Kevin Kendrick was an FBI agent for 25 years. A native Detroiter, he worked as assistant special agent in charge of the Detroit field office from 1999-2002. He retired from the FBI in 2006 as head of the Charlotte Division. He currently works in private industry in Michigan. This column first appeared on Facebook and is being reprinted with permission.
President Donald Trump
By Kevin Kendrick
Does the truth matter to you?
It matters to me. As a Bureau Agent for 25 years, it certainly mattered. In so many cases, I saw employees who had violated simple rules, which might have resulted in what we call a letter of censure (reprimand).
The telling of a lie was officially called “lack of candor.” And a lack of candor finding in the FBI meant automatic suspension for a period of days with loss of pay at the very least, and it quite possibly could lead to being terminated.
Why so severe? Because an Agent who has found to have lied during an investigation, even if not originally something substantive, would be deemed to be an unreliable witness in any subsequent criminal case. That agent need only be asked by a defense attorney if he or she had ever been determined to have demonstrated a lack of candor and instantly, their credibility as a witness is impugned. Telling the truth mattered very much to Bureau employees.
Now, we have someone who is a few pay grades higher than a lowly FBI Agent, and who woke up one morning and decided to accuse his predecessor of something truly reprehensible – wiretapping his telephone.
When confronted with information to the contrary, rather than admit this was something completely made up, this administration doubled-down and even said the tapping had been committed by this country’s strongest ally in the world today, an assertion which has been completely rebuked by the U.K.
Fast forward to yesterday (Monday) and we have sworn testimony from the Director of the FBI that says this simply did not occur. Period.
If I cannot believe the President of the United States to tell a simple truth about something as small as a paranoia-induced early morning tweet, how in the world can I ever believe him on matters of substance?
The reality is I simply cannot. And that is because in my world, he has displayed a remarkable and substantial lack of candor.
Does the truth matter to you?
