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Douglas M. Charles, PhD

@dmcharles.bsky.social

1.7K followers 5.7K following 9K posts

Professor of history, Tae Kwon Do black belt, poker player, bicyclist, skier, travel, animals. I’ve written 4 books on the FBI, currently finishing a history of the FBI, 1908-1945. Also working on a history of Tae Kwon Do in North America.

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Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 7d

My latest comparative historical OpEd is out! A lot of research went into this.

Kash Patel vs FBI Director L. Patrick Gray (1972-73).
theconversation.com/history-is-r...

History is repeating itself at the FBI as agents resist a director’s political agenda

FBI director Kash Patel says he is making the bureau more accountable. Critics charge him with purging it of anyone not perceived as loyal to President Trump.

theconversation.com

2 1 7

Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 7h

I'm sorry, but this Justice Department has ZERO legitimacy.

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Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 9h

And now we give them a base on US soil because they bribed him.

Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen.bsky.social · 10h

Trump in 2017: “Qatar has been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.”

Trump administration in 2025: We are building a Qatari Air Force facility in the United States.

Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 13h

The corrupt Supreme Court is probably going to kill the independence of chartered agencies, but the DOJ should probably be made truly independent. The post-Watergate reforms have failed.

True independence is an idea they had in 1924 after the Teapot Dome Scandal.

Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 13h

The DOJ is politicized.

The FBI is politicized.

52 years of a culture of investigative & prosecutive independence from politics is dead.

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Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 13h

Crooked president Richard Nixon tried to conceal his coverup of Watergate by funneling his order to stop the FBI's investigation via the CIA, secretly.

The FBI resisted. The problem, Nixon recorded his order.

Trump tried to conceal his order to prosecute enemies via social messaging app.

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Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 1d

For context: President Harding's A.G. was thoroughly corrupt & used his power, and the early-FBI -- under the leadership of his pal Director William J. Burns -- and its power to target political enemies.

AG's chose FBI directors then. Today the president does.

theconversation.com/the-parallel...

The parallels between Kash Patel and William J. Burns, a scandal-mongering 1920s FBI director — an FBI historian explains

Some observers compare FBI Director Kash Patel to J. Edgar Hoover. A better historical match is the politically motivated William J. Burns.

theconversation.com

Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 1d

It never happened, and we ended up with Watergate 50 years later.

Post Watergate, we got tenuous changes to the DOJ/FBI to make it independent. That has clearly failed.

Will we fail again?

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Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 1d

After the Teapot Dome Scandal of 1923-24, some Senators proposed de-politicizing the Department of Justice & taking it completely out of the Cabinet. They suggested putting it in the Civil Service.

They also advocated taking the early FBI out to de-politicize it.

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Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 1d

So Trump was apparently sending orders to his attorney general via non-government channels to have Comey, James, and probably next Schiff prosecuted to conceal the order.

www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Trump Accidentally Posted Message That Could Destroy Entire Comey Case

It turns out Donald Trump didn’t mean to make that Truth Social post public after all.

www.yahoo.com

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Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 1d

Another fraudulent case.

BNO News @bnonews.com · 1d

BREAKING: New York Attorney General Letitia James indicted on criminal bank fraud charge - Reuters

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Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 1d

We live in a developing dictatorship already.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/n...

Rutgers Expert on Antifa Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats

www.nytimes.com

Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 1d

There is a deal in Israel!

a cartoon girl in a blue dress is kneeling in a field holding a bag

ALT: a cartoon girl in a blue dress is kneeling in a field holding a bag

media.tenor.com

Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 1d

Governor Pinchot of PA after tossing out the first ball in the World Series.

Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 1d

#OTD October 9, 1925 . . . a century ago.

Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 2d

The biggest FBI shift in agents was with the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Thousands of agents were moved from criminal to counterterrorism investigations.

The second biggest shift, from what I can tell, is this thing with Trump.

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Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 2d

After J. Edgar Hoover's death, big white-collar crime was seen as being ignored. The FBI devoted more resources towards it under President Carter so that by 1980 nearly 25% of FBI agents worked financial crime.

That decreased steadily under pro-business Reagan until Bernie Madoff's crimes.

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Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 2d

Just to give a standard example: when Reagan became president, his priority was his War on Drugs. FBI personnel in its Documents Section -- handing anti-obscenity cases -- were transferred; one to drug records.

The FBI would work more closely with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 2d

This is very bad.

While it is not unusual for the FBI to shift resources to meet any president's priorities, this is nuts and dangerous.

Something will slip through.

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

A quarter of FBI agents are assigned to immigration enforcement, per FBI data

Nearly a quarter of FBI agents are currently assigned to immigration enforcement, with the number climbing above 40 percent in the bureau’s largest field offices.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 2d

www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...

FBI fires special agents who worked on Jack Smith's probe into Trump

The three agents were fired after Kash Patel disclosed that Jack Smith's team obtained phone records of members of Congress, which the Smith report itself referenced.

www.nbcnews.com

Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 2d

The Trump-Patel FBI purge is nonstop
theconversation.com/history-is-r...

History is repeating itself at the FBI as agents resist a director’s political agenda

FBI director Kash Patel says he is making the bureau more accountable. Critics charge him with purging it of anyone not perceived as loyal to President Trump.

theconversation.com

Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 2d

I've parked there! LOL

Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 2d

Pittsburghers follow the Pirates in the World Series (this game in Washington, DC) on a magnetic score board.

I couldn't find anything that this world series was on the radio. 1922 was, I think.

Douglas M. Charles, PhD @dmcharles.bsky.social · 2d

Pittsburgh