If one thing has become clear from the Hillary Clinton and Russian collusion investigations over the past two years, it has been, to the enlightenment of American citizen, the unethical and corrupt conduct of many within the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

For any American that has ever been the subject or target of a federal criminal investigation, there are three things that become abundantly clear to you — and your family — as you are dragged into a nightmare intended to bankrupt you, as well as destroy you personally, financially, and professionally.

First, that the good guys are not always good guys. Second, you do not have the constitutional rights you believe you have, especially if you don’t have the money to fight for those rights. Third, it’s not always about truth or justice for U.S. prosecutors — it’s about winning at all costs.

If someone took the time to look at every federal criminal case last year, they would see hundreds of complaints. Prosecutors take regulatory, civil and administrative violations and turn them in to criminal conduct for selective and political reasons; prosecutors suppress exculpatory evidence from the defense and/or judges, and they make false statements to the court, or in affidavits; prosecutors suborn perjury, and they use extorted and false testimony from witnesses that they threaten — friends, wives, parents, children, and sometimes grandparents; criminal defendants quite often plead guilty to crimes they did not commit because they didn’t have the money to pay for their defense, and a public defender encouraged them to take a plea to end their nightmare; and prosecutors leak secret grand jury evidence to the press to destroy the defendant in the court of public opinion, negatively influencing their jury pool.

Additonally, one of the most disturbing tendencies, prosecutors target defendant’s attorneys, creating a conflict to disqualify them, and then threaten and attempt to use them as a witness against their own client.

Strangely enough, unless you or a close family member have been a target of the U. S. government, you would never know this, nor would you have any reason to care.

Having run two of the largest law enforcement agencies in the nation, the NYPD, and New York City jail system — including Rikers Island — I was completely oblivious to these tactics and injustices by federal prosecutors. Then I was targeted.

In the last two years however, things have changed, and unless you’re hiding under a rock, the American public has gotten to see firsthand how the FBI and Justice Department selectively violates U.S. law and their own policies with impunity.

Last year, as FBI Director James B. Comey publicly read his 15 minute and 38 second outline of the FBI’s investigative findings in the Hillary Clinton classified email scandal, there wasn’t a law enforcement officer or federal agent anywhere in this country that was not stunned when Comey said that Mrs. Clinton would not be prosecuted.

This was one of the most substantial breaches of classified material ever, in addition to the destruction of evidence, and false statements; yet Comey claimed "no reasonable prosecutor" would prosecute that case.

Then come to find out, Comey never intended to recommend charges, based on the FBI’s findings. By his own admission, that decision was politically motivated. We also learned that Mrs. Clinton was treated unlike any perspective criminal target.

There was no grand jury empaneled and she was granted a Saturday afternoon informal interview. Her legal team was given the questions in advance, and there was no recording of the interview; no transcript was kept by investigators.

Mrs. Clinton was not interviewed under oath, and witnesses who were actually co-conspirators, were given immunity and allowed to sit in on the interview.

This is treatment that no criminal defendant gets — the Hillary Exemption.

It was apparent to anyone that’s ever been through this process, that it was all a joke.

To make matters worse, we have since learned that Comey’s Deputy Director Andrew McCabe lied to federal investigators, and on three occasions, he was under oath.

We learned that senior members of Justice and the FBI suppressed evidence from a federal FISA court judge. We witnessed the FBI raid Trump personal attorneyMichael Cohen’s home, hotel, and office.

Lastly, we heard how the special counsel is now demanding to interview the president of the U.S., under oath or by grand jury — in a Russian collusion investigation where the president has already been told by the deputy attorney general that he's not a target. There is definitely no Hillary Exemption for the president.

Of course, democrats are now supporting and pushing Robert Mueller, the special counsel to keep moving forward in nothing more than what is an attempt to impeach or remove the president, as told by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, who suggested Mueller’s team lied about the scope of their investigation.

Republicans are hot on Comey’s trail for intentionally squashing the Clinton investigation for political reasons, then lying, and leaking confidential or classified information to The New York Times.

This whole thing has been disgusting for Americans to watch.

Although it may be the norm for the Washington, D.C. swamp, it has served one real purpose going unnoticed or not discussed by the mainstream media, criminal justice reform advocates, or members of Congress — who have long claimed to be on the criminal justice bandwagon.

Those thousands of Americans targeted by the U.S. Justice Department over the past few decades, have filed motions in court, complaints with the Justice Department’s inspector general concerning prosecutorial misconduct and unethical and criminal behavior by prosecutors — have been vindicated, somewhat.

We now realize that it’s not just some rouge or overzealous prosecutor in a U.S. Attorney’s Office. It’s the entire system. A deputy U.S. attorney general, a director and deputy director of the FBI (and their underlings), all at the highest levels of our criminal justice system have been caught engaging in conduct contradicting their own policies and rules of ethics, as well as U.S. law. This collectively jeopardizes the liberty and freedom of every American.

That is why although prosecutorial misconduct has increased substantially over the past two decades, less than 2 percent of those engaged in such misconduct have been held accountable.

What happens now? From where is accountability going to originate?

Where are the civil liberties groups that have fought these battles for years and gotten nowhere? Where are the criminal justice reformers in Congress, and the private sector?

Where are the colleges and universities that promote criminal justice and prison reform projects and programs? On the right, they are spinelessly quivering in a corner afraid to speak out publicly, out of fear that they will be perceived as supporting President Donald Trump.

On the left, they have been deathly silent over the unethical and criminal violations by prosecutors, because the intended target is the president — their archenemy. In any other arena, they’d be screaming at the tops of their lungs, but their hate for Donald Trump has silenced them.

Either way, the flaws and failures in our criminal justice system has been exposed.

Every American, no matter the color of their skin, or how wealthy they are, can be wrongly targeted, and there’s nothing they can do to stop it. No one should be above the law, including federal prosecutors and federal agents. No one should be targeted for selective and political reasons.

Everyone should be treated fairly and impartially.

It’s apparent that Congress does not have the ability or courage to fix this. On one side, congressional oversights are ignored by the DOJ. On the other, there are members of Congress that actually use the DOJ to target their critics and opposition.

The Justice Department and FBI need to be overhauled.

The overhaul should take place in the form of new training, ethics counseling, internal accountability — and more. This president has made criminal justice and prison reform domestic agenda items, but I don’t think at the time he made that announcement, he had any idea of what that meant.

We need real criminal justice and prison reform. It must start with our criminal justice system. It’s time for real change. As complicated as that sounds and difficult as it may be to accomplish, there is only one thing that’s going to be harder for the president, and that is identifying one person, or one body of people that can accomplish what now appears to be an impossible task. Without this change, we are all doomed.

As New York City’s 40th Police Commissioner, Bernard Kerik was in command of the NYPD on September 11, 2001, and responsible for the city’s response, rescue, recovery, and the investigative efforts of the most substantial terror attack in world history. His 35-year career has been recognized in more than 100 awards for meritorious and heroic service, including a presidential commendation for heroism by President Ronald Reagan, two Distinguished Service Awards from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, The Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and an appointment as Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.

