CNN's Philip Mudd is anticipating a coming attack on the White House from the FBI.
Agents, he said, are inspired to fight back against the Trump Administration.
Speaking of morale within the FBI, Mudd said, "You would think on the surface, looking at this from the outside, that this would be demoralizing. I'm going to judge that it is not. You have a group of people who don't join a company -- what they joined, you sense this when you walk the halls of the Hoover building, as I did."
"So I’m going to tell you the FBI people are ticked," he continued. "If you think you can push us off this because you can intimidate the director, you’d better think again, Mr. President. You've been around 13 months, we'e been around since 1908. I know how this game is going to be played, we're going to win."
Wolf Blitzer agreed, "Yeah you don't want to make the FBI mad at you, they’ve got information on you."
Here's an excerpt:
MUDD: "Philip Mudd ... How is this playing among the rank and file at the FBI?"
BLITZER: "Boy, you would think on the surface, looking at this from the outside, that this would be demoralizing. I'm going to judge that it is not. You have a group of people who don't join a company -- what they joined, you sense this when you walk the halls of the Hoover building, as I did. They join a mission that says I’m here to protect the American people from everything from gangs to organized crime to intelligence threats from Russia and China. The president of the White House thinks that by saying 'We support the masses of the FBI but we oppose in strong language' -- the president is talking about corruption at the FBI today, but we oppose the leadership. The work force will look at this is an attack on our ability to conduct an investigation with integrity. There are hundreds of agents and analysts working. This not just Christopher Wray, the FBI director. So I’m going to tell you the FBI people are ticked. If you think you can push us off this because you can intimidate the director, you’d better think again, Mr. President. You've been around 13 months, we'e been around since 1908. I know how this game is going to be played, we're going to win."
BLITZER: "Yeah you don't want to make the FBI mad at you, they’ve got information on you."