In a fawning report on Tuesday's NBC Today, national investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff touted the exploits of two left-wing activists who stole a thousand FBI documents in 1971 and just confessed to the crime: "In an exclusive NBC News interview, the burglars, anti-Vietnam War activists, admit they committed the crime to expose what they believed were illegal activities by the FBI." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Isikoff dramatically described the heist: "Bonnie Raines cased the office posing as a college student, leaving no fingerprints....Her husband, John Raines, a retired religion professor, drove the getaway car." He then proclaimed: "The documents exposed FBI efforts to spread paranoia among left-wing groups and COINTELPRO, a surveillance program started years earlier by then-director J. Edgar Hoover."
Isikoff included a brief sound bite of the former FBI agent who investigated the theft criticizing the couple's actions, but concluded the segment by declaring: "The Raines' are proud of what they did and have a message for a man they see as their modern-day counterpart, Edward Snowden." John Raines happily remarked: "From one whistleblower to another whistleblower, Hi."
Here is a full transcript of the January 6 report:
7:15AM ET
MATT LAUER: And now to an infamous break-in. The unsolved theft of government documents from an FBI office just outside of Philadelphia. More than forty years later, the burglars are coming forward for the first time in a new book and documentary. And they're speaking out to NBC News. Here's our national investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Four-Decade FBI Mystery Solved; Burglars From 1971 Break-In Confess Crime]
MICHAEL ISIKOFF: A mystery for 43 years. The night the nation was gripped by the fight of the century, Ali-Frazier at Madison Square Garden. Burglars broke into this FBI office outside Philadelphia in March 1971 and stole 1,000 secret documents. The culprits never found.
JOHN RAINES: We did it. Somebody had to do it.
ISIKOFF: And now a surprise confession.
RAINES: We just took all the files. We didn't sort anything.
ISIKOFF: In an exclusive NBC News interview, the burglars, anti-Vietnam War activists, admit they committed the crime to expose what they believed were illegal activities by the FBI.
BONNIE RAINES: Massive illegal surveillance and intimidation.
ISIKOFF: Bonnie Raines cased the office posing as a college student, leaving no fingerprints.
RAINES: I never took my gloves – my gloves off.
ISIKOFF: Her husband, John Raines, a retired religion professor, drove the getaway car.
JOHN RAINES: I was sitting by myself in the station wagon and I was getting very, very scared.
ISIKOFF: The documents exposed FBI efforts to spread paranoia among left-wing groups and COINTELPRO, a surveillance program started years earlier by then-director J. Edgar Hoover. Betty Medsger was the first reporter to get the documents in her mailbox. She's now written "The Burglary," about the break-in and how it led to new rules forbidding political snooping.
BETTY MEDSGER: It's safe to say that the FBI was never the same again.
ISIKOFF: The statute of limitations has long expired, but Patrick Kelly, the ex-agent who investigated the case back then, says that the theft remains inexcusable.
PATRICK KELLY: They're rationalizing a criminal act. I don't believe such people have the right to take upon themselves and make decisions.
ISIKOFF: But the Raines' are proud of what they did and have a message for a man they see as their modern-day counterpart, Edward Snowden.
JOHN RAINES: From one whistleblower to another whistleblower, Hi.
ISIKOFF: For Today, Michael Isikoff, NBC News, Washington.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Wow.
