Trump, Russia and the FBI
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2017
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There's a compelling story unfolding in Washington. Last week, President Trump fired the director of the FBI, James Comey. It was a contentious move: Comey was investigating ties between Donald Trump's election campaign and Russia. Some are now asking whether the President's job could be at risk.
On this week's Briefing Room, David Aaronovitch unpicks the relationship between Trump and the FBI, and asks where the investigation goes from here. If Trump is determined to make the investigation disappear, could he?
With the help of a former FBI Special Agent and expert on national security law and a veteran watcher of Capitol Hill, David Aaronovitch steps into the Briefing Room to make sense of the Trump affair.
Guests: Paul Wood, BBC World Affairs Correspondent Asha Rangappa, former FBI Special Agent and current Associate Dean at Yale Law School. Niall Stanage, Associate Editor of the American political newspaper, The Hill.
Producer: Neal Razzell Research: Sarah Shebbeare.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:03.3 | Hi, I'm David O'Ronovich. This is the briefing room, a podcast that tries to make sense of the news. |
| 0:17.2 | What on earth is going on in Washington? |
| 0:39.5 | FBI directors, national security directors, the Justice Department, Senate and House Committee hearings, and even the I-word impeachment. And now, as of last night, a special prosecutor. It all adds up to trouble for President Trump, but how much trouble? |
| 0:45.3 | Tonight in the briefing room, with the help of a former FBI special agent and expert on national security law and others, you and I will be making sense of the Trump affair. |
| 0:51.0 | If you want to understand it all, step into the briefing room. |
| 1:02.2 | First, how did we get here? The briefing room's Neil Roselle has done us a timeline. |
| 1:09.0 | Trump, Russia and the FBI. For the casual listener, it all might be a bit of a timeline. Trump, Russia, and the FBI. |
| 1:12.0 | For the casual listener, it all might be a bit of a blur. |
| 1:15.6 | For the careful listener, it might be overwhelming. |
| 1:18.6 | So let's take it one step at a time from the beginning. |
| 1:25.0 | July 2013, Barack Obama nominates James Comey as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. |
| 1:32.5 | It is in large part because of my confidence, not only in his experience and his skill, but his integrity, |
| 1:40.0 | that I'm confident that Jim will be a leader who understands how to keep America safe |
| 1:46.0 | and stay true to our founding ideals, no matter what the future may bring. |
| 1:51.0 | In October 2013, James Comey laid out his vision at a ceremony to welcome him at FBI headquarters. |
| 1:58.0 | First, the FBI must be independent of all political forces or interests in this country. |
| 2:05.2 | In a real sense, it must stand apart from other institutions in American life. |
| 2:11.0 | Before him, some of the 35,000 FBI officers and staff who investigate America's most complex and sensitive cases, |
| 2:19.3 | from organized crime to terrorism to foreign espionage. |
| 2:23.6 | Leading them is a big job. |
| 2:25.5 | It's perhaps a relief to anyone who does it that by law you have to stand down after 10 years. |
... |
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