The Fierce Battle of Minds Between the White House and the FBI

However, this incident is of particular interest because people can vaguely see behind it a fierce "battle of wits" between the White House and the FBI related to an issue that has been of great concern to Americans for over a year, which is the relationship between President Donald Trump's administration and Russia.

Donald Trump is said to be using the House report to deflect the investigation into Russian interference in the US election. Photo: AFP

Fanning controversy

In a series of television shows on Sunday, the American people witnessed the most "important" faces in the government as well as in the US law enforcement agencies "taking the stage" to comment on this event: Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, appeared on ABC, two other members of the Committee, Eric Swalwell and Jim Himes, were invited by both Fox News and CNN, Congressman Trey Gowdy was a guest on CBS, former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and former CIA Director John Brennan participated in NBC's program...

Americans have heard “insiders” give conflicting comments about the “shocking” report released by the US House of Representatives on February 2.

Less than four pages long, the report, written by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, alleges that the Justice Department and the FBI abused their power to conduct surveillance on a member of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign team.

The document focuses on the surveillance of Mr. Center Page – a former foreign policy adviser to Mr. Donald Trump's election campaign – on suspicion of espionage due to his frequent contacts with Russian officials.

It is worth noting that the FBI used information provided by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who was biased against Donald Trump. The report said there was ample evidence that the US Justice Department was deliberately trying to discredit President Donald Trump.

That is why the US Intelligence Committee accused the FBI and the Justice Department of “abusing their powers in the name of national security”. The Republicans also argued that this investigation was biased because it was funded by a company that supported the ruling Democratic Party at the time. US House Speaker Paul Ryan affirmed that the release of this document was to protect American civil liberties.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes – who drafted the report. Photo: New York Times

Democrats immediately “fired back,” saying the report was “inaccurate” and presented a “false picture of the FBI.” The matter was further complicated when California congressman Adam Schiff said that Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee had discovered changes made after the committee voted to send the memo to President Donald Trump for review.

The revelations by Mr. Adam Schiff are expected to further heat up the debate between the US government and the FBI as well as between Republicans and Democrats surrounding the House report in the coming days.

“President Donald Trump's "move"?

The Justice Department and FBI have been lobbying hard to keep the House report from being released, fearing it could reveal classified counterintelligence information and undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help Donald Trump win over Hillary Clinton.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer also said the report contained classified information intended to discredit the investigative efforts of the FBI and ultimately Special Counsel Mueller.

According to analysts, the unsuccessful efforts of the Department of Justice and the FBI are understandable, because the difficulty of Mr. Robert Mueller's investigation is exactly what President Donald Trump wants.

Not only did he give the US House of Representatives the green light to release the report, he also “enthusiastically” tweeted that the report had “completely exonerated” him in Mr. Mueller’s investigation, and that there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia in the 2016 election.

Former British spy Christopher Steele – who provided information to the FBI. Photo: Fox News

Donald Trump's undisguised statements of joy overshadowed the statements of US House Speaker Paul Ryan when he tried to affirm the impartiality of the report's release, which was not to affect the investigation of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller.

The public has reason to try to link the release of the House report to the investigation by Mr. Robert Mueller. For more than a year, since Mr. Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, the “suspicion” of Russian election interference has remained a cloud that has not been able to be dispelled over the White House.

Mr. Mueller’s investigation has so far “knocked down” a series of Donald Trump’s most trusted figures such as former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, campaign chairman Paul Manafort, campaign assistant George Papadopoulos…, and there is information that Mr. Mueller is getting closer to interviewing Donald Trump about this story. If Mr. Mueller’s progress can be stopped, it will certainly be good news for Donald Trump.

So far, Mr. Mueller has won the confidence of both Democratic and Republican members of Congress, but there has been speculation that some are trying to push through legal proceedings to force Mr. Mueller out of office, or at least cast doubt on what he is doing.

Christopher Hunter, a former FBI agent, also acknowledged that the House report could make the public and juries skeptical of the testimony of witnesses that Mueller collected, just as the FBI used the testimony of former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.

The rare war

According to observers, the FBI's public opposition to the classified report of the US House Intelligence Committee will continue to fuel the conflict in the already tense relationship between the White House and senior officials of the Department of Justice and many famous figures in the US intelligence community. Many people have seen this move by Donald Trump as using the power of the head of the country to attack the FBI. Josh Campbell, a special supervisor who worked as an assistant to former FBI Director James Comey, announced his resignation on the day the report was released to protest the Donald Trump administration. But in addition to those who voluntarily resigned, there will be high-ranking FBI figures forced to resign, like FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe recently. The next name targeted could be FBI Director Christopher Wray.

The less than 4-page report of the US House of Representatives not only marks a new phase in the “battle of wits” between the administration of US President Donald Trump and the FBI, but also with the system of law enforcement agencies in general. Not only is Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller said to be “in the crosshairs” of Donald Trump and the Republicans, the fate of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is also considered very uncertain. Mr. Rod Rosenstein is the one who appointed Mr. Robert Mueller to the position of Special Prosecutor to investigate the suspicion of Russian interference in the US election.

When Donald Trump was elected President of the United States in 2016, he praised the FBI for being “very courageous” and expressed “great respect” for the organization when it reopened the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s personal email. 16 months later, his attitude has turned 180 degrees. In the opinion of experts, the war that Donald Trump did not hesitate to participate in with the FBI and the national law enforcement apparatus is extremely rare, never happened with any President in modern American history. And this war will certainly continue to be fierce, when the Democrats in the US Congress said they would release another report to refute the information in the report drafted by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes.