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Most Americans view FBI as ‘Biden’s Gestapo,’ new poll shows

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters is seen in Washington, DC, August 13, 2022. (Photo by AP)

Most Americans consider the country’s domestic intelligence agency, the FBI, as US President Joe Biden’s “personal Gestapo,” a new survey shows, highlighting highly polarized attitudes about the FBI’s recent role in raiding the Florida mansion of former president Donald Trump.

The public opinion poll -- conducted by the conservative polling company further indicated a deep in the attitudes of Americans toward the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), with 44 percent of respondents expressing distrust in the bureau following the recent raid on Trump’s home to seize illegally-kept classified government documents.

However, the poll also showed that a significant 29 percent of the respondents said the move only increased their confidence in the FBI, while 23 percent expressed indifference about the effort.

Moreover, when asked about previous remarks made by former Trump adviser Roger Stone – who said: “politicized thugs at the top of the FBI” are using the agency as “Joe Biden‘s personal Gestapo” – the majority of respondents (53 percent) concurred, including 34 percent who “strongly” agreed with the notion.

The 53-percent figure marks a significant increase from the 46 percent that agreed with the comment in a similar survey conducted last December, although a more recent survey found that 36 percent disagree with Stone’s characterization.

The results were split along party lines, according to the polling company, with 76 percent of Republican and 37 percent of Democratic respondents agreeing with the “Gestapo” label.

According to officials and an unsealed property receipt, the federal raid on Trump’s Florida home on August 8 was focused on a probe into classified documents allegedly taken from the White House – some of which are believed to be top-secret and even potentially related to nuclear weapons – with the bureau hoping to recover 11 different sets of materials from the residence.

It still remains unclear, however, what has been discovered in the search and unnamed sources cited by local press reports recently stated that agents will need time to sift through the seized documents. 

Trump, meanwhile, has accused the FBI of a politicized raid and claimed the agency “stole” his passports and privileged legal documents, “which they knowingly should not have taken,” although the passports had since been returned.

The former president’s lawyers were not permitted to observe the search of his property and insisted that FBI agents ordered them to shut off security cameras while it was conducted.


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