By Allan Lengel
A gender discrimination trial in D.C. federal court portrayed the FBI’s legal counsel office as very troubled.
Politico characterized the allegations about the legal office during trial as a “hotbed of dysfunction, turf wars, mismanagement and paranoia.”
The publication writes:
“A federal jury ultimately sided with the FBI, but not before a parade of witnesses testified to startling revelations about the bureau, exposing dysfunction and management woes that at times have been exploited by the bureau’s detractors — most notably amid Donald Trump’s crusade against investigations into his activities.”
During trial, Jim Baker testified, when taking over the FBI general counsel in 2014, his staff of about 200 lawyers were burned out, locked in bureaucratic turf battles and wracked by fear of their own colleagues, Politico writes. James Comey was FBI director at the time, having taken over the bureau in 2013. From 2001 to 2013, Robert S. Mueller III headed the agency.
It noted that Baker said that in the early part of his tenure, some employees feared raising concerns in front of others and sometimes anonymously slipped typewritten notes under his door overnight.
“People were so afraid to be seen talking to me,” Baker said. “They were afraid of some of the leadership that was still in the office.”
The story quotes an unnamed FBI official as saying the leadership in the office and the FBI itself has since been replaced.
