An Insider Perspective on the Mar-a-Lago Raid

J. Edgar Hoover’s golden rule was, “never embarrass the Bureau.” Even if a relatively small infraction, by today’s standards, brought embarrassment to the Director’s office, it could result in summary termination. Whatever you may think of Hoover, he created an agency with a peerless reputation. Hoover’s FBI, where the suit and tie G‑men bagged bank robbers, cuffed mobsters, or ferreted out KGB spies, was created to fill the professionalism gap in American law enforcement. The result was a national investigative agency that embodied the tip of the law enforcement spear — employing the latest in scientific innovation, staffed by highly educated, dedicated law enforcement professionals.  The troglodyte, ham-fisted buffoonery perpetrated at Mar-a-Lago would have resulted in an FBI HQ bloodbath. Hoover would have fired or transferred anyone associated with the Mar-a-Lago outrage. The empty suits and professional briefers who currently scuttle through the sterile Seventh Floor halls of FBI HQ must have known the search warrant on former President Donald Trump’s es …