BREAKING ex-FBI General Counsel Jim Baker resigns.
Reminder of HPSCI minority report: Trump started attacking Baker after CLOSED DOOR testimony revealed Baker witnessed obstruction-related events and Committee said Baker could be called as witness.https://t.co/MwdbPmTaao
Read: pic.twitter.com/uYKqKSEn5h— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) May 5, 2018
Ten things you actually should know about FBI General Counsel James Baker, removed this week by Chris Wray—all of them actually true.
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) December 23, 2017
This is what Ben wrote about Baker when he was being attacked by Trump back in December. Every word is still true today. https://t.co/RyLJA3DsVT
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) May 5, 2018
2) This was an incredibly grueling and tremendously important role that put him at the center of the process of bringing the warrantless wiretapping program under the FISA. It was also a role pivotal in bringing down the Wall between intelligence and law enforcement.
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) December 23, 2017
4) He is one of the most deeply respected national security law practitioners out there. The very best of the very best think of him as a peer.
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) December 23, 2017
6) He has been a mentor to lot of extremely fine people. A while back, he emailed me to ask me if—as a favor to him—I would mean with a protege of his, then in law school, to help think through how to run a journal. I agreed. @togawamercer is now managing editor of @lawfareblog.
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) December 23, 2017
8) Yes, he is part of a close-knit circle of people who are close to Jim Comey. That group—from Chuck Rosenberg to Dan Richman to Jim to others—are all major figures in their own rights. It says a lot about Comey that he attracts these people—and that they stay with him years.
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) December 23, 2017
10) Jim Baker is an altogether kind and decent human being.
My strategic project advice for Wray is to stop buying yourself time with Trump and Congressional Republicans at the expense of such people.— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) December 23, 2017