"Let's hope the housecleaning starts after Trump's inauguration. The FBI is in desperate need of a change in leadership, one which restores trust and seeks to end the politicization of the agency," Techno Fog, a nom de plume for a lawyer, blogger and popular legal observer on X, told Sputnik.
The DoJ and FBI's reaction appears to be strikingly different from what unfolded after Trump's first win, with the bureau waging Operation Crossfire Hurricane and Operation Crossfire Razor against the newly-elected president and his aides under the false pretext of "collusion with Russia".
In 2018, former FBI Director James Comey openly bragged about sending two operatives to interrogate Trump's national security advisor, Michael Flynn, in violation of White House legal rules.
"Thankfully, 2024 isn't 2016," Techno Fog said. "There is less hysteria both in the press and at the FBI. Trump won't be caught off-guard this time by a secret operation targeting his administration - the illegal wiretaps, the lies to the FISA court - that we saw in Trump's first term. And FBI leadership, by now, hopefully knows better. [FBI Director Christopher] Wray isn't perfect, and he has made plenty of mistakes, but he is not as deceitful and prone to abuse his power as former FBI Director James Comey."
Nonetheless, Wray is rumored to step down prior to Trump's inauguration, before the housecleaning begins. "Director Wray never truly sought responsibility for the Russiagate fiasco," the lawyer remarked. "It seems like Wray has to go."
Similarly, there won’t be the weaponization of the Justice Department that one saw in 2016, the pundit continued.
"Special Counsel Jack Smith's 'election interference' case against Trump, which is pending in Washington, DC, will likely be dismissed," Techno Fog said. "Last week, after Trump's election, Smith asked the court to vacate the briefing schedule so that the Department of Justice could 'determine the appropriate course going forward' given the DoJ's policy to not seek continue the criminal case against a president. The court granted that request and vacated the briefing schedule and all deadlines in the pretrial schedule."
That doesn't mean, however, that Trump has become immune to deep state interference, according to the lawyer.
"The deep state may push back on parts of Trump's policies that it finds disagreeable, especially when it comes to foreign policy. Keep an eye on efforts to subvert Trump's goal of seeking an end to the Ukraine-Russia war and any limitations to Ukraine's potential membership in NATO," the pundit concluded.