The Great America Show - FIDELITY, BRAVERY AND INTEGRITY？

00:00:00.000 hello everybody and welcome to the great america show it's great to have you with us today thank

00:00:06.720 you so much for joining us and happy valentine's day to all of you who celebrate this fine and

00:00:12.620 wonderful holiday um what a week it was we've got rfk jr now confirmed we've got tulsi gabbard now

00:00:20.900 confirmed and we're just waiting one more uh important holdout there's a few more uh cabinet

00:00:26.940 members who haven't been voted on yet but we're expected them to pass with flying colors just

00:00:32.600 getting through the procedural hurdles right now um the next big one coming up and the last big one

00:00:38.980 will be cash patel he'll be on the docket hopefully by next tuesday or wednesday and hopefully uh be

00:00:46.360 ready to hit the ground running and uh off to work um and ready to make the fbi great again in just a

00:00:53.040 few moments we're going to be joined by a former executive assistant director of the fbi his name

00:00:58.600 is chris payota uh great man uh worked at the fbi for nearly three decades under james comey under

00:01:06.300 robert muller uh and left just as chris ray came in so a lot to talk about a lot to discuss or he's

00:01:12.840 going to be joining us in just a few moments here uh first i want to get to some news as we wrap up

00:01:17.100 this friday and the week that was president trump is expected to sign an executive order today

00:01:22.080 halting federal funding from schools and universities that require students you ready

00:01:26.900 for this folks to be vaccinated against the ready for this one the china virus imagine that it's still

00:01:33.480 a thing the china virus the coronavirus is still plaguing this nation i i didn't even know it was

00:01:39.200 a thing i've been having a bunch of colds over the last two or three months it's probably from traveling

00:01:44.140 and spending a bunch of time skiing out west um never did i once think to take a covid test could

00:01:50.200 have been covid china virus maybe but at this point it's exactly what we said it was going to be a few

00:01:55.440 years ago a seasonal cold we move on from it we get better in a few days and you move on and live

00:02:01.200 live your life but now there's still marxist universities and institutions that want everyone 1.00

00:02:07.940 to be vaccinated i thought anthony fauci was long gone but his legacy i guess lives on in infamy

00:02:16.120 media elites are weighing a boycott of the white house to support the associated press's feud

00:02:22.280 with president trump over the gulf of america it's not the gulf of mexico it's now the gulf of america

00:02:29.100 if you don't believe me check your iphone check your android and and go to maps and you're going to see

00:02:34.880 it's now the gulf of america i'm not really sure who these media elites think they'll be spiting

00:02:41.560 by not covering the white house they cover it so negatively anyway you can maybe turn on two news

00:02:47.640 channels and get a decent uh view of what's going on uh that being fox news and and newsmax uh but

00:02:55.480 even on those networks there's some folks who are we'll call them rhinos to be nice uh so i'm not 0.98

00:03:01.340 entirely sure who cnn and the ap think they're going to be spiting nobody cares if you're in the white

00:03:06.240 house briefing room nobody watches your networks nobody's watching cnn it's the reason you guys are

00:03:11.560 firing everybody you can't afford to keep people there uh politico we'll see you next friday when

00:03:17.360 it's time to to do payroll if they can afford payroll uh last week two weeks ago they had a

00:03:22.660 little bit of a tough time so nobody really cares if you cover the trump administration you guys have

00:03:27.740 never cared it carried it honestly uh you've never carried the man fairly he's never gotten a fair

00:03:33.840 shake with any of you so go take your cameras and go find somewhere else to carry maybe go to

00:03:40.580 delaware and cover joe biden or go to california and cover kamala harris go do what your people want

00:03:46.420 you to do uh it's clearly not trump they want you to cover they hate the man the few people that tune

00:03:52.200 in that is the the overwhelming majority of americans uh tune into podcasts like this tune into podcasts

00:03:59.960 like tucker carlson they're tired of the legacy media the legacy media is dying even fox's numbers

00:04:05.820 are down since they fired the great lou dobbs and tucker carlson and bill o'reilly and mega kelly and

00:04:11.340 and the rest of the folks who have been for dan bongino who have been forced to leave there

00:04:14.960 because fox's marxist uh run uh ceos don't agree they don't like president trump and you can see it in

00:04:21.440 their reporting i worked there for years i saw it firsthand it's the reason that they couldn't keep

00:04:26.540 blue it's the reason they couldn't keep tucker so nobody cares don't cover trump don't cover the

00:04:31.100 white house people will still tune into the great america show they'll still tune into tucker carlson

00:04:35.400 and dan bongino's and and all these great podcasts that we have out here free of charge

00:04:40.480 you don't have to subscribe subscribe it's free isn't that nice you don't have to pay a cable bill

00:04:46.980 to listen to this show you can listen to us on audio if you don't want to look at my face if you

00:04:51.280 don't want to look at the guest face you can join us on audio uh and you know what you can join us

00:04:55.740 from wherever you want from the car in the morning on the way to work in the bathroom after work uh

00:05:02.180 anywhere taking the kids to school doesn't matter it's at your own flexibility at your own leisure

00:05:08.440 isn't that nice we've really come to a crossroads in america folks uh never did i think five six

00:05:14.640 years ago when i started working at fox news would there be so many outlets and mediums for us to get

00:05:20.420 you the news as i said free of charge there's nothing better than free all right my rant is

00:05:26.100 over it's friday we have a great episode for you as i mentioned uh retired fbi executive uh assistant

00:05:32.340 director retired um just a few years ago from the bureau he's also the author of wanted the fbi i once

00:05:39.160 knew chris payota chris it's great to have you with us here on the great america show thanks so much

00:05:44.380 for joining us i want to begin with first everything that's going on inside the fbi right now we sort of

00:05:50.120 have a leader who's not really a leader but we really haven't had a leader for a very very long time

00:05:55.040 inside the fbi i want to get your thoughts on that in just a few moments but i want to get the overall

00:06:00.520 direction right now the current status and health and being well-being of the fbi and your thoughts on

00:06:07.620 well i think the fbi is in a tough position right now the organization is struggling for capable

00:06:15.060 principled leadership which has been largely absent or sleeping at the wheel for several years at least

00:06:22.060 at least the last four for sure and it started a little bit before then there's a lot of anxiety

00:06:28.120 among people in the fbi right now as they've watched some of the most senior executives be dismissed

00:06:34.120 an excuse from duty and uh you know some of the field office leadership as well so there's a lot

00:06:39.200 of anxiety and uh you know the department of justice looking into the january 6th investigative effort

00:06:45.700 you know a lot of folks are looking at uh possible uh you could say uh disciplinary action if they were

00:06:54.740 found to be taken you know action based upon personal ideology and uh personal politics so a lot of

00:07:02.080 upheaval at the bureau they're in a time of great change what they need right now is some again steady

00:07:08.200 principled leadership people who are going to bring the bureau back to its mission focus and return it to

00:07:14.060 a place of trust with the american people now you worked under director comey what was his deal i what was

00:07:21.900 his issue we'll go back right now to 2015 2016 where he witnessed i mean a lot of bad things happen to

00:07:29.740 president trump he knew first of all even before president trump let's go back a little bit further

00:07:34.000 hillary clinton why would he give hillary clinton a free pass number one uh after coming out saying

00:07:40.180 she committed crimes and then number two what was his animosity towards president trump

00:07:45.200 i i think with the director comey he allowed himself to become more of a public figure than he

00:07:52.320 should have been first off i mean if you remember when director muller was in office how many times

00:07:57.620 did you see director muller on tv rarely if ever uh director comey became more of a media

00:08:03.360 focused director he allowed himself to be dragged into certain political situations that the former

00:08:10.380 directors used to avoid and then in the bureau uh was an apolitical organization the former director

00:08:18.380 the previous directors i'm sorry uh did not allow themselves to be dragged into those public political

00:08:23.620 forums i think when he made those comments about uh madam clinton uh he should not have done that

00:08:32.320 he was he was a bit out of his lane that was a department of justice level discussion that should

00:08:36.860 have been had but he uh felt as though he was doing the right thing by messaging to the american people

00:08:44.420 and i think he kind of stepped out of his lane on that he should have stayed he should have stayed in the

00:08:49.740 more quiet advisory role to the department of justice and the attorney general and he he failed

00:08:56.920 to do that he allowed himself to uh become that public target for the discussion that shouldn't have

00:09:04.840 been had when it came to hillary clinton and her activities so i think he allowed himself to become

00:09:11.040 more driven and influenced by his own personal politics and his own personal agendas

00:09:19.340 which again led the organization to a bad place as far as his animosity toward uh president trump

00:09:26.140 i can't really say where that came from other than an ideological difference probably political

00:09:31.780 differences i understand they had some conversations directly between the president and uh and uh director

00:09:39.800 comey where you know director comey felt as though the president was demanding loyalty from him

00:09:45.540 and uh i don't think they got off to a good start so i think the former director comey took that as a

00:09:53.820 request for some sort of fealty that he wasn't willing to give and that's where i think the relationship

00:09:59.900 started turning bad i you know i understand where president trump came from when he asked for loyalty

00:10:05.780 if that's exactly in fact what he actually said after finding out or knowing that he was maybe wiretapped

00:10:11.960 in trump tower uh he was campaign was spied on his campaign was infiltrated uh i mean what more can

00:10:18.800 you ask for from an fbi director than to to be loyal and to do an honest job you know i don't think he

00:10:25.900 asked him for anything uh too out of the ordinary you spent nearly three decades at the fbi and when you

00:10:32.140 retired you were one of uh eight top leadership the of the top leadership so you worked through the

00:10:37.840 ranks uh you know you started bottom up and you made your your way to the top the fbi's mantra is

00:10:43.700 fidelity bravery and integrity at what point in your opinion uh did the fbi sway from that uh from that

00:10:52.140 mantra to where they are right now i mean you if you do public polling chris um you'd probably and i'm

00:10:59.520 going to ask my buddy uh mark mitchell over at rasmussen one of the greatest pollsters on earth

00:11:04.040 to do some polling because congress nancy pelosi congress as a whole and mitch mcconnell are usually

00:11:10.620 some of some of the lowest uh polling folks in washington dc but i want to see how it compares

00:11:17.280 to the fbi because the fbi has to be one of the lowest rated according to people who vote in polls

00:11:23.900 institutions in the history of this country at what point did they make that turn from fidelity

00:11:30.560 bravery and integrity over into uh culture warriors i think it started happening in the later part of

00:11:39.940 director muller's tenure the fbi changed significantly after 9-11 the tragedy of 9-11 was a defining point

00:11:47.460 for the fbi uh they started changing the culture of the fbi as well as the operational practices of

00:11:53.580 the fbi to move away from being a law enforcement reactive cops and robbers organization to being more

00:12:02.100 of a you know domestic security national security organization and uh the fbi started changing how it

00:12:09.400 saw itself how its leadership behaved and i think that they also changed their hiring practices i fact

00:12:17.040 i know they did and they wanted a more intellectual workforce and they deprioritized the hiring

00:12:22.420 of former law enforcement and former military personnel which gave the fbi its steel and its backbone

00:12:30.940 and uh we saw the workforce change over the years uh toward the end of director muller's time

00:12:37.300 people started looking for different ways to manage the fbi and when director muller left

00:12:43.300 uh director comey came in and brought a lot of private sector type of philosophy and ideology with

00:12:50.920 him and uh the organization started moving more toward being uh you can say more liberal in its views which

00:12:58.460 uh you know wasn't a good thing for the fbi i saw my fbi change from a disciplined organization to a more

00:13:05.440 of that private sector mentality everything became negotiable we lost our discipline

00:13:11.600 and uh over time that accelerated under director comey continued under director ray

00:13:16.900 and director ray honestly was more of a caretaker director he didn't make a lot of changes and he

00:13:22.400 didn't do a lot of hands-on work and he allowed certain factions and people with inside the fbi

00:13:28.720 to gain more control and influence over how the fbi was run than was warranted and it brought us to

00:13:37.160 today's challenges and problems so what you're seeing is the results of a corporatized fbi

00:13:43.060 which in my opinion has failed the american people on several levels yeah you know i've never actually

00:13:49.440 thought of it that way uh maybe bringing in some some of these ivy league folks who think they're

00:13:53.940 better than everyone and think they're smarter than everyone some of them are but for the most part

00:13:58.480 most of them aren't uh it's these ivy league folks who have got us in over 30 trillion dollars

00:14:03.860 of debt in this country it's these ivy league folks who are running our country right now from congress

00:14:08.040 and uh from the senate and and over in the house side uh so it's an interesting perspective to look

00:14:13.880 at it from that point at any point in your career there i i have to assume you're going to answer in

00:14:19.380 the affirmative here did you witness dei uh taking over inside the bureau it started happening uh i would

00:14:28.840 say again toward the end of director muller's tenure and it started accelerating again under jim comey

00:14:36.980 where before it was called dei there were a lot of concerns about representation about the cultural

00:14:45.980 makeup of the fbi agent cadre and uh there were some lawsuits about you know uh supposed racial

00:14:53.500 inequity or racial bias so it started creeping in toward the end of director muller's time and it

00:15:02.560 accelerated under jim comey and then it accelerated even further over the past four years when the

00:15:08.080 previous administration made it a priority and i think the leadership was unable or unwilling

00:15:14.540 to stand against it and say we are a political objective investigative organization we have no interest in

00:15:22.520 social issues such as dei they weren't willing to do that or weren't able and actually may have

00:15:28.840 supported those ideas which again turned the fbi to where it is today and uh put the fbi in a

00:15:36.980 position of a where it needs a complete reset in terms of culture leadership environment and operational

00:15:43.560 practices i want to take a quick break break here chris we're talking with chris piota uh he's a

00:15:49.360 retired fbi executive assistant director he's also the author of the book wanted the fbi i once knew

00:15:54.500 we're going to take up that book on the other side of this quick break but i also want to take up

00:15:58.260 uh the fbi shift in investigative work uh you know when they got in the business of going after school

00:16:05.280 board parents and the whole january 6 debacle we're also going to take up the the potential cash patel

00:16:11.600 vote coming up next week uh in the senate and what cash patel could mean for this rancid corrupt fbi

00:16:19.300 we're coming right back with chris folks stay with us i'm excited to announce that we're having our

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00:17:22.680 folks we're back we're talking with chris piota the former uh retired fbi executive assistant director

00:17:30.960 he's also the author of the all-new book uh wanted the fbi i once knew chris nearly three decades at the

00:17:38.680 fbi as we said when did you see the fbi uh start shifting their focus uh from going after terrorists

00:17:48.140 and going after bad actors in this country who meant to harm america to going after school board parents

00:17:55.320 who challenged uh dei in their schools in their children's schools who challenged uh woke transgenderism

00:18:02.760 in their children's schools were you trained under any sort of fbi curriculum or any sort of fbi

00:18:09.180 standards that folks who oppose teachings in their kids schools are domestic terrorists uh no no at no

00:18:17.880 point in my career was i ever exposed to any type of direction or instruction that would have led to

00:18:24.180 those types of actions in in fact the old breed of special agents that i came up under would not have

00:18:31.000 stood for nor supported those activities now unfortunately all of those folks uh that i was

00:18:37.140 privileged to learn under they all timed out of their careers and retired by the time we got to this

00:18:43.440 point uh i think the biggest ideological shift we saw started at the beginning of of course the

00:18:50.700 biden administration and the fbi was not able to stand against it and moved with it and started

00:18:58.740 prioritizing their resources and investigative efforts in line with the previous administration's

00:19:06.960 wishes and the you know and that of the department of justice as well of course and they weren't able

00:19:14.220 to stand strong enough to say we do not support doing this this is wrong actually some people inside

00:19:22.060 the fbi did and they were punished for it and other fbi field offices during january 6th uh you know

00:19:29.220 they actually refused to do some of the investigative work that they were requested to do because they

00:19:35.220 said this is wrong and it's outside the scope of investigative activity and we're not doing it so

00:19:41.680 again a lot of folks uh you know did stand up a lot of them got punished for it a lot of them you know

00:19:47.820 had their careers damaged by it but uh and that happened after i had unfortunately left so i i wasn't

00:19:55.140 able to voice opinions that mattered at that point but i do think that over the past four years the fbi

00:20:03.100 has really taken a shift on where it's put its investigative priorities and it's looking down

00:20:08.380 and inward into our country at our own citizens probably a bit more than it should be when we have

00:20:16.680 a host of external threats around the world as well as the i would say intensifying and emerging

00:20:24.020 threat environment that we have allowed to form in the country because of our the lack of management

00:20:29.620 at the southern border you know you brought up a very good point that i often say on this show whereas

00:20:35.320 if you watch sean hannity every night you hear him sit there and say the rank and file guys aren't a

00:20:39.940 problem they're the good guys yeah i'm sure there are some of them are good but there's also some of them

00:20:44.900 are bad they know right from wrong there's guys like steve friend out there who took a stand against

00:20:50.120 the tyranny the tyranny the corruption uh just the total disgust inside that bureau but there's also

00:20:57.540 folks who didn't because they cared about getting their six-figure pension at the end of the day

00:21:01.460 uh there are folks who went after school board parents there are fbi agents who raided the uh underwear

00:21:08.860 drawer of melania trump there are fbi agents who raided baron trump's bedroom there are fbi agents

00:21:15.340 who went through the safes of president trump at mar-a-lago chris i don't know about you but if

00:21:19.720 i was ever tasked with anything like that i would walk off the job immediately at at some point you

00:21:24.480 have to have a conscience right and at some point money doesn't matter uh because your conscience does

00:21:30.100 at least that's for myself and i think it sounds like you as well uh and a lot of other people

00:21:36.020 i often tell people on this show who say the rank and file guys aren't the problem 1.00

00:21:41.640 if there's a dead fish rotting on the seventh floor of the fbi chris you're going to smell it on the

00:21:46.780 eighth floor you're going to smell it on the ninth floor you're going to smell it on the sixth and

00:21:49.580 you're going to smell it on the fifth there's no way things were going on inside the fbi that the

00:21:53.860 rank and file guys didn't hear about didn't know about and to further prove my point all these fbi

00:21:59.040 whistleblowers we have who have come forward rank and file guys who knew what was going on they

00:22:04.500 weren't one in a thousand guys who knew what was going on there's way more than that why do you

00:22:09.920 think we didn't have more folks come forward and say enough's enough because i think if we did

00:22:15.100 we might not have gone this far down the rabbit hole i think what you have is a an imperfect balance

00:22:22.140 between in being independent investigators versus insubordinate investigators and i and i think what

00:22:28.600 what folks forget sometimes is that the fbi is a hierarchical organization right you're given orders

00:22:35.420 and direction that are actually rolling down from the white house through the attorney general through

00:22:40.800 the director of the fbi to your local chain of command and you know a lot of these folks looked at it and

00:22:47.740 they probably voiced their opinions hey this is wrong why are we doing this and they were told either

00:22:53.780 you do it or you can be reassigned or you can be you can be terminated or like like what happened to

00:23:00.260 some of the whistleblowers you could be put into purgatory where they just suspend your clearance they

00:23:05.900 take your money or you can have other negative things happen to you and your family and i think a lot of

00:23:11.480 folks just weren't in a position to give up their careers they weren't in a position where they could

00:23:16.120 as the only breadwinner of the family you know give up their income so i mean a lot of personal

00:23:21.660 reasons but but what i do think is that this that what happened for january 6th mar-a-lago and other

00:23:30.240 you know things that happened that were uh not the bureau's finest hours those were leadership failures

00:23:37.860 the leaders in the organization failed to protect their people from those bad decisions the leaders in

00:23:44.980 the organization were not willing or able to stand up and say we can't do this and that's where again we

00:23:53.380 missed the old breed who would have stood up and fought and i will tell you just personally i knew some of

00:23:58.620 the people who were involved in the mar-a-lago uh situation and they told me they had screaming matches

00:24:05.800 with the people at doj about that the mar-a-lago search was driven by the department of justice

00:24:13.180 the fbi folks involved did not want to do it they were overruled and and you saw the result of that

00:24:19.800 so i think there are a lot of people who ideologically were trying to keep their heads down still conduct

00:24:26.460 investigative work to protect the american people uh the fbi at its soul is there to combat national

00:24:33.100 security threats and criminal crime problems and criminal activity and that's what those people

00:24:38.400 tried to continue to do the best they could under the circumstances they had and uh you know i can't i

00:24:44.880 can't uh comment on people's personal reasons why they stood up or why they didn't because i wasn't

00:24:50.320 there but i do think a lot of folks at the bureau will snap back into place immediately given the proper

00:24:55.960 leadership environment we're going to take that up next segment before we get there i want to go a

00:25:00.440 little bit further into this um first of all as far as i'm concerned any of these guys who partook in

00:25:06.140 any of this and president trump seems to be setting up an olive branch i don't think there should be

00:25:10.420 uh there were people whose lives were ruined chris a school board parents january sixers which is

00:25:17.140 where we're going to turn to right now january sixers thousands of them chris who went to sleep

00:25:22.780 one night and woke up to bang the next door bang the next day elderly parents some of them i've had on

00:25:28.700 this show elderly women grandparents um i had a lady on this show 76 year old woman walked through

00:25:35.780 the capitol was guided around the capitol by capitol police um and was looking at five years in jail

00:25:41.360 losing her social security and losing her pension if convicted luckily the trials were pushed after

00:25:46.520 president trump won and um she wound up getting one of those pardons from president trump but these are

00:25:52.100 people who spent thousands some of them hundreds of thousands some of them years in jail

00:25:56.580 um we're doing absolutely nothing wrong i mean there were bad actors there we know that there

00:26:03.660 were government bad actors there um before we turn to the january 6th defendants uh we know that there

00:26:10.320 was 30 some odd informants government informants there it took them years chris years to come out

00:26:16.500 and tell us which shouldn't have been the case because they knew on january 6th at midnight or january 6th at

00:26:23.420 1159 and they knew on january 7th who those 34 i think there was probably more than 34 but they knew

00:26:29.640 that there was those 34 there why did it take them four plus years to come out and tell us

00:26:35.040 one that there were government informants there two they still haven't told us what crimes they committed

00:26:41.420 um because as far as i'm concerned you correct me if i'm wrong if you're a government informant and

00:26:46.420 you're going in to do uh recon work if you commit a crime you're not immune to anything you're going

00:26:53.820 in there to get intel work you're not there to commit any crimes why do we not know if any of

00:26:57.940 them incited a riot if any of them incited an insurrection if the man who was standing up on that

00:27:03.360 scaffold telling everyone to go into the capitol was one of those 34 fbi informants why is it taking

00:27:09.540 the government this much time number one and number two is it okay for a government informant to commit

00:27:15.300 a crime well there's a lot of stuff right there so let me start with uh having informants at large

00:27:24.640 events such as the inauguration that is not unusual and and that is not something that is is outside of

00:27:35.900 fbi routine activity when you're looking for threats so they will have informants attend some

00:27:42.760 of these functions so they can give them ground truth reporting figure out if there are any threats

00:27:47.920 either uh occurring or emerging and then they can report back so that that's not by any stretch of

00:27:55.300 the imagination strange or unusual now as far as the folks who were there that day from what i've seen

00:28:02.060 in the open source media the reporting is is that the fbi said they weren't there at in an operational

00:28:08.960 capacity they were not tasked to do anything other than to they were there they were on location they

00:28:14.960 were going to passively gather information and then send it back to the organization through

00:28:19.780 established channels this is what i understand as far as not wanting to reveal them uh from an operational

00:28:27.740 security perspective some of those informants may have been involved in other operations outside of

00:28:33.140 what was considered to be directly associated with january 6th so they were looking at an operational

00:28:39.240 security perspective more than likely of how many of these informants are very well placed informants

00:28:45.560 in other threat environments will we will we compromise their operational capability

00:28:52.200 by divulging certain information i'm guessing again because uh you know the the fbi that i used to know

00:29:00.740 is a lot different than the fbi that exists right now and the fbi i used to know uh did business a little

00:29:08.860 differently so i i'm not sure why they were so reluctant to tell even the congress i mean you could you could

00:29:15.700 speak to our national leaders in a very controlled classified setting and they were still unwilling

00:29:22.360 to do so which again we know what that shows me is a decline in the culture of the organization

00:29:28.340 a decline in the professionalism that they won't even cooperate with our national leaders on certain

00:29:34.340 issues so from that perspective i'm not sure why it took them so long other than they were stonewalling 0.67

00:29:41.780 for some reason maybe at the department of justice or white house's direction i'm guessing again

00:29:47.520 speculation on my part but you know you could you could pass information to our national leaders in a

00:29:53.160 manner that it answers their questions it can be relayed to the american people just like i told you

00:29:59.900 this is not an unusual practice for an event of this magnitude for us to look for threats and to

00:30:06.120 mitigate threat environments so not sure why it was done that way but i do think that the last iteration

00:30:13.200 of the fbi felt that it wasn't accountable to the national leadership on some levels so by you saying

00:30:21.380 that that means the fbi knew that january 6th was going to somehow get out of control they knew it wasn't

00:30:26.960 just going to be a rally which means if the fbi knew means nancy pelosi knew it means the national guard was 0.96

00:30:32.940 supposed to be called it means our leaders knew president trump apparently had an idea that it may

00:30:37.920 get out of control so if that's the case and the fbi knew possibly that it was going to get out of

00:30:42.880 control and the federal government knew why not have the national guard there why not have as much

00:30:49.200 manpower as you could have there if you had the national guard they're sitting on the steps of the

00:30:53.140 capitol that day chris i can guarantee you not a window would have been broken and not a building

00:30:58.300 would have been breached because those folks there they weren't 99 of them uh the non-actors and i'm

00:31:05.060 not saying just the government actors but the antifa actors and and and the ones who were plants there

00:31:09.740 uh probably wouldn't have committed the crimes they committed 99 of these folks i was there on that day

00:31:15.560 reporting for fox news working for lou dobs tonight it was love it was peace it was people happy cheering

00:31:21.800 around and then uh just 30 minutes later there was windows being broken those weren't the same people

00:31:27.360 i saw at president trump's uh speech so the government has intel we probably have the best intel in the

00:31:33.040 world you'd probably confirm that for me uh they knew it was going to be a bad day why was nothing done

00:31:39.400 beforehand i think again you have a systemic leadership failure from the folks at the uh congressional

00:31:47.560 security apparatus through the dc local government uh from what i understand they didn't want national

00:31:55.020 guard troops there they didn't want the the bad optics they didn't want uh overt security and uh

00:32:02.920 you know i'm sure there are a lot of other uh stories out there but they didn't want it to appear as

00:32:08.880 though they they were afraid of of what was going on and there are a lot of other theories on why

00:32:13.980 you know there was an absence of security and the uh the delays in certain actions being taken

00:32:20.740 but uh in my opinion and i was i was in dc for the other inaugurations that happened over time

00:32:28.260 there's always a concern of poor behavior when large crowds get together it's just crowd dynamics and

00:32:37.620 crowd control so it doesn't matter that it was that day for for that instance it matters that

00:32:45.700 whenever you get a number of people that large together in one place you have a volatile or

00:32:51.340 potentially volatile situation and that's why the security should be appropriately set and that day it

00:32:58.340 was not yeah i just it was a leadership it was a leadership failure on many levels i just chris after

00:33:05.180 the last 10 years of what we've seen happen in this country i don't believe in coincidences anymore

00:33:08.880 it's just the the stars have aligned far too many times uh for things to stop being a coincidence

00:33:15.380 going back to one of the other questions that i know i asked a long-winded question so you probably

00:33:19.620 skipped over but yeah those government informants who were there that day is it legal is it fbi

00:33:25.140 policy for them to commit a crime if they have to help themselves fit in uh you know what that's a

00:33:31.400 that's a difficult uh situation that they put themselves in there are certain rare instances

00:33:38.140 where you can get authorization for certain kinds of criminal activity to establish

00:33:44.980 your cover or your longevity in a threat environment but that has to be approved at

00:33:51.580 very high levels and it's scrutinized very closely and there can't be any uh risk or safety to people's

00:33:58.460 lives things of that sort or they're not going to go for that on that particular day nobody from what

00:34:05.280 i understand was there in an operational capacity so i don't believe they were authorized to conduct

00:34:11.980 what would be considered criminal activity but again you know we would have to get a review of the

00:34:19.720 records of those informants to see what kind of dispensations they might have been given but the fbi

00:34:26.360 says they weren't there in an operational capacity so if that's true then they did not have the

00:34:33.720 dispensation for criminal activity like i just said before the coincidence thing like there's been far

00:34:40.100 too many things that have happened that coincidences aren't take for example the guy who they call

00:34:44.780 scaffold commander i don't know if he was an fbi informant i'm not going to come out here and say

00:34:48.260 he was tucker carlson came out said he was an fbi informant tucker carlson got sued for it

00:34:52.800 but you just look at some of the things and how he was charged the man is on video inciting a riot

00:35:00.820 telling people to breach the building he did what the fbi what the justice department accused thousands

00:35:06.740 of other people of doing that didn't actually do it right this man's on video doing it telling people

00:35:12.260 to go in we're going to breach the capital tomorrow he gets no jail time it makes you sit here and wonder

00:35:18.560 chris how did a man like that who it's documented on paper it's documented on video do what he did

00:35:26.280 and gets away scot-free yet you've got guys who did none of what he did who sat in jail for hundreds

00:35:34.560 of days with no trials doesn't that make you wonder like what's going on inside this country

00:35:40.240 well it makes me very concerned on how our department of justice was administering

00:35:47.460 prosecution and enforcing the law of this country it was uneven it was inconsistent and i think they

00:35:55.500 were looking to make examples of some people versus others and i don't know if we'll ever find out why

00:36:01.600 they did what they did or or what their rationale was for it but i will tell you just sitting in the

00:36:07.300 civilian world now it was it was awful to watch it was concerning and it was damaging in the credibility

00:36:15.400 of the department of justice with the american people so i'm hoping under new leadership the

00:36:20.360 department of justice will return to being again fair even-handed apolitical and objective in how it

00:36:27.340 helps enforce the laws of our nation i have good on good account and good word that we're definitely

00:36:33.300 going to find out what happened on that day we're going to find out who was involved in and what the

00:36:37.180 doj's role was because you know chris like i said you can't it was people's lives who were ruined

00:36:42.560 over people who will never get jobs again uh i saw on twitter the other day a guy was going to buy a

00:36:48.160 house and he messaged the lady the real estate agent on zillow um to see the house and she replied

00:36:54.100 back are you so-and-so from the january 6th insurrection you know so there's people's lives who

00:36:59.440 are ruined over people who will never recuperate funds there are people whose family members died while

00:37:04.140 they were locked up in jail there were babies that were born that you know there's just a lot of

00:37:07.960 things that they'll never get to get back time is the only thing you can't get back chris and uh

00:37:14.060 you know i think it's it we owe it to the american people i agree with you and it was shameful behavior

00:37:20.760 by by our government and it's it's elected and it's elected and appointed officials yeah we're gonna

00:37:26.800 take one more quick break here we're talking with chris piota the retired fbi executive assistant

00:37:31.740 director and he's the author of the all new book wanted the fbi uh i once knew we're coming right

00:37:36.900 back uh we're gonna take up his book we're gonna take up the fbi surveillance state um and and will

00:37:43.760 it ever end we're gonna take up cash patel and the work that he has cut out for him pending uh his

00:37:50.340 confirmation vote next week we're coming right back with chris folks stay with us i'm excited to

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00:38:58.700 with chris piota retired fbi executive assistant director he's the author of the only book wanted

00:39:04.180 the fbi i once knew chris before we get into the book um i want to talk a little bit about the fbi

00:39:09.300 surveillance state that we've seen uh you know over the course of the last 10 years and it's it's not

00:39:15.080 just donald trump it's other folks i had someone call me one day a very incredible person and tell

00:39:20.740 me my phone this is back when the great lou dobbs was alive that my phone may be tapped and you know

00:39:25.640 i said to them i said you know that's very strange for the last week or so my phone's been getting

00:39:30.000 very hot uh i wake up at seven o'clock in the morning my phone's dead by 10 a.m i said something

00:39:36.080 doesn't seem right so i get on the phone chris i call my lawyer i say ty can you do me a favor can

00:39:41.200 you send it a foia and see if my phones at any point have been wiretapped or tapped or any reason

00:39:46.840 and lou dobbs's phones have been tapped for any reason chris within the next few days my phone

00:39:53.300 stopped dying by 10 a.m every day it stopped overheating every morning when i wake up and i said you

00:39:58.640 know that's sort of interesting somebody must have heard that phone call to find out if we were spied

00:40:04.440 on i have don't commit any crimes maybe with the the exception of speeding sometimes and talking

00:40:10.800 on my cell phone in the car texting and driving which i shouldn't be doing um but other than

00:40:15.760 talking to the occasional whistleblower and things like that chris i don't commit any crimes will we

00:40:21.740 ever see the end and i'm not the only one i'm the lowest level hanging fruit on the tree um will we

00:40:27.720 you know see the end of this surveillance state against the american people who don't agree with

00:40:33.440 the status quo and by the status quo i mean what we've spoken about weaponization of the justice

00:40:38.700 department transgenderism in kids schools uh dei in the workplace will we see the end of this ever

00:40:45.820 i think we'll see the end of it for at least four years right these upcoming four years i think you'll

00:40:54.280 see a different application of those authorities and our legal frameworks when it comes to surveillance i

00:41:01.480 think you'll see a different philosophy on how and when those authorities and those capabilities

00:41:07.440 are deployed when i was with the bureau those were the programs that i used to oversee and i will tell

00:41:13.460 you people people may disagree but i will tell you we used to agonize over the legality and the impact

00:41:20.980 of privacy and civil liberties when it came to american citizens it was it was agonizing uh you know of

00:41:29.200 course non-us citizens and non-us persons get a different level of protection and they still get some level of

00:41:36.360 protection i think what happens is when you have an administration like the previous one who

00:41:41.660 that was more comfortable with using those authorities against political opponents or political

00:41:48.600 uh adversaries as they saw them that's when you see an abuse of those those authorities and capabilities

00:41:55.420 i think we'll see a a better time for at least the next four years chris our as you said uh our privacy

00:42:02.220 and our civil liberties is what differentiates us from the rest of the world it's what differentiates

00:42:07.360 us from venezuela from cuba from north korea from china from russia our first amendment right all those

00:42:14.260 things you're not afforded chris in most other places you go you go to some countries you speak

00:42:19.400 out against the regime and you're a dead man i'm talking literally not figuratively um it's what it

00:42:25.100 makes america america and you know what you'd said people who aren't citizens here uh who are tried here

00:42:30.500 um are living far better in prison than some americans are living uh their everyday lives

00:42:36.700 outside of prison it's insane if you really think about it i want to turn to cash patel

00:42:42.220 and the job that he has cut out for him first of all are you confident cash gets confirmed next week

00:42:49.640 um the way things are looking it seems like it's going to happen and uh i believe he has the votes

00:42:56.060 and the support he has the trust and confidence of the chief executive so i think things are going

00:43:01.300 to go his way and uh i think we're going to be looking at a new fbi director next week he definitely

00:43:06.840 has the support of the american people as for those marches dems in congress uh you know that's a

00:43:11.280 different story but who cares about them as long as he gets through i want to talk about the job that

00:43:16.220 he has cut out and he has lined up ahead chris not an easy one he's got an institution that he has

00:43:21.480 once called for to be completely dismantled uh give me a roadmap on how as one of the former top eight

00:43:30.820 uh executives in the fbi what does the roadmap look like for cash patel um say next week his first day

00:43:39.360 on the job okay in broad terms uh mr patel has to show up and establish himself as the leader of the

00:43:47.800 fbi he's not there to punish the organization he's he's there to lead the organization back to being

00:43:56.480 a trusted and respected fbi that works on behalf of the american people that's the first thing he has

00:44:02.240 to do second thing he has to do is establish a team around him a senior leadership team that is

00:44:08.160 completely aligned with him and the attorney general and the chief executive but you know he needs a

00:44:15.000 security he needs a i'm sorry a senior leadership team that is going to help him execute his vision

00:44:21.200 for the organization and work with him to get things done mr patel is not going to be able to do it by

00:44:27.940 himself he can't show up at the fbi and think he can run an organization of 38 000 people that has global

00:44:35.360 reach and extreme power all by himself so he's got to establish that team and he's got to do it

00:44:41.640 immediately the third thing i would say he has to do he is a strategic leader in the organization he

00:44:47.480 cannot get bogged down in lower level activities and operations he's got to stay at a strategic level

00:44:54.160 where he has the most influence and that's going to be him resetting the fbi culture the fbi culture 0.68

00:45:01.720 has declined and deteriorated over time he's also had he also has to re-establish a certain desired

00:45:08.580 leadership environment fbi leadership has declined over time and that has brought us to some of the

00:45:15.780 challenges we have right now he's got to get leaders in place he's got to get leaders developed

00:45:21.160 and mentored and he's got to get folks who are willing to stand up for what the american people need

00:45:28.460 and want lastly he's got to look at a complete audit of the fbi's operational practices i've heard

00:45:35.920 arguments and discussions where the fbi says we haven't changed our standards maybe not on paper

00:45:41.260 but the way those standards have been administered policed and enforced has changed over the years

00:45:48.440 i watched them change when i was there and the fbi is a poorer organization for that change so those

00:45:56.180 are the three areas from a strategic view culture leadership environment operational practices and he also

00:46:02.340 has to go out and re-establish the fbi's credibility not only with the american people but with the

00:46:07.740 national leadership so go ahead that's where i would that's where i would recommend he he focuses

00:46:13.760 immediate efforts what's your thoughts on a complete and a review of every single person that works in

00:46:21.420 the bureau every person that's worked on every single january 6th case every single person who's worked on

00:46:27.220 every single uh uh parent case domestic terrorist case to look at the track record of these people

00:46:34.940 because there's far too many people chris that fly under the radar there's people who are silent

00:46:40.620 terrorists we'll call them uh inside that bureau who do dirty work who go unnoticed because they you

00:46:46.800 know they're like little mice they they're quiet about it what's your thoughts on that a review of of

00:46:52.380 these folks files to see if they have the fidelity integrity and bravery to continue employment

00:46:59.660 inside the most powerful institution in this country i see nothing wrong with it i mean if you're if you

00:47:06.520 were doing things on the right side of the fbi and on the right side of the law and of the american

00:47:11.740 people then you should have nothing to be concerned with i know it can create anxiety because you're being

00:47:16.980 reviewed right i mean nobody likes that but i think that uh if you are found to have conducted activities

00:47:24.060 that were based upon political ideology or personal ideology maybe the fbi is no longer a place for you and

00:47:30.920 they should be excused because the american people deserve better than that and the fbi cannot be a

00:47:37.580 politically driven or ideologically driven organization the law is the law the fbi is there to

00:47:44.160 investigate and help enforce the law the fbi cannot have an opinion yeah so we've seen we've seen where

00:47:51.760 that's well we've seen where that's broken down over time where i'm sure you've seen the imagery of fbi

00:47:57.280 agents kneeling at lafayette park you know when the blm marches were going on that broke my heart i was

00:48:04.160 sickened by it and uh instead of correcting that behavior they were given accolades and they were

00:48:11.200 rewarded with uh you know coffee shop gift cards or something right so it just shows you again the

00:48:17.620 decline in the leadership culture if we would have done something like that when i was a new agent or

00:48:22.440 even when i was you know doing work we would have had our heads removed so different organization

00:48:28.220 you know uh the taking the knee was absolutely despicable these guys most of them not most of them

00:48:35.340 the the most of the the ones that are the bad actors they're big tough guys when it comes to

00:48:40.520 women and children and and and people that they can intimidate but when it came to blm and antifa 1.00

00:48:45.680 they were little sissies and and like you said they took a knee like uh and folded like a joe biden lawn 0.99

00:48:51.680 chair it's truly pathetic but when it came to banging on the door of a 76 year old grandmother

00:48:57.300 you know they were big tough guys it talked to me without your lawyer and this and that

00:49:01.460 um you'd mentioned before four years is going to be the the fbi and these institutions should be

00:49:07.480 free and clear for the next four years but i think the only way to to ensure that it's clear beyond

00:49:12.640 four years is to do a review like this to see who who fits the role who fits the the uh the mental

00:49:20.660 leadership the mental capability of of being like i said in in the nation's most powerful institution

00:49:27.680 uh chris i want to talk about your book wanted the fbi i once knew what was your purpose of writing

00:49:33.440 the book what you know what made you wake up one morning and say i need to get this word out to the

00:49:38.520 american people well first of all i didn't wake up one day and think that my wife had been after me

00:49:45.080 for years to write a book and to uh to to you know one day i was complaining about something i was

00:49:50.980 watching on television as i often do and she stopped me and said if you don't write down

00:49:57.520 all the things that you learned and the things that you knew and the things that you saw it's

00:50:02.580 all going to be lost with you and she said you can complain to me as much as you want which i she she's

00:50:09.560 you know my sounding board but basically she said if you want to show people where the fbi ran off track

00:50:15.200 and how to possibly get it back on track as quickly as possible she said write it down kind of a she gave

00:50:21.880 me the old put up or shut up exactly type of discussion and that's why i wrote the book

00:50:26.660 because i saw my fbi going down some dangerous paths some unproductive paths and i wanted to put

00:50:32.780 out a durable message that was available to anybody who cared to read it from a bird's eye inside view of

00:50:40.840 when things changed how things changed where the fbi ran off track and how to get it back to being that

00:50:48.260 fbi that the american people can trust and depend on i tell people this the fbi exists on two sides of

00:50:57.820 the same coin on one side of that coin the fbi should be a feared organization by our adversaries

00:51:06.900 our enemies and criminal elements they should fear the fbi on the other side of that same coin 0.98

00:51:14.900 the american people and our national leadership should trust the fbi they should be glad to see

00:51:21.960 us because they know we're there to protect them and take care of them and the fbi is honest and

00:51:27.600 objective and principled in what it does so the fbi has that duality where it has to be fearsome

00:51:34.900 on one side and trustworthy and dependable on the other yeah i think that's that and that's the fbi that

00:51:42.180 we have to get back to right now i think our fbi does not command the respect that it once did

00:51:48.360 and we have to get back to that by action not words yeah chris uh chris ray uh um uh james comey

00:51:57.900 are two of the biggest disgraces this country's ever seen robert muller's no better i mean him

00:52:02.860 leading up the the russia collusion hoax when he knew it was a hoax spending 30 million dollars another

00:52:07.560 total disgrace to this country an embarrassment and they make our country look like such a laughing

00:52:12.340 stock and a joke when kim jong-un or vladimir putin or xi jinping look and see what's going on

00:52:19.040 here uh we're no different than venezuela when it comes to that with uh with people staying in power

00:52:24.840 it's a total sham total joke brazil another one uh crazy real quick before we wrap up here uh tom

00:52:32.520 holman uh doing the lord's work with his fbi raids but we're finding out that there may be some leakers

00:52:39.260 still hanging around in the fbi uh most recently that aurora colorado raid taking over that uh that

00:52:45.800 compound where the gang members were tom holman says it was a leak from inside the fbi and he says

00:52:53.360 it perfectly clear it's gonna get one of our guys killed one day by you leaking that uh uh we're

00:53:00.060 raiding somewhere they know we're coming and he goes one day there's gonna be a gangbanger sitting

00:53:04.140 on a couch somewhere with a gun ready to risk it all and take everybody out what do we do about

00:53:09.860 i mean this is a whole new level of low yeah when i heard that information i was i was very disappointed

00:53:18.300 that uh they were sourcing it back to the fbi and then and if the information is proven to be true

00:53:24.160 and accurate that it came from inside fbi channels then uh it'll be another disappointment uh but i

00:53:32.980 will tell you this whoever they identify as being responsible for that leak should be immediately

00:53:39.000 and summarily dismissed from the fbi and then they should be looking at any possible criminal charges

00:53:45.800 that could be brought against these people because they are by being activists instead of fbi special

00:53:53.580 agents endangering the lives of their fellow brother and sister law enforcement members as well as

00:54:00.440 the community they're there they're you're also exposing the community to in i guess you can say

00:54:06.700 extended danger and and possible you know lack of well-being so if that is true then i think the

00:54:16.880 department has to take very swift and harsh punishment against the folks who were involved

00:54:22.740 one thing i will say though about the fbi uh channels when you're doing those type of operations there

00:54:29.120 are many people involved in the fbi when it comes to conducting those type of operations so

00:54:35.100 i'd like to see when they positively identify these people how you can use this as an example of how

00:54:42.880 the fbi culture has declined and why a new fbi director and his leadership team

00:54:48.920 have to come in and re-establish that culture where the fbi leads the way in professionalism

00:54:54.580 and and operational security and not be uh found guilty of of leaking information again if it if it

00:55:01.840 turns out to be true yeah plain and simple chris it's time to make the fbi great again i think you'll

00:55:08.000 agree with with that one folks chris mayota retired fbi executive assistant director is the author of the

00:55:13.900 all new book wanted the fbi i once knew you can go out and get your copies on amazon we recommend it

00:55:19.360 to you highly uh chris thanks so much for joining us today come back soon my friend thank you sir

00:55:24.120 pleasure thanks everybody for being with us today here on the great america show once again happy

00:55:29.300 friday happy valentine's day to all of you who celebrate i hope you took your loved one out for a

00:55:35.240 beautiful date and bought them uh roses or if it was your husband or your your boyfriend uh bought

00:55:40.260 him a beautiful gift folks we're going to see you back here tomorrow for the great america saturday

00:55:44.660 show i hope and make sure to join us each and every day for the great america midday updates where

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00:56:01.020 great america show folks any comments questions concerned our dms our emails open to you info at

00:56:08.440 lou dobbs.com if you want to shoot us a tweet you can follow me at john faucet ny on truth social

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00:56:19.240 whatever you want to hear guests questions anything like that we're an open book shoot us an email

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00:56:29.260 bless you may god bless america may god bless the great lou dobbs have a great weekend folks see you tomorrow

00:56:35.160 you

The Great America Show - February 14, 2025

FIDELITY, BRAVERY AND INTEGRITY？

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