It’s time for the people to abolish the FBI

As I sat glued to the television on Monday evening, watching for the first time in our nation’s history the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, I felt both rage and sadness that America has descended into a level of despotism never before seen.  I shouldn’t have been surprised, I have a unique perspective as a citizen who was also politically persecuted by former President Obama’s Department of Justice.

In 2010, as the president of the Bays’ Medical Society, I was a vocal and influential local critic of Obamacare.  In 2012, my wife and I were large contributors to the Mitt Romney campaign and I once again was outspoken in my criticism of Obama.  I was featured on local news talking about what it would mean for my business if Obama was re-elected.  In 2013, FBI agents started showing up at the offices of other dermatologists, flashing their badges and asking if they had seen any disgruntled patients of my practice.

This culminated in an FBI raid of my dermatology practice in late 2014.  Even though my attorneys had sent the FBI a letter stating that we were aware of an investigation, that we were happy to cooperate in any way, and that we were preserving all documents, a very public raid that was leaked to local media ensued.  During this raid, the local agents went so far as to tell the employees who had shown up for work that day that their boss was going to jail and they should look for new jobs.

After four years of harassment and nearly a million dollars in legal fees, the FBI quietly returned all of our documents and there was no public apology or leak to the press to watch them “unraid” my office.   We did nothing wrong, they were given orders from above to prosecute me for political reasons, and with all of the weight and force of the federal government they found nothing.  This experience is why I have no respect for them.

Now all of America got to see on Monday night what I have known for eight years:  The Department of Justice is corrupted beyond repair.  The federal prosecutors have no ethics, the local agents have no integrity, and the judges will sign off on anything brought before them.  It’s time for us to abolish them in Northwest Florida.  We’ve always had that power, most people just haven’t known it.  It’s the beauty of how the founders created our constitution.

Any enforcement action the federal government wishes to take against individuals must be heard in a federal court with a jury of their peers.  That 12-person panel of “We the People” has always given the benefit of the doubt to the FBI, the federal prosecutor, and the judge.  We have seen over and over the abuses of this system and the raid on Mar-a-Lago should be the tipping point to end that benefit of the doubt.  It’s a concept referred to as jury nullification, where a jury takes the law into their own hands and decides a prosecution is unjust.

Currently in Northwest Florida, we have a prosecution taking place with former Lynn Haven Mayor Margo Anderson and local contractor James Finch. The accusation is that Mr. Finch gave Mrs. Anderson an old RV after Hurricane Michael.   I find it very interesting that Mayor Anderson was prominently featured with President Trump when he visited Lynn Haven after the hurricane and that Mr. Finch was a very generous contributor to the President’s re-election campaign.  What is the likelihood that their prosecution is influenced by politics?

Compare how they have been treated to our current Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried.  Her boyfriend, marijuana executive Jake Bergmann, purchased a home for her in Tallahassee for over $700,000 and then signed the deed over to her.  As Commissioner of Agriculture, she is supposed to regulate his industry in this state.  Has the FBI investigated this gift – which is far more significant than a used RV – to Mrs. Fried?  I assume not, as she is currently running for governor.

We do not have to wait for politicians to take action, we have the power to abolish the FBI right here in Northwest Florida by agreeing that all federal prosecutions involving the FBI are assumed to be political in nature.  It can begin by the jury in the Finch and Anderson trial bringing a not guilty verdict.  And with the federal government hiring 87,000 IRS agents with a high likelihood of being used against political opponents, we had better start the process now.  We have the power to abolish both the FBI and the IRS in Northwest Florida effective immediately.