Agent Quits Over Political Attacks On Bureau; Dow Suffers Worst Single-Day Point Fall In History.
COOPER: We got our breaking news, the House Intelligence Committee has voted to release the Democrats' rebuttal to the GOP memo alleging that the FBI abused surveillance laws. Meantime, an FBI supervisor special agent who spent more than a decade at the bureau, he was a special assistant to fired FBI Director James Comey, has resigned over what he calls constant attacks on the bureau. Josh Campbell is his name. He writes in a "New York Times" op-ed, "I am reluctantly turning in my badge and leaving an organization I love. Why? So I can join the growing chorus of people who believe that the relentless attacks on the bureau undermine not just America's premier law enforcement agency but also the nation's security. My resignation is painful, but the alternative of remaining quiet while the bureau is tarnished for political gain is impossible." Josh Campbell joins us now. He's now a CNN Law Enforcement Analyst. Josh, I know you called the day that you walked across the stage at the FBI academy, got your special agent badge one of the greatest honors of your life. If that's the case, why resign?</s>JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's a good question and I'll say at the outset that, you know, I believe that the rank and file, the men and women of the FBI deserve these political attacks to stop. I think when we look within the organization at people who are trying to do their job every single day, they see these attacks, and it's puzzling. It's curious. And sometimes it's actually infuriating. I'm simply a vessel for their dismay. Some of the criticism that we've heard from within that, again, threatens our public image, our ability to do our job, and I didn't think I could speak out like I'm doing now in order to call for an end to these political attacks if I was still inside the FBI. What I mean by that is no one wants someone inside the FBI anonymously criticizing partisans. No one wants that. So I figured that the only appropriate way to do so, to defend the organization I love, is to step out and do it from the outside.</s>COOPER: There have been a lot of people, though, you know, when talking about some of the attacks president has said or the comments the president has made about -- or other political leaders against the FBI, that, you know, that it doesn't really undermine the bureau, that, you know, FBI agents are professionals. They just keep their heads down. They do their job, and it doesn't impact things -- you know, law enforcement on a day to day basis.</s>CAMPBELL: I agree with all that. FBI agents are dogged people. But unfortunately they are only one part of the equation. The other part that allows us to do our job is public trust and that's something that we have less control over. And what I mean by that is when an FBI agent knocks on someone's door and needs assistants, needs information, the likelihood of that person is going to assist is correlated to their opinion of our agency. Do they see us as trustworthy? Do they see us as honest? Similarly, you know, we do a lot of work based on information from informants, people who are coming to us sometimes at great risk to themselves to provide us information. I was talking with a former colleague last week about a source that we met overseas. And someone who went to great lengths to endanger their own lives in order to meet with the FBI and provide important information about a terrorism case, and when we met with this person I asked him, I said why didn't you just provide this information to your own country's law enforcement? And he said, you're the FBI, I trust you. I can't trust our corrupt officials. So what I wonder is how many of those people are going to take that risk to provide information to the FBI if this corrosive doubt about the organization continues to seep into the national dialogue.</s>COOPER: What do you say to those who say, look, if there are some bad apples in the upper leadership or anywhere in the FBI, that criticism is warranted, that the impending inspector general's report will answer some questions raised about, you know, potential politicization within the senior ranks of the FBI and the</s>DOJ. CAMPBELL: I would agree with that. I would say that criticism is not only warranted, it's extremely necessary. We cannot police ourselves. Every FBI employee to a person would be the first to say that, that FBI agents have incredible power. I mean we have the power to deny someone's liberty in our investigation. So with that great power, we also have to have great accountability. So I concur with that, that oversight is important. What I'm distinguishing between is criticism for the sake of pointing out those in leadership who may have done wrong and criticism that's purely political that may have that long-lasting impact on public trust.</s>COOPER: Finally, I just want to ask you about the firing of former FBI Director James Comey last spring. In newly disclosed e-mails, FBI leaders appeared to express shock and sadness in the immediate aftermath even as the White House attempted to portray a bureau in crisis. I'm wondering how would you describe the reaction that you saw and heard by the rank and file agents to remove Comey?</s>CAMPBELL: It's a good question. And I'll say it at outside. Obviously, I'm a biased party because I had the honor of working for Director Comey. I'll also say that the support within the organization was very thorough throughout. He was widely respected, in some cases loved. And I saw it on a number of different levels. At first being as person honored to be Director Comey's special assistant, I saw him interact literally with thousands of FBI employees and I got to see their face, I got to see how they interacted with him. And it was a very positive reception, even some of those who disagreed with him. And there were some, you know,</s>COOPER: Yes.</s>CAMPBELL: I'm here to give you facts, you know, based on my experience and I can tell you that's what people thought of James Comey.</s>COOPER: All right, Josh Campbell, good to have you on. Thanks very much. Busy night up next, even more breaking news on who will or will not be testifying in the Russia probe. Also ahead, treason, a very strong word with of course deadly consequences, President Trump used it today referring to Democrats who didn't like his State of the Union speech. He also called them un- American. Details ahead.