Watch: Psaki reviews shocking litany of political targeting by Trump's DOJ

0:01 Now that was this morning and then tonight

0:01 eve though Sarah Fitzpatrick is already being sued

0:03 by Cash Patel and even though she may

0:05 be being criminally investigated by BIDEN'S F .B .I.,

0:07 KASH PATEL'S F .B .I., TONIGHT, THE ATLANTICS AREA FITZPATRICK PUBLISHED

0:12 YET ANOTHER INCREDIBLE STORY ABOUT DING, DING, DING, YOU GUESSED IT, KASH PATEL.

0:18 NOW, IN THIS ONE, EIGHT PEOPLE FAMILIAR WITH THE MATTER,

0:21 INCLUDING YET AGAIN CURRENT AND FORMER FBI OFFICIALS,

0:23 TOLD FITZPATRICK THAT IT IS NOT UNUSUAL FOR PATEL

0:27 TO TRAVEL WITH A SUPPLY OF PERSONALIZED branded bourbon.

0:31 Who among us?

0:32 Now, the 750 milliliter bottle that he travels

0:36 with is engraved with Kash Patel's name and title,

0:39 FBI Director Classy, as well as the symbol of the FBI Shield.

0:44 Now, if you look just below the shield on the screen,

0:46 you will see Kash Patel's name yet again,

0:49 but this time spelled his preferred way, of course,

0:52 with a dollar sign instead of an S.

0:54 Again, stay classy, Kash Patel, stay classy.

0:58 Patel also appears to have signed some bottles,

1:01 writing his signature and then the number nine,

1:04 presumably because he's the ninth person to hold

1:06 the title of the director of the FBI,

1:08 which leads me to believe he has spent an awful

1:11 lot of time on this particular merch project, right?

1:15 Now Fitzpatrick also writes that Patel has distributed these self-branded

1:18 bottles to staff and civilians while on official business,

1:21 including during at least one FBI event,

1:24 and that Patel has even used Justice Department

1:27 aircraft to transport cases of his bourbon merch.

1:30 Now when the Atlantic reached out for comment,

1:34 the FBI didn't even dispute that Patel

1:36 has been giving out these branded booze bottles.

1:38 Instead, a spokesperson said that Patel has followed all

1:42 applicable ethical guidelines and pays for any personal gifts himself,

1:45 and portrayed the gifting of booze, bourbon, personalized bourbon, as routine.

1:51 Saying that the bottles in question are part of a tradition

1:54 in the FBI that started well over a decade ago.

1:57 Is it now?

1:58 And guess what?

2:00 When Fitzpatrick tried to fact check that statement, it fell completely apart.

2:06 The FBI declined to provide images of bottles

2:08 bearing the names of any past directors, maybe because they don't exist.

2:13 And when Fitzpatrick asked a former senior FBI official,

2:17 if he had ever seen any personally branded

2:19 liquor bottles distributed by any previous FBI directors, he burst out laughing.

2:26 Now the story here is, it's not just that Kash Patel allegedly drinks a lot.

2:31 By this point, we've all seen him drinking with our own eyes.

2:34 We all remember that visual.

2:35 The story is that Kash Patel allegedly drinks a ton at work

2:39 as the boss in a workplace that traditionally has had a zero

2:43 tolerance approach to drinking on the job and even the abuse

2:46 of alcohol off duty because it is our chief law enforcement agency.

2:50 As one former FBI agent told Fitzpatrick,

2:53 the bottles are demoralizing as they suggest one set of standards

2:58 for the FBI's director and another for the rest of the bureau.

3:01 Now, the lawyer for another former agent, former assistant director in charge

3:05 of the FBI's Washington field office, Steven Jensen, told Fitzpatrick, quote,

3:10 there are line agents out there spending

3:12 their nights and weekends trying to finish warrants,

3:14 write reports, plan arrests.

3:16 Yet the FBI director apparently has the time to design logos,

3:19 go to hockey games, sit for multi-hour podcast interviews.

3:23 This is one of the most serious jobs in the country,

3:26 not a vehicle for self-promotion and branding.

3:28 That's very well stated.

3:31 Now when Fitzpatrick published her first big

3:33 scoop about cash Patel last month part

3:35 of what was so amazing about it was that she had more than two dozen sources.

3:38 I spoke to her that very night that the piece

3:40 came out and she told me that even more

3:43 people from inside the bureau were already trying to talk

3:46 to her, trying to tell her about Kash Patel,

3:48 and they weren't doing that lightly.

3:52 These are not the types of people who

3:54 are willing to speak out outside of the FBI, especially right now,

4:00 because Kash Patel is going after people with polygraphs

4:03 in a way that has never happened at the bureau.

4:06 So for it to be this level of alarm,

4:08 this is people genuinely concerned that America is

4:11 a danger as a result of this conduct.

4:14 And I feel, you know,

4:15 a real responsibility to take care of that reporting incredibly carefully.

4:21 Sarah Fitzpatrick said that those people spoke I

4:23 WANT TO TAKE A LOOK AT HER LAST MONTH

4:25 BECAUSE THEY WORRIED ABOUT THE SAFETY OF OUR COUNTRY

4:28 WITH THIS GUY IN CHARGE of keeping us safe.

4:29 That guy right there.

4:30 There you go with Kristi Noem.

4:33 And now even with a potential criminal

4:34 investigation to leakers and a massive defamation lawsuit,

4:38 more people have come forward to say that they do

4:41 not think Kash Patel's behavior is fit for his office.

4:43 Now, I want you to just keep that story in your head.

4:46 I want you to just think about how hard the FBI is working

4:49 to try to catch leakers who say bad things about Kash Patel's personal behavior.

4:54 And I want you to compare that to this.

4:58 BREAKING NEWS NOW, A VERY INFLUENTIAL DEMOCRAT FROM VIRGINIA,

5:01 STATE SENATOR LUIS LUCAS IS AT THE CENTER

5:04 OF A MAJOR FBI CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION, RIGHT NOW IN FACT AGENTS ARE EXECUTING

5:09 SEARCH WARRANTS ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH INCLUDING HER OFFICE,

5:13 ALEX HOGAN IS IN PORTSMITH, VIRGINIA, ALEX.

5:17 NOW THIS MORNING WHEN THE FBI RAIDED THE OFFICE

5:20 OF A PROMINENT DEMOCRATIC STATE OFFICIAL IN VIRGINIA, FOX NEWS WAS ON THE SCENE.

5:26 THEY HAD CAMERA CREWS ON LOCATION READY TO FILM AS SWAT TEAMS AND F .B .I.

5:30 VANS RAIDED VIRGINIA STATE SENATOR LUIS LUCAS'S OFFICE AND NEARBY BUSINESSES.

5:33 AND THAT IS PRETTY IMPRESSIVE CONSIDERING THAT PORTSMITH,

5:37 VIRGINIA, YOU CAN SEE IT ON THE MAP THERE,

5:40 IS ABOUT A THREE-HOUR DRIVE FROM COMPANY FROM FOX'S OFFICE IN D .C.

5:44 IT IS 200 MILES AWAY.

5:45 NOW MAYBE FOX JUST GOT LUCKY.

5:49 MAYBE THEY JUST HAD A REPORTER AROUND THE CORNER JUST KIND

5:52 OF HANGING OUT IN PORTSMOUTH AND A WHOLE CAMERA CREW WHEN IT STARTED,

5:55 WHEN THE RAID STARTED.

5:56 BUT IT STRIKES ME AS A LOT MORE PLAUSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IN THE F .B .I.

6:00 LEAK THE TIMING OF THE RAID TO THEM.

6:03 NOW, LUISE LUCAS IS A HUGE deal in Virginia politics.

6:06 She's the speaker of the state Senate.

6:07 She's primarily known on the national stage for just one thing.

6:10 Earlier this year, she led the effort

6:12 to redraw the state's congressional maps, which would help,

6:15 could help Democrats win another four seats in the midterms,

6:18 and counterbalance the gerrymandering Republicans have done in other states.

6:22 And the raid was reportedly part of an investigation that opened

6:25 under the Biden administration that examined potential corruption and bribery.

6:30 But beyond that, the Department of Justice has not released any information.

6:33 Now we don't have, as I've said, any real details on the reasoning for the raid

6:38 or what exactly they're accusing Lucas of doing.

6:41 So is it plausible there was actual wrongdoing by Lucas?

6:44 Sure, it's plausible.

6:44 But the context is everything here.

6:48 Because a source familiar with the matter tells

6:50 MSNOW's Carol Lennick that Trump's former U .S.

6:52 attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia,

6:54 the district where this investigation is likely based,

6:57 believed bringing a case against Louise Lucas would be good for the White House.

7:01 That bringing a bribery case against a prominent Democrat

7:05 before the midterms would be good for the White House.

7:08 Even though other prosecutors at the office were

7:10 not sure about the strength of the case.

7:12 Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

7:14 As Virginia's Attorney General Jay Jones put it today,

7:16 we simply do not have sufficient information

7:18 about the reported FBI activity in Portsmouth.

7:21 However, several previous actions of the U .S.

7:25 Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia

7:27 have undermined public confidence in that office.

7:30 I urge everyone to exercise restraint and judgment

7:32 until the relevant facts are known in this matter.

7:34 Now, there's a lot of stories going on.

7:37 I just want you to keep that story in your head.

7:39 I want you to think about how the FBI

7:40 raided the office of a prominent Democratic lawmaker right after

7:44 she did something Trump did not like and how

7:47 Fox news just happened to be there to film it.

7:50 I want you to think about that and compare it to this because

7:54 yesterday we learned that the Justice Department has agreed to, quote,

7:58 return or destroy evidence seized from MAGA Republican Congressman Andy Ogles.

8:02 And if the name Andy Ogles isn't ringing any bells,

8:05 it's probably because former Congressman George Santos,

8:07 you remember that guy, sort of stole his thunder for a while.

8:10 Because for a while, the two seem to be competing for the title

8:13 of the most prolific liar in Congress.

8:16 I mean, according to local Tennessee news reports,

8:19 Ogles claimed to be an economist, but it turned out he had only ever

8:22 actually taken one single community college economics course,

8:25 and he barely passed HE CLAIMED TO HAVE

8:28 SERVED FOR YEARS ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

8:30 OF A CITY THAT IT TURNS OUT DOES NOT HAVE A BOARD OF DIRECTORS AT ALL.

8:33 I COULD GO ON, BUT YOU GET THE POINT HERE, RIGHT?

8:37 BACK IN 2024, THE FBI THE FBI SEIZED

8:38 ANDY OGLES' PHONE AS PART OF AN INVESTIGATION.

8:42 YOU SEE, AMONG THE THINGS ANDY OGLES

8:44 APPEARS TO HAVE LIED ABOUT WERE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS,

8:47 A SERIOUS THING TO LIE ABOUT.

8:48 HE CLAIMED THAT HE HAD DONATED $320 ,000 TO HIS OWN campaign back in 2022.

8:53 But it turned out that the congressman appeared to be broke.

8:56 In his financial disclosures,

8:58 he did not appear to even have a checking or a savings account of any kind.

9:01 Now, Ogles later admitted that he had not,

9:04 in fact, donated $320 TO HIS OWN CAMPAIGN,

9:07 BUT HE NEVER REALLY EXPLAINED WHY HE APPARENTLY LIED ABOUT ALL OF IT.

9:10 AND CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS ARE SERIOUS BUSINESS.

9:14 THERE ARE A LOT OF LAWS INVOLVED.

9:16 SO THE FBI SEIZED OGLES' PHONE.

9:18 THAT WAS AT THE END of 2024.

9:19 But guess what?

9:21 When Trump took office last year, suddenly just 11 days into Trump's new term,

9:26 the career prosecutors handling the case withdrew from it.

9:30 The case was handed up to be run

9:32 completely out of main justice in Washington, D .C.

9:35 Now at the same time,

9:36 Ogles was in the running━he put himself in the running for it,

9:40 I should say━a new highly competitive title, biggest suck-up to Donald Trump.

9:45 And he did a lot to try to get there.

9:48 He introduced a bill to give Trump the power to buy Greenland,

9:51 he nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, and maybe most amazingly,

9:56 Ogles proposed a constitutional amendment to allow Trump to serve a third term.

10:01 He even specifically worded that amendment so it would only

10:04 allow third terms from presidents who hadn't served two consecutive terms,

10:08 meaning it would let Trump serve a third term but not Obama.

10:11 There you go.

10:13 And now, after all that sucking up,

10:15 the investigation to Obols lying about a massive

10:18 campaign contribution seems to be just quietly going away.

10:21 In a vacuum, each of these stories

10:23 individually are reason for concern about what happened,

10:27 what is happening at the Justice Department right now.

10:30 But taken together, they are a blaring alarm.

10:33 And when you put them in the context of the past year, it's all the worse.

10:38 The Justice Department has investigated

10:40 or charged so many perceived Trump enemies,

10:42 it is genuinely getting hard to track and we may miss people in this list.

10:46 Former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan,

10:50 New York Attorney General Letitia James,

10:52 Senator Mark Kelly, Senator Alyssa Slotkin, Congressman Maggie Goodlander,

10:55 Congressman Jason Krogh,

10:56 Congressman Christy Houlihan, Congressman Chris Deluzio,

10:59 former National Security Advisor John Bolton,

11:01 Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook,

11:04 Senator Adam Schiff, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie,

11:07 Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frye, St.

11:11 Paul and Mayor Kelly Herr, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,

11:14 Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty.

11:16 The list is just unfathomable at this point.

11:20 But the pattern is clear.

11:22 Trump is using the Justice Department to help

11:24 his friends and go after his enemies.

11:26 Last night former President Barack Obama was issued,

11:29 he issued a stark warning on exactly

11:31 this issue during the interview with Stephen Colbert.

11:35 We can survive a lot.

11:37 Bad Bad policy, funky elections.

11:41 There's a bunch of stuff that we can overcome.

11:46 We can't overcome the politicization of the criminal justice system.

11:50 The awesome power of the state.

11:53 You can't have a situation in which whoever's in charge

11:57 of the government starts using that to go after their political enemies.

12:02 or reward their friends could not think of two better people to help us try