For nearly two years, Republicans stuck with their mantras: Robert Mueller was on a witch hunt. The FBI was some sort of liberal resistance haven. The Russia investigation shouldnt have even begun. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions were part of the deep state. Everyone was out to get Donald Trump .

Now that Attorney General William Barr has released a four-page summary of the Mueller probes findings, Trump and his team have changed their tune. Trump, who has called the special counsel team a National Disgrace and Mueller a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue , said Monday that he thought Mueller had acted honorably. Total exoneration, he said of a report that explicitly says it does not exonerate the president.

But the law enforcement community worries that the sudden shift in Trumps rhetoric wont soon erase the long-term consequences of Trumps attacks on the Justice Department and the FBI. Trump ran on law and order but unleashed an extensive campaign against the nations premier law enforcement organization. Republicans trust in the FBI plummeted as Trump and his supporters convinced the GOP base that the conservative-leaning FBI was biased against Trump. Federal prosecutors now contend with jury pools full of Republicans who think the FBI is corrupt.

It has been tough to watch, said Greg Brower, who stepped down as the FBIs congressional liaison last spring. The FBI has taken some hits, mostly undeserved. Its not good.