's wishes. I can't believe Kash Patel reached this decision on his own.

What law enforcement agency was the lead agency in investigating Donald Trump in providing enough evidence to see him indicted criminally in two federal jurisdictions, right? One down in Florida for the classified documents case and one in DC for his attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential election. It was the FBI who was the agency responsible ultimately for investigating and helping to indict and prosecute Donald Trump. Is it any surprise that now the FBI is being I think at a minimum eroded if not dismantled at least headquarters the Hoover building in downtown DC. So you know the critics will jump right to that conclusion. This is Donald Trump and Kash Patel trying to further erode the FBI as an agency and that could very well be.

You know, there are so many other data points here that make this a non-starter quite frankly. One, it seems to be unlawful. Who is it that has the authority to appropriate money to, for example, build a new FBI building or move the FBI from headquarters into another building? That would be Congress. And Congress has already authorized and appropriated $1.4 billion for an FBI headquarters to be built in Green Belt, Maryland--sort of that's where the Maryland US Attorney's Office is located. You know, there were competitive bids put in. There were years of planning. That process is already well underway. And importantly, they are providing for the level of security in the construction or the future construction of FBI headquarters in Green Belt, Maryland.

They have to have what's called level V security, which is what the Hoover building, the headquarters has and there has been reporting that they can't possibly bring the Ronald Reagan building, which is where they're proposing to shift the headquarters over to in downtown DC. They can't even bring that up to level V security. Why? Well, in part, it's a public building. Among other things, you know what's housed in the Reagan building? The National Children's Museum. What could possibly go wrong by co-locating FBI headquarters with the National Children's Museum? Although sometimes it feels like the children are running the FBI presently.

So, you know, there are lots there's lots of speculation. Um, I don't think we have, you know, any definitive data as to what the motive is driving this decision, but, you know, it seems very much like when you put Kash Patel and Don Bongino in charge of the FBI, these guys were most recently a couple of podcasters. This is the kind of hair-brain scheme they're going to come up with.

BTC: You know, we have seen numerous instances of them trying to take credit for kind of reallocating funding to make it look like they're saving money when in fact we just know that they're basically taking from their right pocket to put it in their left pocket. We know, for example, when they made their big announcement that they were giving a bonus to members of the military, $1,776, that that was money that was taken out of other funding that would have been allocated to those same military members and so is this another instance of that where they're trying to basically just give themselves credit for saving the American taxpayers some money um where ultimately at the end of the day they're not saving anything at all.

GK: Yeah. Given that $1.4 billion was already appropriated by Congress to build the new FBI headquarters up in Maryland, it seems impossible to believe this is a cost saving measure.

You know, I happen to believe given what we know about Trump and about Patel and about the way this administration is really trying to erode the public's trust and confidence in virtually all government agencies across the board that you know this is more of the same. And Brian, consider this, there are other major federal law enforcement agencies like the DEA, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the ATF, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. I think they've added explosives. Those are big, you know, well funded, fairly highly regarded federal law enforcement agencies, not unlike the FBI. But you know what? It's not the DEA that investigated Donald Trump. It's not the ATF that collected up the evidence that led to the criminal indictment and prosecutions of Donald Trump. It's the FBI. Do we think this might be part of a plan to erode and perhaps ultimately dismantle the FBI? You know, that that's probably where I would lay my $1 bet.

BTC: Well, look, I mean, that that plays right into this idea of to have a functioning kleptocracy, which is what the Trump administration is trying to usher in. They basically need to make sure that none of these institutions that include cops on the beat function the way that they're supposed to or if they do that they're filled with sycophants and loyalists who are going to, you know, make sure that that the crimes that the agency is supposed to be investigating and prosecuting are actually taking place and that nothing's going to happen because those very people are in a position where they can suppress any legitimate prosecutions. And so this might be just one more instance where, you know, Trump might be trying to cripple the very agency that would otherwise be in place to make sure that he can't do what he needs to do to be able to run the exact kind of government that he's looking to run.

GK: Brian, and there's a parallel going on right now at the Department of Justice. You know, the FBI takes the lead on investigating public corruption cases. What have they done over at the Department of Justice? They have gutted what's called the PIN, the public integrity section that is designed to go after, among other things, crooked politicians.

BTC: Yeah.

GK: The FBI is the lead agency on investigating civil rights violations and yet over at DOJ, they have decimated, damn near dismantled the civil rights division. So, you know, why not, you know, do the same to the FBI? Just kind of do what you can to diminish and erode the capacity of that investigative agency.

BTC: Is there a way for the FBI in the aftermath of Trump in a world where Democrats once again control government um to reestablish to bring back the FBI in a way that you know either a) is as strong as it was before but maybe b) reformed and is in a better position so that it can't be so easily corrupted as we're seeing right now?

GK: Yeah. One, in my opinion, it can be brought back. And two, as you suggest, Brian, it can be brought back better. I mean, part of the cleanup mission when Trump is no longer in power and the rule of law again comes into the light of day, part of the mission is going to be to reform, you know, the weak spots that have been exposed by the lawlessness of the Trump administration. And I for one am determined that, you know, that can be done. And frankly, if we want to keep our republic, it has to be done.

BTC: Well, we will leave it there. And of course, if we have any other updates as to how Kash Patel and Dan Bongino and Pam Bondi are continuing to corrupt these agencies so that we can make sure to shine a spotlight on it, we'll do exactly that. For those who are watching, if you'd like to help our work, support our work, support independent media more broadly, the best way to do that is to subscribe to both of our channels. I'm going to put the links right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video. It is and always will be 100% free and again, it's a great way to support what we do. I'm Brian Taylor Cohen…

GK: …and I'm Glenn Kirschner.

BTC: You're watching the Legal Breakdown.

[rampartd]

1. no building built or occupied by these people can be considered secure.

ever.

[QueerDuck]

2. Many thanks again, and sincere appreciation for the excellent transcript!