I spent most of my professional career in federal law enforcement, including two stints at the FBI. Am I biased in its favor? Absolutely. But I believe to my core that it is inconceivable the FBI would have planted evidence at Mar-a-Lago. That is not the way it operates, that is not the FBI I know and admire, and it did not happen. How certain am I? Pretty damn certain. Might I be wrong? I often am, but not on this.

What harms do these lies cause? These lies undermine the work of the FBI, the morale of the professionals at the FBI and the confidence of citizens in the remarkably important mission of the FBI. Remember, it was only 18 months ago that two FBI special agents in Miami were shot and killed in the line of duty. You may have forgotten that. I assure you that their colleagues in Miami and around the world have not.

Is there any value to Wray categorically denying the “planted” evidence accusation? At the very least, it would support the Miami agents who executed the search, 13,000 other FBI special agents and the remaining 24,000 professionals who work for the FBI in hundreds of offices, small and large. Is it useful to anyone else? Yes. It is the type of thing that the press and the public should hear, too, because agents did not plant evidence.