Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.) denied the politicization of the FBI over the last several years, claiming the term Deep State “just means anybody who doesn’t do the will of Donald Trump.”
Raskin feigned ignorance about the bureau’s politicization while responding to President-elect Trump’s nomination of former intel official Kash Patel as FBI Director.
CNN “State of the Union” guest host Kasie Hunt on Sunday asked him, “Do you think there are any issues inside the FBI around politicization, as many who voted for Donald Trump seem to say?”
Jamie Raskin says there isn’t any proof that the FBI has been politicized. pic.twitter.com/OJ0GVVBfJi
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) December 1, 2024
Rather than address the relevant concerns about the FBI’s conduct in recent years, namely its raid of Mar-a-Lago in 2022 — the home of Joe Biden’s top political opponent, ahead of the 2024 election, and the years-long Russia collusion hoax, Raskin cited the FBI’s politicization during the Civil Rights era.
“Well, undoubtedly, if you look at it historically, for example, during the COINTELPRO period the FBI really was weaponized against Doctor King and the Civil Rights Movement and the Peace Movement,” Raskin said. “There was, you know decades of the FBI being basically used as a political instrument. There’s an interesting book about that, about J. Edgar Hoover by Beverly Gage and people can look at. ”
Apart from that, Raskin said, he hasn’t seen any “proof is that the FBI has been weaponized against a political party, or the Department of Justice.”
“Of course, this Department of Justice has brought charges against Democratic U.S. Senator in New Jersey, a Democratic Congressman in Texas. And so some people just seem to think that it should go only in one direction. If it doesn’t, then somehow it’s politicized.”
“I think that’s what they mean when they talk about politicization in the Deep State. I mean, the Deep State, nobody’s ever defined it. Apparently it just means anybody who doesn’t do the will of Donald Trump,” he added.
It was revealed through court documents that the FBI’s unprecedented raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort was actually coordinated by the Biden administration.
The FBI raid was part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case alleging Trump unlawfully took classified documents to Mar-a-Lago and obstructed government efforts to return them.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case in July, ruling Smith was not lawfully appointed by the Justice Department.
Watch Raskin’s full remarks: