Demanding docs from the FBI and Department of Justice [DOJ], House Republicans have been stonewalled until now, with the departments releasing thousands of new documents related to the 2016 campaign and Russian probe. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) warned the FBI and DOJ that if the docs were not produced, he would move to slap the agencies with “contempt of Congress.” Handing over some 1,000 docs, Ryan said the FBI and DOJ only partly complied with the House oversight committees’ subpoenas to meet a June 22 deadline. Ryan’s spokeswoman Ashlee Strong said the DOJ asked for more time to turn over the requested dos. FBI and DOJ officials insist that some of the requested docs are classified due to national security, something questioned by House oversight officials, something claimed in sworn testimony by former FBI Director James Comey.
Comey routinely refused to answer questions under oath claiming the answers were classified. What’s become apparent to House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) is that if something embarrasses the FBI or DOJ they assert privilege, refusing to answer under oath or provide requested docs. “Our efforts have resulted in the committees finally getting access to information that was sought months ago, but some important requests remain to be completed,” said Strong. At the heart of the GOP’s document requests are newly released information showing that the FBI, prior to the Russian collusion investigation, implanted informants into the Trump campaign. With FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and attorney Lisa Page sharing texts about preventing Trump from becoming president, House committees want to know how Strzok’s bias impacted the Hillary email investigation.
DOJ and FBI officials worry that the docs’ requested by member of the House Oversight and Intelligence Committees look to embarrass the departments and discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. But the docs requested only try to get to the bottom of questionable conduct by the FBI and DOJ. No time in history has the DOJ and FBI tried to undermine a presidential campaign of a major party candidate. Strzok worked as the FBI point person on the Hillary email investigation, prompting former FBI Director James Comey to exonerate Hillary July 5, 2016, only two weeks before the Democratic National Convention. When Comey reopened the email investigation Oct. 29 only 10 days before the 2016 presidential election, it showed something went wrong with Comey and the FBI. Hillary blamed Comey after the Nov. 8, 2016 election for sabotaging her campaign.
House Oversight and Intel officials want to see all documents leading to Hillary’s July 5, 2016 exoneration and Oct. 29, 2016 reopening to ascertain what factors were at play. Strzok knew before his July 5, 2016 exoneration that Hillary deleted 33,000 emails off her personal server and physically destroyed 12 cell phones. Strzok knew that met every FBI and DOJ criteria for obstruction of justice but, somehow, Comey ended Hillary’s probe July 5, 2016. House Intel Co-Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) seeks the FBI and DOJ’s guidelines for seeking warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA]. Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was wiretapped under a FISA Court warrant, with nothing coming from it. House Oversight and Intel officials wants to know whether or not the FBI and DOJ used Hillary’s paid opposition research AKA “the dossier” to justify FISA Court wiretaps..
Gowdy and Nunes want to know whether or not former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch approved FISA Court requests for the FBI to seek warrants to wiretap Trump campaign officials. Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice admitted April 3, 2017 to the House Intel Committee under oath that she approved wiretaps of Trump campaign officials. House GOP officials have contended that the covert operation to spy on Trump campaign officials was approved by former President Barack Obama to help Hillary win the 2016 election. Rice said she OK’d the “unmasking” of Trump campaign officials, like former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, in conversations with former Russian U.S. Amb. Sergey Kislyack. Flynn was forced to resign his post Feb. 14, 2017 and Sessions recused himself from the Russian investigation March 2, 2017. Two months later, Deputy Atty. Gen . Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller Special Counsel.
Congressional investigations have had a difficult time performing their oversight functions with the FBI and DOJ refusing to hand over subpoenaed docs. House GOP officials want to know the chain of command ordering surveillance of the Trump campaign, whether it went through Obama. It’s inconceivable that Lynch and Rice would act independently of Obama, authorizing wiretaps and investigations into Trump campaign officials. Whether the FBI or DOJ turns over all the requested docs is anyone’s guess. Investigators want to know any link between Hillary’s email investigation and the FBI or DOJ’s covert investigation into Trump’s campaign. Republicans have rightfully questioned the legitimacy of the Special Counsel’s investigation, knowing the secret spying operation against Trump came from the FBI, DOJ and National Security Agency. If the FBI illegally wiretapped Trump’s campaign, the Special Counsel would have zero legitimacy.
