Fox News’ gruff and most plausibly reasonable political analyst Brit Hume went to bat for Trump in a tweet on Friday, arguing that the fact that the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility found fault with Andrew McCabe made his firing an easy and obvious call.

What a crock. To believe this, you have to believe that McCabe did not mislead investigators, but the FBI’s own Office of Professional Responsibility claimed that he did and used that false claim to recommend he be fired. It’s all part of a Trump conspiracy. And I’m Napoleon. https://t.co/yQXqelhUMy — Brit Hume (@brithume) March 17, 2018

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Former FBI Special Agent Asha Rangappa just smacked Hume down. Anyone who understands the standards that FBI agents are held to understands that it’s easy to make a minor mistake that could run afoul of the OPR, says the former counterintelligence agent.

“Given the FBI’s mission, that means that every FBI agent must be BEYOND REPROACH. This is a tough standard,” she tweeted. “If anyone in the current administration or associated with it were held to the standard FBI agents are in OPR, there would literally be no one left in the Executive Branch.”

Here’s her brilliant thread, which puts McCabe’s alleged “misconduct” into perspective.

THREAD. As usual, @brithume has zero idea what he’s talking about. To understand why many agents, and indeed even the FBI Agents Association *which is non partisan) have issues with this, you have to understand an OPR in the FBI. The bar for “misconduct” is very low. https://t.co/j1UkesRoVb — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) March 18, 2018

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2. The purpose of OPR — the Office of Professional Responsibility — is to investigate misconduct in the FBI. Given the FBI’s mission, that means that every FBI agent must be BEYOND REPROACH. This is a tough standard, and one that all agents are held to. — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) March 18, 2018

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3. This is, of course, a good thing. OPR will investigate, e.g., a “misfiring” of a weapon. It will look into any discrepancies, whether in your use of the FBI’s database, or your use of your government credit card or your Bureau car or phone. — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) March 18, 2018

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4. But every agent knows people who got caught in OPR’s net, and it can be pretty brutal — and it’s why OPR is the bane of every agent’s existence. ANY infraction, no matter how small, can be “OPR’d” (yes, it’s a verb). And once you’re in OPR’s net, it’s hard to get out. — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) March 18, 2018

5. To give an example, my training agent, and partner, advised me when I started to never, ever use my FBI credentials for *anything* other than official business. Why? He once went to an amusement park with his kids which offered a LEO discount, and showed his creds… — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) March 18, 2018

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6. …not sure how it got back to the FBI (maybe the person behind him in line reported him?), but he got accused of “abusing his authority.” 🙄 He was let off with a warning because he was new at the time, but that’s the kind of oversight I’m talking about. — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) March 18, 2018

7. It’s also kind of kafka-esque, at least based on the people I saw go through it. Some didn’t even know until they weren’t eligible for a promotion, for example. As far as I could tell it was a very opaque process, and pretty much stacked against the agent. — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) March 18, 2018

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8. I’m sure the process is designed to protect the integrity of the Bureau, and to not allow anyone to have preferential treatment. But to me it seemed like Reverend Hale from The Crucible — well-intentioned, but sometimes able to be carried away by its own zeal. — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) March 18, 2018

9. To bring this back to McCabe, it’s important to remember that he was not being held to the criminal standard for perjury, i.e., where “intent” would be a major factor. I think that would explain why his attempt to proactively correct things he said would not have mattered. — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) March 18, 2018

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10. To put another way: If anyone in the current administration or associated with it were held to the standard FBI agents are in OPR, there would literally be no one left in the Executive Branch. “Not remembering” in front of Congress? Correcting your SF-86 10 times? Yeah, FIRED — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) March 18, 2018

11. So Brit would be wise to save his sanctimony because members of the current admin are getting a pass that no one — and I mean NO ONE — in the FBI would ever get. From lying, to abusing government funds, to associating (and hiring!) with wife beaters and drug addicts. — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) March 18, 2018

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