Today’s podcast looks at one of the most important and intricate stories in recent American history; the role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the run up to, and aftermath of, the 2016 Presidential Election. The episode's subject, Robert Mueller, was the FBI Director before the election, but became infamous for his role as Special Counsel to the US Department of Justice, for which he investigated alleged collusion between the campaign of Donald Trump and actors linked to the Russian state.
Mueller's role in the 2016 election and the Trump presidency symbolises a consensus around the security services and law enforcement which the US is rapidly losing- a poll from January 2023 conducted by APM Research found that 51% of Republicans believe the FBI is biased against Donald Trump, and 43% of Gen Z - those born after 1997 - believe the FBI is biased against the left. Of course, trust has to be earned, and the history of the FBI hasn’t always inspired such feeling. But just as you shouldn’t blindly trust an institution, you also shouldn’t not trust it as a default position either. If American democracy is to survive, its people have to be willing to find a medium between these two positions.
My guest today is Devlin Barrett. Devlin is a reporter at The Washington Post, whose work focuses on the FBI, the US Department of Justice, and US law enforcement. He is also the author of October Surprise: How the FBI Tried to Save Itself and Crashed an Election, which focuses on the time period we discuss today.