Some of former President Donald Trump’s fiercest critics are chastising the Justice Department over the lack of transparency regarding Monday’s search of the president's home.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, no friend of the former president, tweeted that if the DOJ doesn’t give a reason for the search “it will be viewed as a political tactic.”
"If the federal government cannot ultimately provide overwhelming evidence that action was absolutely necessary, then it will only undermine faith in democracy and the rule of law and further divide Americans," Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who Trump calls a "Republican in name only," or a RINO, said in a statement. "These are unprecedented circumstances that require unprecedented transparency and accountability from our government institutions."
But according to national security lawyer Kel McClanahan, the fact that this case deals with classified information further complicates the fast release of information to the public because classified material tends to follow different rules than everything else.
“Honestly the fact that we’ve learned as much as we have already is really significant and I expect we’ll learn more but probably not for a week or so,” McClanahan said. “That would be a rocket ship fast. This is something you wouldn't find out for years in a normal situation.”
“If there’s any delay in releasing information to the public and the press it’s probably going to be because of the classified nature of the information,” McClenahan added.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s recent track record has shaken some Americans' confidence in the agency, starting with how they handled Hillary Clinton’s emails and the now-debunked Steele Dossier to the recent whistleblower’s accusations that Bureau leadership purposefully suppressed an investigation into Hunter Biden.
“This trust or this lack of trust or deterioration of trust in the FBI has been long coming and I think now we're at a point where it just went right off a cliff with this,” said former FBI special agent and former Navy SEAL Jonathan Gilliam.
Gilliam argues this loss of faith comes with a heavy price.
“If the citizenry does not trust these people what chance do these agents have of doing their job? Ultimately, national security and the safety of the American people is what’s harmed the most," he said.
In the end, it will come down to what was discovered and how long it takes for that information to become public.