President assails FBI leadership
colluded with Russian officials in the 2016 election.
Mr. Trump laced into the bureau as he was departing for its training academy in Virginia, where he lavished praise on graduates of a weeks-long FBI National Academy program for law enforcement leaders from around the country.
He praised the graduates, who were trained on FBI standards, touting their accomplishments and pledging his unwavering support. Mr. Trump told law enforcement leaders he is “more loyal than anyone else could be” to police.
“Anti-police sentiment is wrong and it’s dangerous,” he added. “Anyone who kills a police officer should get the death penalty.”
Mr.Trump depicted a nation besieged by violence, using dark rhetoric that was a stark departure from the language of his predecessors.
He evoked this week’s attempted terror attack in New York when he called for stricter immigration policies. He also delivered a stern warning to members of the international gang MS-13 that his administration will root them out and arrest them.
Mr. Trump celebrated his decision to make it easier for local police forces to purchase surplus military equipment, and questioned rising violence in Chicago.
“What the hell is going on in Chicago? What the hell is happening there?” asked Mr. Trump returning to a favorite campaign target.
The law enforcement crowd often chuckled and applauded its approval. Mr. Trump has often appeared at ease in front of police groups and loves to suggest that they supported him in last year’s campaign.
Violent crime has increased nationally the last two years but has dropped precipitously over the last quarter century. Gun violence in Chicago has dropped in 2017 from 2016 and as of Dec. 10 there had been 620 homicides compared to 730 at the same time last year.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has faced Mr. Trump’s wrath after recusing himself from the Russia probe, distanced himself from Mr. Trump’s criticism of the bureau, saying he does not share a view that the FBI “is not functioning at a high level all over the country.” He praised the bureau’s crime-fighting efforts and stopped short of saying he agreed with Mr. Trump’s assessment that the reputation of the agency is “in tatters.”
Hours before Mr. Trump’s speech, White House Deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told Fox News Channel that edits to former FBI Director James Comey’s statement on Ms. Clinton’s private email server and anti-Trump texts from a top agent are “deeply troubling.”
“There is extreme bias against this president with high-up members of the team there at the FBI who were investigating Hillary Clinton at the time,” Mr. Gidley charged, as Mr. Mueller pushes on with a probe of possible Trump campaign ties to Russia.