Sessions Says Bias Concerns About FBI Are Being Taken Seriously

(Bloomberg) -- Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he’s concerned about allegations of bias within the FBI and will do more to monitor the behavior of employees.

“We’re going to take seriously the concerns that have been expressed,” Sessions said Friday during a press conference in Washington. “We will not be reluctant to admit error.”

Sessions was responding to growing criticism from House Republicans in particular that political bias against President Donald Trump has infected the Justice Department and FBI as Special Counsel Robert Mueller probes Russian meddling in last year’s presidential campaign and potential connections to Trump or his associates.

The criticism increased this week after the Justice Department provided a House committee copies of text messages in which two FBI officials privately mocked Trump during the 2016 campaign.

Sessions cautioned, however, that not all such allegations may have merit.

“We intend to monitor our people to maintain high standards,” Sessions said. “Sometimes things that might appear to be bad in the press have more innocent explanations, so fairness and justice should also be provided to our personnel.”

Sessions also disagreed with a tweet by Trump that the FBI is “in Tatters.” Before visiting the FBI’s national academy for law enforcement officers on Friday, Trump told reporters, ”It’s a shame what’s happened with the FBI, but we’re going to rebuild the FBI.”

“I don’t share the view that the FBI, as functioning, is not functioning at a high level all over the country,” Sessions said.

--With assistance from Arit John

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert

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