As Kent and I have noted, FBI Director Jim Comey has said that a "chill wind" of acerbic and visceral criticism of the police has very likely been a factor in less aggressive police work, coincident (to say the least) with a spike in murder and other violent crime over the last several months.
The White House, which is indebted up to its ears to Al Sharpton's and similar liberal get-out-the-vote organizations, was having none of it. Mr. Comey is not toeing the party line. This will not do. Thus, as the New York Times reports, in a little noticed item (emphasis added):
White House officials were irritated as they saw it as an effort to undermine their criminal justice reform efforts. They later said publicly that there was no evidence to back up Mr. Comey's claim about the rise in violence. On Thursday, the president met with Mr. Comey in the Oval Office to discuss his views. The White House declined to describe the conversation.
Just as liberals used to believe in withholding judgment until due process had had its chance (compare, e.g., their presumptive conviction-in-the-press of Officer Darren Wilson for the supposed racist murder of Michael Brown), they also used to believe that the White House should keep hands off the FBI, lest political influence seep into areas where it has no place -- and, indeed, where the whiff of tyranny is not far behind (compare, e.g., anything written about Richard Nixon).
Yes, well, that was then.
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