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FBI Engages in Fearmongering Over Raid Fallout

AP Photo/Terry Renna

You didn’t need a crystal ball to see this one coming. After the search of former President Donald Trump’s home, the FBI appears to be engaging in the same type of fearmongering coming from Democrats and their comrades in the activist media.

The Bureau is warning about calls for civil war and even a fearsome dirty bomb threat at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. after the raid. However, it seems more likely that these “threats” are about as dire as its contention that white supremacist terrorism is a threat to national security.

The Washington Times reported:

In a leaked bulletin, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said they have seen an increase in “violent threats” against law enforcement, government officials and judges in the week since the agents executed the search warrant at Mr. Trump’s residence.

The bulletin warned of talk to place a dirty bomb in front of FBI headquarters and “general calls” for a civil war and armed rebellion. Investigators also are monitoring threats against the federal judge who approved the warrant to search Mr. Trump’s residence.

The warnings come just as Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), a former FBI agent, said his life was “put in danger” from all the vitriol that followed the revelations about the raid. During an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” he called for calm and insisted that Trump and his colleagues should tone down the rhetoric.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said last week that the Bureau noticed an increase in threats against members of the Bureau. There has been one attempted act of violence against the agency. A man armed with a nail gun and an AR-15 attempted to break into the FBI’s field office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was shot to death by local police officers after a vehicle chase and hours-long standoff. He had issued a “call to arms” on social media after the search of Trump’s home.

Armed supporters of the former president got some attention when they protested outside the Bureau’s office in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday. News reports suggested they were carrying handguns and “assault-style weapons,” during the demonstration. However, the group only had 25 people, and the protest ended by noon.

On Monday, one week after the raid, Trump indicated he would help to calm the situation down. In an appearance on Fox News Digital, Trump stressed that the “temperature has to be brought down” but insisted that Americans are “not going to stand for another scam.”

“The country is in a very dangerous position. There is tremendous anger, like I’ve never seen before, over all of the scams, and this new one — years of scams and witch hunts, and now this,” the former president said.

He added: “If there is anything we can do to help, I, and my people, would certainly be willing to do that.”

Trump further elaborated on the situation:

“There has never been a time like this where law enforcement has been used to break into the house of a former president of the United States, and there is tremendous anger in the country — at a level that has never been seen before, other than during very perilous times.”

The former president went on to say he and his team have “not heard yet” from the Justice Department on his offer to help calm the situation down. “I think they would want the same thing — I’ve never seen anything like this,” Trump said. “It is a very dangerous time for our country.”

“People are so angry at what is taking place,” he said later in the conversation. “Whatever we can do to help — because the temperature has to be brought down in the country. If it isn’t, terrible things are going to happen.”

If there has been a rise in threats against the FBI, it would not be surprising. However, when you have Democrats and their activist media cronies trying to silence critics of the Bureau by pre-emptively blaming them for any violence that might result from the raid, it is hard to believe these folks are acting in good faith.

To be clear, those calling for civil war and urging violence are abhorrent. However, they are a fringe minority of folks on the right. Portraying valid criticism and questioning as pouring fuel on the fire is not only a cynical way to suppress opposing views, it is ultimately ineffective. The raid has people fired up – and for good reason. There is no chance that these people will be silent no matter how hard the left tries to shame them.

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