The Contemporary Presidency: "Was the "Deep State" Out to Get President Trump? Evidence from Campaign Contributions from F.B.I. Personnel". Issue 4 (22nd September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nownes, Anthony J.
• Is Part Of: Presidential studies quarterly. Volume 51:Issue 4(2021)
• Page Start: 929
• Page End: 941
• Publication Date: 2021-09-22
• Subjects: Executive power -- United States -- Periodicals; Presidents -- United States -- Periodicals; 320.473
• DOI: 10.1111/psq.12745
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0360-4918

Abstract

Abstract: Was the "deep state" truly "out to get" President Donald Trump during his presidency? This article addresses this question by examining the federal campaign contributing behavior of the deepest of allegedly "deep state" actors—employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.). Our findings, showing that F.B.I. employees contributed vanishingly low sums of money during the Trump years and that those who did make contributions tended to support President Trump, suggest that the F.B.I. was not out to destroy the president .