U.S. President Donald Trump departed from his prepared remarks yesterday at the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy to again mock his frenemies in the mainstream news media. The president was on hand to speak at the graduation ceremonies for law enforcement officers at the academy’s Quantico, Virginia, facility.
According to its website, the FBI National Academy provides an invitation-only, rigorous 10-week course for law enforcement managers from around the country and the world which covers a broad array of training and is meant to boost standards, knowledge, and cooperation.
In his wide-ranging address the transcript for which is posted at WhiteHouse.gov , the president underscored that he has the backs of police officers, declaring that as long as he is in the White House, cops “will have a true friend and loyal champion.”
He added that “I am here not only to congratulate you, but to honor you for your courage and for your devotion.” Trump also made reference to various law enforcement initiatives including the extensive efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to apprehend and deport violent criminal gangs such as MS-13.
Before he began his remarks, the academy’s director recalled that when the graduates learned that Trump was coming, “this room erupted with energy,” at which point the officers began applauding the president, The Daily Caller reported.
Toward the end of his speech, Trump joked about the media in an impromptu fashion, which was met with hearty laughter from the enthusiastic graduating cops.
“But as I look out in the audience today, I see many young, bright faces. To them, and to many other young Americans watching at home, of which there are many — you see, there’s the fake news back there. Look, everybody. Fake news. No, actually, some of them are fine people. About — let’s see, who’s back there? Yeah, about 30 percent.”
Trump is engaged in a long-running feud with most media outlets over what he and his supporters consider the hostile spin of the coverage of his administration. Several content analysis studies have confirmed that negative media portrayal of the Trump presidency particularly right out of the starting gate.
Watch the clip below.
FBI graduates LOL after Trump attacks “fake news” pic.twitter.com/A70fd758yn
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) December 15, 2017
On his way to Virginia, President Trump claimed to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House that the FBI needs to be rebuilt after which it will become bigger and better than ever.
Whether you agree or disagree with him, Trump’s friction with the FBI is over its past and present management, not rank-and-file agents, for what he considers a sham or rigged investigation into the Hillary Clinton private email server scandal.
In recent weeks, the media has reported, among other things, that bureau officials planned to exonerate Hillary Clinton even before their probe was completed, that an anti-Trump FBI agent played a key role in both the Clinton and Trump-Russia collusion investigations, that many of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors have ties to Obama or Hillary Clinton, and that the FBI may have used the discredited Russian dossier as a pretext to obtain a warrant to conduct electronic surveillance on the Trump campaign. Also, the wife of a just-demoted Justice Department official apparently worked for the opposition research firm that obtained the dossier, which the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid for . The file was compiled by a former British spy with Kremlin contacts.
The DOJ Inspector General is soon due to release a report about the alleged politicization of the FBI during the 2016 presidential election.
Watch President Trump’s entire speech at the FBI Academy and draw your own conclusions.