Former ICE spokesman who resigned alleges "intimidation" by government

in his first TV interview since he abruptly resigned a former Immigration and Customs and 4th enforcement spokesman opens up about why he quit back in March James swab alleges that he was asked to spread alive for the Trump administration our cameras were rolling as homeland security agents from the inspector general's office unexpectedly showed up at his door yesterday they appeared during an interview with Jamie yuccas she joins us from outside the ice office in San Francisco Jamie that was a surprise good morning it was a surprise good morning Gail James Schwab says before he resigned he worked for the federal government for 17 years most recently here at the Immigration and Customs Bay Area headquarters he admits that he was asked to spin information for both the Obama and Trump White House's but he says he felt compelled to resign after the current administration told him to lie about an incident that pitted the government against Oakland's mayor tensions in the San Francisco Bay Area were running high in February over a series of raids carried out by federal agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ice with the guidance of his superiors in Washington DC it fell to James Schwab to communicate with journalists about those raids the day before the operation took place the Oakland Mayor surprised us and announced our operation here's my message to Mayor chef how dare you how dare you distort the reality she was putting your officers why was potentially in danger correct we end up arresting 232 which is 16% higher than our highest estimates so internally that was considered a success but what they publicly said was that she let people go and that wasn't true true right Schwab helped craft a statement to the media saying some of them were able to elude us thanks to the mayor's irresponsible decision he was comfortable with that statement he says because it included the words some of this is a spin statement this is what every public affairs officer does a week later Attorney General Jeff Sessions language was noticeably different iced failed to make 800 or that would have been made if the mayor had not made her statement those are 800 wanted criminals that are not large in that community that made you uncomfortable completely false yes that made me extremely uncomfortable when reporters asked him to clarify the discrepancy Schwab says he was instructed by his superiors in Washington to simply refer to the original statement he drafted without disputing sessions version of events after they failed to correct it it's a flat-out lie they know it's a lie it was just shocking to me that no one wanted to fix that trouble by what he saw as public deception Schwab turned in his resignation I could not fathom staying at an organization that was okay with lying to the American public I hate that in 17 years in the military at the Department of Defense as a civilian at NASA and now at Homeland Security I have never been asked to lie I have never been asked to perpetuate a lie which is the same as lying well we talked to Schwab on Wednesday some three months after he quit we were interrupted by a surprise he had unexpected visitors at the front door of his home the men identified themselves as agents from the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's Office is about the incident he were in his home so I'm talking to him this is confidential okay they just said that they wanted to talk to me about the leak with the Oakland Mayor were you surprised to see them completely shocked unexpected did you ever contact the Oakland mayor's office no I've never met her before I never contacted you didn't believe I'd never emailed never I would never tell her I would never tell anyone they were very serious he was very starting with me and it was concerning do you think that was an intimidation technique absolutely absolutely why three months later are we doing this this is intimidation and this is why people won't come out and speak against the government do you believe that other agencies are struggling with this their spokespeople are struggling with what you've gone through I I know that they are because they've reached out to me Schwab says he's speaking out now because he's talked to others in the federal government with similar concerns that's one of the most important reasons that I'm doing this is this so that people hear that someone else stood up that someone else said no and was concerned with it to actually prepare and stand out in front of the public and perpetuate something that you know is absolutely false it's not okay and no special agent from Department of Homeland Security is going to stop me from saying that we reached out to ice they said they disagree with Schwab's characterization that he was asked to lie they also pointed out that the mayor's actions did allow at least some targets to evade arrest Homeland Security did not get back to us about any investigations into who leaked details about the raid and although Schwab is a registered Democrat he says it has nothing to do with his decision to resign and to speak out glad what an incredible moment there Jamie what was going through your mind as these men showed up at the door well when we first heard the knock it was kind of out of place everybody seemed to think you know what's going on here they weren't expecting anybody to come to the house he had some family members there as well who had come to watch the interview so it was a total surprise to everyone once we heard that it was homeland security that's how they identified themselves we quickly went down there's and as you saw tried to ask them some questions they wanted nothing to do with us I can tell you that James Schwab was initially seemed a little bit nervous about them being there and then seemed very angry afterward he had to calm some of his family members down and reassure them that things were going to be okay an incredible moment there Thank You Jamie the fact that he's speaking out I wonder if others will speak out too since he says that he knows that other people feel the way he did I think it's very brave what he's doing yeah someone apparently looks like he has served his country many years right or will they be intimidated though when you know that they could just show up at your door at any moment in time

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 169,686

Keywords: video, cbs, news, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, James Schwab, Trump administration

Id: IvmtBKtxzO0

Length: 6min 31sec (391 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 28 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/ejaywillie]

Wow, they seem pretty scary.

[u/tplgigo]

Gestapo shit right there.

[u/TexasWithADollarsign]

Saving this to use on people who say this isn't becoming a dictatorship.