HALLIE JACKSON (HOST): Matt, you know the Department of Justice. You worked there, you know the folks there, you know peoplel at the FBI. What does this do when there are now calls about their questions raised by some people about their legitimacy?
MILLER: So I still talk to people at the Justice Department. People that I now there that are career officials who say they have been extremely concerned about this for two things. One, it undermines their ability to do their jobs. Not just in this case but in a host of other cases.
JACKSON: Because?
MATTHEW MILLER: The Department of Justice needs the public to believe in the integrity of its work. They need witnesses to come forward and cooperate in cases and the need juries to believe them when they’re prosecuting.
JACKSON: But there are some people who now question that. Is that reparable? Does that get fixed ever? There is the damage done.
MILLER: I don't know. Look at the damage -- the conservative movement built this death star in the conservative press and aimed it at the national media, trying to destroy the credibility of the media. It's a long-term project that they’ve been working on for decades. They’ve been, then gone around and turned that death star to destroy the credibility of academia, of scientists. They’re now pointing it at the Justice Department. It may not be reparable. Look at the base of the Republican party now. What they believe about science, what they believe about colleges and universities. There are long-term harm to these institutions.
