If you needed any more evidence that "the swamp" (a.k.a. the "deep state") President Donald Trump is battling and attempting to drain is a institutional force dating back decades, look no further.

William Webster, a former CIA and FBI director, claimed in an op-ed published on Monday that the bureau is not a "broken institution" and that anyone who criticizes it threatens the "rule of law." 

Yes, seriously. 

Webster defended a bureau (and CIA) that very clearly and very purposefully abused its power in an attempt to depose a presidential contender — and then president — some of its ranking members did not like. But it's not likely to quell the public's outcry, at least from fair-minded Americans who are acutely aware of what happened under Obama's watch.

As Breitbart News reported:

Webster's full-throated defense of the two agencies comes amid the fallout from the Department of Justice Inspector General (IG) report, in which it was confirmed that FBI officials made 17 "significant inaccuracies and omissions" in its submissions to the FISA court to obtain warrants to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page during the 2016 presidential election.