Excerpt:
I wonder if the FBI will be inviting Hatem Abudayyeh to tour the government's most sensitive anti-terrorism facilities, snoop around the top-secret National Counterterrorism Center, and maybe even pop by the FBI training center in Quantico. Surely he'd be a splendid addition to the Bureau's next six-week "Citizen's Academy," where he could ask our agents searching questions about their investigative practices and anti-terrorism policies.
Oh, sure, he may be at the center of a federal grand-jury investigation in Chicago. And yes, as Politico's Josh Gerstein reports, the selfsame FBI, armed with a search warrant, did just finish raiding Abudayyeh's home last week, apparently seeking evidence tying Abudayyeh to support for terrorist organizations. But what's the big whoop? After all, Mr. Abudayyeh "has never been convicted of a crime and never [been] charged with a crime."
According to Ross Rice, top flack for the FBI's Chicago field office, that's the Bureau's new gold standard. Yes, you may be a cog in the terror-support wheel. You may be virulently anti-American and committed to the destruction of Israel. But if we haven't indicted you yet, you're okay in our book — c'mon in and see what we've got.