The FBI and the Republican Party of the United States came into conflict

One of the top politicians of the US Republican Party, Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, said he could prevent the FBI headquarters from moving to a new building, AP reported. According to him, the FBI intends to build “one big Pentagon” and place its entire department there. Instead, McCarthy called on July 15 to reduce the central office in Washington and send more FBI agents around the country. Now the headquarters of the FBI in Washington is located in the building. Edgar Hoover built in 1975. Appropriations for the new headquarters must be approved by both houses of Congress. Republicans have a majority in the House of Representatives.

As AP notes, in fact, the problem is not in the parameters of a particular building, but in a serious conflict between the FBI and the Republicans, who are confident that the current administration of Democrat Joe Biden is inciting special services against them.

This story illustrates the strong influence of former President Donald Trump on the party and its position, comments AP: “Trump’s personal claims have turned into legislative politics.” Republicans, who previously presented themselves as the party of law and order, are actively attacking state power institutions, including the Department of Justice and the FBI. For the bureau, such attacks were news. The FBI has been accustomed to pressure from the political left since its founding, but there has been little to no pressure from the right. Now, criticism of the intelligence service has become open – for example, earlier McCarthy said: “Looking at the actions of the FBI, I think that the entire leadership needs to be changed.”

One of the reasons for the conflict between Republicans and law enforcement officers is the court case against Trump. According to AP, it is because of this that conservatives in the party are angry with the Department of Justice, which issued an indictment against Trump for improper storage of classified documents and continues to persecute the people who participated in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. On July 18, Trump himself said that he threaten in the coming days charges in this case. Attorney Jack Smith sent a letter to Trump informing the ex-president that he was a suspect in the attack on the Capitol. “It always means arrest and charges,” Trump was quoted as saying by TASS.

In the conditions of modern America, the theory of “military use” of law enforcement agencies has developed, says Vladimir Vasiliev, chief researcher at the Institute for the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences. According to the expert, starting from January 6, 2021, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies are under pressure on Trump’s supporters and on himself. Such things are unprecedented and the partisan bias of law enforcement officers is obvious: Biden and other American presidents have not been charged with careless attitude to classified papers, the expert continues. These issues, as a rule, were resolved amicably and did not cause any problems. In the United States, there has never been such a politically driven approach towards former presidents. We can also recall the recent story of cocaine in the White House, which was investigated by the Secret Service with the likely involvement of the FBI. The incident was hushed up two or three weeks later.

All this is subordinated to the goal of removing Trump’s candidacy from the 2024 presidential election, Vasilyev believes. Trump has long said that if he announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy and that he would no longer participate in political activities, all cases would be closed instantly. According to the expert, as the pre-election struggle intensifies, one can expect a toughening of the conflict between the Republican Party and the FBI.