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SpyCast

“Crossfire Hurricane”: Trump, Russia & the FBI – A Conversation with Josh Campbell

SpyCast

SpyCast

Education, News, History

4.41.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2021

⏱️ 59 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Josh Campbell lit his cigar and extinguished the match. It was Inauguration Day 2017, and he was on the roof of his Washington D.C. apartment building. As the outgoing Obama’s made their way overhead on a helicopter, he turned to his father who had flown up from Texas for the event and remarked, “I hope Trump is good for the FBI.” Josh Campbell, former Special Assistant to the Director of the FBI, was chosen by James Comey because he didn’t shy away from speaking his mind. No matter what your politics are, you will want to hear him speak his mind and listen to his fly-on-the-wall account of some of the most momentous events in the modern history of the FBI. He was present at a meeting in Trump Tower on January 6, 2017, two weeks before the inauguration, that would later lead to his boss being fired; it would also lead to his former boss Bob Mueller being appointed as Special Counsel to head up an investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election. Before the Report on the Investigation Into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election, and indeed before Mueller’s appointment, the FBI headed up a counterintelligence investigation into the allegations they codenamed Crossfire Hurricane (yes, after the first line of the Rolling Stones most performed and perhaps best loved song, 1968 hit Jumpin’ Jack Flash!). This is also the name of Campbell’s recent book – Crossfire Hurricane: Inside Donald Trump’s War on Justice & the FBI – written as part of his effort to speak out after leaving the FBI. Campbell, who is now a CNN correspondent, spoke to Andrew at an International Spy Museum event on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2021. We couldn’t get you two Irishmen, but we did get the next best thing: a Scot and an American with a very Scottish last name. This episode may lead to heated arguments: but if it does, it will merely be keeping in line with pub culture in Glasgow, Belfast and Dublin! Carl Sagan said, “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” Listen and decide for yourself what is and what is not extraordinary and what is and what is not evidence – because due diligence dictated that it couldn’t be all holding hands around the campfire between Andrew and Josh. P.S. Not too much longer before SpyCast 2.0.

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to The CyberWire Network, powered by N2K.

0:07.0

Hi and welcome to Spycast from the Secret Files of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

0:21.0

I'm Dr. Andrew Hammond, the Museum's historian and curator.

0:26.0

Every week, Spycast brings you conversations with practitioners, authors and scholars who live in the world of global espionage.

0:36.0

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please reach out to us at Spycast at spymuseum.org.

0:51.0

If you like what you hear and even if you don't, please take a minute to review us on iTunes or whatever platform you listen to.

0:58.0

We're always looking for ways to make Spycast better and you can help.

1:08.0

It's a pleasure to speak to you today, Josh, and for anyone out there that's celebrating St. Patrick's Day,

1:17.0

I'm sorry we couldn't bring you someone that was Irish and someone else with an Irish last name,

1:24.0

but you've got the next best thing, you've got Josh who's got a very Scottish last name and of course myself.

1:31.0

So yeah, happy St. Patrick's Day if you're celebrating that.

1:36.0

So the first question that I was thinking of start or the way that I was thinking of starting off Josh was January the 6th, 2017,

1:47.0

which just so happens to be four years before what has been called the insurrection.

1:55.0

So tell us where you are that day, set the scene for us because that's quite an important day in your story and in your book.

2:03.0

Yeah, thanks so much for having me and so all those who are logged in right now watching.

2:08.0

This is interesting doing this, these kind of talks virtually.

2:12.0

I always prefer in person, but obviously it's the sign of the times, but I thank you so much for sending the time here.

2:18.0

To go back and I think to really set the scene for not only what I talk about in the book,

2:23.0

but also what we continue to deal with as a country.

2:27.0

I think a lot of the relationship between the now former Trump administration and the intelligence community and the FBI and the Justice Department,

2:37.0

a lot of that friction can be traced back to, as you mentioned, January 6, 2017.

2:42.0

And that was the day, if you'll recall, where James Comey and the other heads of the US intelligence community met with then president-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower to brief him on a couple of things.

...

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