FBI Director James Comey is hoping a new documentary will put his agency back in the good graces of the public. Eager to put a year of controversial headlines behind him, Comey touted “Inside the FBI: New York" at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. Wednesday, explaining why he let the cameras inside the FBI office.
“I worry sometimes that people don’t know us,” Comey said in explaining why he green-lighted “Inside the FBI: New York,” a new television documentary by Dick Wolf of “Law & Order” fame and documentarian Marc Levin.
“We have to care what people think of us,” Comey said at a showing of the new series at the Newseum in Washington, DC. “The faith and confidence of the American people is the bedrock,” he said.
The FBI's involvement in the 2016 presidential "confused" the American people, Comey further noted. From Comey's initial announcement that the FBI would not be pursuing criminal charges against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton due to her use of an unsecure email server as secretary of state, to his reopening the investigation 11 days before the election, voters had reason to suspect the FBI was playing political games.
Yet, the director hopes an inside look into what his agency does will shatter those notions. Can the American public better understand and empathize with the agency after seeing the toll it takes on employees who deal with national security threats on a daily basis?
"Inside the FBI: New York," from "Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf and documentarian Marc Levin, will air April 27 on the USA Network. Watch the trailer below.