At the approach of President Trump’s prime time address to the nation on Thursday, former senior FBI and intelligence officials told the Daily Beast that what he touts as a speech emphasizing the importance of “free and fair elections” will, in fact, be part of an attack on democracy itself.

Trump has announced a 9 p.m. Thursday speech, demanding TV network air time—which they have yet to promise—on what he claims will be a matter of national importance. But to those who have worked at the pinnacle of law enforcement, something else is afoot.

“If I was still working a terrorism investigation and a network started coming together and getting into key positions and
they started gathering the information and the materials that they needed to carry out a plot, those are things we would call ‘warnings and indicators,’” a retired and profoundly worried FBI official told The Daily Beast.

The official said that when it comes to Trump, that is what is happening.

They detailed a growing list of warnings and indicators. That list is detailed, and specific. It was led by the replacement of Paul Brown as special agent in charge of the FBI Atlanta Field Office. Brown’s sin was to express reservations about the Department of Justice’s decision to investigate the 2020 election, which Trump insists was rigged.

“He wouldn’t go along with it, so they pushed him out,” the retired and profoundly worried FBI official told the Daily Beast.

The list goes on from there. Back in 2023, Trump and 18 others were indicted on state charges of attempted retro-rigging of the 2020 election results. The evidence included the famous recorded phone call in which Trump told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

Four defendants pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Trump, but the charges against him were dropped late last year, amid suggestions of a conflict of interest by lead prosecutor Fani Willis.

Two months later, in January, two dozen FBI agents served a criminal search warrant at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operations........

© The Daily Beast