A Republican Senate candidate in New Hampshire was booed on Sunday because he does not support dismantling the FBI or labeling the bureau a terrorist organization after the search at Mar-a-Lago last week.
Kevin Smith was booed by attendees at the Trump-aligned Government Integrity Project debate because he called for a review of the FBI instead of defunding or destroying the federal law enforcement agency following last week’s search for classified documents at Donald Trump’s home.
“It’s the senior levels of the FBI that need to be investigated here. We do have fine, very good men and women agents at much lower levels that just want to do their jobs and don’t want to work in a politicized agency,” Smith said, according to the New Hampshire Journal. “You have to have a total top-to-bottom changeover in leadership.”
Smith was applauded for that answer but the audience turned on him when he said he does not support labeling the bureau a terrorist organisation.
“I believe at its core, it’s a good institution, and I believe there are fine men and women who want to do their jobs and want to protect us,” Smith said of the FBI as the audience booed.
The two other candidates vying for the Republican party nomination joined some of Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters in Congress to call for the bureau to be dismantled.
“It’s time to abolish the FBI and replace it with nothing,” crypto currency advocate Bruce Fenton said.
Don Bolduc, the failed 2020 senate candidate said he “100 percent” supports the idea of dismantling the FBI and having other U.S. investigative agencies absorb its role. “You shouldn’t be able to raid a former president’s house at any time,” he said.
The New Hampshire GOP primary is scheduled for September 13. The winner will face incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan in November.
