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• Former CIA and National Security Agency director Michael Hayden sounded the alarm this week after Donald Trump Jr. unloaded on the Department of Justice and the FBI.
• Hayden said Trump Jr.’s suggestion that the nation’s top law-enforcement agency was tainted with bias against President Donald Trump was “an appeal to the heart of autocracy.”
• Hayden and other former intelligence officials have largely pushed back on Trump’s and his allies’ claims that the DOJ and FBI are biased against him.

Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, the former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency, said Tuesday that Donald Trump Jr.’s comments about the Russia investigation and the FBI were “scary” and appealed “to the heart of autocracy.”
Trump Jr. slammed the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s election interference and President Donald Trump’s campaign while speaking to a group of young conservative activists at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Florida on Tuesday. He also suggested that the focus on Trump’s campaign — and the president himself — was fueled by anti-Trump sentiment at the Department of Justice and the FBI.
“There is, and there are, people at the highest levels of government that don’t want to let America be America,” Trump Jr. said. “My father talked about a rigged system throughout the campaign, and people were like, ‘Oh, what are you talking about?'” he added “But it is. And you’re seeing it.”
CNN host Don Lemon played a clip of Trump Jr.’s comments during his interview with Hayden on Tuesday night and asked the former intelligence chief what he thought.
“Well, I have to confess to you, when I first heard that earlier this evening, that was a little scary,” Hayden replied. “I mean, that is an appeal to the heart of autocracy, and challenging the patriotism of those folks who work in the US government.”
Hayden added that though American institutions are “imperfect” and at times “have imperfect people who send messages they shouldn’t send,” that does not undermine the legitimacy of government and the rule of law.
The former CIA director was likely referring to recent reports that special counsel Robert Mueller ousted Peter Strzok, a veteran counterintelligence investigator, from his team over the summer after Strzok exchanged texts with FBI colleague Lisa Page in 2016 calling Trump an “idiot” and was otherwise critical of the president. He also lambasted former Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and former attorney general Eric Holder.
It later emerged that Andrew Weissman, a seasoned prosecutor on Mueller’s team who specializes in “flipping” witnesses, praised former acting attorney general Sally Yates in January for refusing to defend Trump’s initial travel ban, and attended former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s election-night party last year.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller departs after briefing the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S.Thomson Reuters

Former intelligence officials defend Mueller and the FBI

Hayden said Tuesday that “we’re now seeing a constant attack” from Trump’s allies and Republican lawmakers who have seized on the reports to paint Mueller’s probe and, at times, the broader intelligence community, as tainted by partisan bias and political corruption.
Hayden added that while the revelations were not ideal and that investigators should practice more discretion when expressing their political leanings, they still did not compromise the integrity of the investigation.
Former federal prosecutors and FBI agents reiterated that point, pushing back in earlier interviews on the claims of bias on Mueller’s team from Trump’s allies.
“I can tell you I never knew what Andrew’s politics were when we were in the same office,” said Patrick Cotter, a former federal prosecutor and longtime white-collar defense lawyer who worked with Weissman in the past.
“Politics never comes up between prosecutors in my experience. We have them, of course. We are citizens. But among the feds I worked with, it would have been incredibly inappropriate for anyone to express a political view at work.”
Joseph Pelcher, a former FBI counterintelligence operative who was stationed in Russia and specialized in organized crime, said that while agents should be careful about openly expressing their opinions, “there is certainly nothing wrong with holding political views as long as it doesn’t interfere with an investigation.”
LaRae Quy, who served as a covert operative at the FBI for 24 years, largely echoed that point.
“It’s very important for agents to appear (and be) apolitical. I know that’s ‘pie in the sky’ since we all have political views,” she said. “But the non-partisan aspect of an agent’s job is important.”
That said, “agents are allowed to express their personal opinions … and encouraged to vote and be responsible citizens,” Quy said. “Almost every agent I know votes and upholds the democratic process. They are just smart enough to keep their mouth shut and their minds open.”
James Comey. Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images
Several prominent former intelligence and law-enforcement officials also defended Mueller and the FBI earlier this month after Trump said the agency was in “tatters” and its reputation was the “worst in history.”
“I want the American people to know this truth: The FBI is honest. The FBI is strong. And the FBI is, and always will be, independent,” tweeted former FBI director James Comey after Trump attacked the bureau.
“The FBI is in ‘tatters’?” Yates, the former acting attorney general, tweeted. “No. The only thing in tatters is the President’s respect for the rule of law. The dedicated men and women of the FBI deserve better.”
Former attorney general Eric Holder tweeted that he was “not letting this go,” referring to Trump’s remarks. “The FBI’s reputation is not in ‘tatters’,” Holder wrote. “It’s composed of the same dedicated men and women who have always worked there and who do a great, apolitical job. You’ll find integrity and honesty at FBI headquarters and not at 1600 Penn Ave right now.”
The president of the FBI Agents Association released a statement Tuesday after Trump Jr. slammed the agency.
“Attacks on our character and demeaning comments about the FBI will not deter Agents from continuing to do what we have always done — dedicate our lives to protecting the American people,” said the statement. “Special Agents are focused on the Constitution and protecting the public. Their work should be recognized, not denigrated.”
FBI director Christopher Wray also stepped in to publicly defend the bureau, saying “there is no finer institution than the FBI.”
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks with his son Donald Trump Jr. during a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., January 11, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

It is ‘unwise’ for Trump Jr. to attack prosecutors investigating him

Asked to comment on why Trump Jr. would attack the credibility of the DOJ, the FBI, and the Russia probe, Hayden said the younger Trump’s remarks suggested that he does not “think this investigation is going to a happy place, at least not a happy place from their point of view.”
He added that while he was not drawing any conclusions about where the investigation will lead, “we learn more and more about the synchronization of activities of the Trump campaign, including the president’s son with WikiLeaks and the actions of the Russian federation.”
Trump Jr. is a central figure in several threads of Mueller’s inquiry. He invited intense scrutiny earlier this year when it was reported that he accepted a meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, in June 2016 after being offered damaging information on then-candidate Hillary Clinton.
Trump Jr. had to release several amended statements responding to reports about the meeting, particularly after it emerged that it was pitched “as part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”
Last month, The Atlantic also obtained documents showing that Trump Jr. was in contact with WikiLeaks — the radical transparency group that was a key player in the 2016 election and is known for its pro-Russia stance — several times between September 2016 and July 2017.
Hayden said that while it was normal for Trump Jr. to be concerned about the investigation and the potential consequences for him and his family, it was unwise of him to publicly rail against it.
“My great fear, based upon that earlier quote [from Trump Jr.], is that we’re going to do long term damage to things on which we depend,” Hayden said, like “American institutions, belief in the American government, and the integrity of the American system.”