Former FBI official reveals whether agency can restore its reputation
Former FBI deputy assistant director Terry Turchie speaks out on the culture of the FBI and whether it can restore its reputation on 'Jesse Watters Primetime.'
Former FBI deputy assistant director of counterterrorism Terry Turchie said Attorney General Merrick Garland wouldn't recommend approval for a search warrant for the Unabomber's cabin on Thursday's "Jesse Watters Primetime."
"I've never said this publicly, but I'll just tell you right now because it just sickens me to watch and listen to Merrick Garland, because Merrick Garland was in charge of the prosecution at DOJ of the Unabomber," Turchie said. "And I have to tell you something: He would not recommend to the AG that our search warrant to get into Theodore Kaczynski's cabin be approved."
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Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, went on a nationwide bombing campaign between 1975 and 1995.
Turchie said Garland and his group of attorneys "had us working 'til 2 or 3 in the morning of April 3."
"And finally, the AG Janet Reno, along with Louis Freeh, they stepped in, they approved the search warrant anyway," he said. "Now, that was a case where we had bombs on airplanes. We had threats to blow up airplanes midair. We had people killed with bombs for 18 years. He wouldn't do anything."
Garland "would not recommend to the AG that we get into that cabin on April 3," Turchie said. "He didn't see the urgency then, and he didn't seem to care about agents being up all night trying to get ready for that."
This comes in light of Attorney General Merrick Garland revealing Thursday that he approved the decision to seek a search warrant for former President Donald Trump's Florida estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
Former president Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. (Charles Trainor Jr./Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The FBI received bipartisan scrutiny this week after its raid Monday morning on Mar-a-Lago.
It's going to take years before the FBI can restore its reputation, Turchie said, adding that the agency has been transformed and is no longer "independent."
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