President Donald Trump’s continued criticism of the FBI is wearing thin on agents, a former senior FBI official told Business Insider.
"There is a lot of anger in the FBI (the entire intelligence community, for that matter) over how this president will say nary a negative word about the Russians, but will insult us every chance he gets," said Frank Montoya Jr., who also served as the director of the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive.
Trump last week slammed the FBI on Twitter, saying it was in ruins.
The president has constistently characterized the criminal justice as "rigged," following Michael Flynn's guilty plea as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.
"So General Flynn lies to the FBI and his life is destroyed, while Crooked Hillary Clinton, on that now famous FBI holiday 'interrogation' with no swearing in and no recording, lies many times," Trump tweeted last Saturday. "And nothing happens to her? Rigged system, or just a double standard?"
Referencing the Clinton investigation, Montoya said, "professional, experienced prosecutors and senior leadership (above Pete Strzok) in the FBI played the key roles in the final decision not to prosecute Clinton.
"Pete may have helped draft the public messaging at the conclusion of the case, but he didn't act alone. I participated in quite a few of these matters myself and the planning process was always a group effort."