House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said the FBI refuses to tell him what kind of classified information is in the docs recovered at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and the homes of President Joe Biden and Vice President Mike Pence. “They’re claiming that it’s going to affect of their investigation, which, of course, it can’t, because the people who are the targets of their investigation know what are in those documents,” Turner told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd. FBI officials play their cards close to the vest, not knowing how much bad publicity comes from the department. When 76-year-old former President Donald Trump was in office, the FBI, under former 62-year-old Director James Comey, launched a Top Secret investigation into Trump’s alleged ties to the Kremlin, something derived from former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s fake dossier.
Inside the upper echelon of the FBI, high-ranking personnel plotted to sabotage Trump’s 2016 campaign and once president targeting the commander-in-chief. Before Comey was fired May 8, 2017 by Trump, he spent much of his time leaking fake intel to the New York Times and Washington Post all with the intent of sabotaging Trump’s presidency. After firing Comey with cause, Democrats and the press went wild thinking that Trump had something to hide, demanding that the Department of Justice appoint a Special Prosecutor. Former Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein acquiesced, appointing former FBI Director Robert Mueller to investigate Trump’s alleged ties to the Kremlin. Mueller knew from Day One that the Russian collusion allegations were made by Hillary’s fake opposition research. So, when Turner says the FBI stonewalls on what’s inside the classified docs, he’s not kidding.
Turner knows that disclosing the contents of classified docs doesn’t compromise the investigation because the content only relates to specifics, not to the issue of whether any U.S. officials breached their duty to protect classified information. Turner said 52-year-old Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines was not notified by the FBI about the Aug. 4, 2021 raid on Mar-a-Lago. Turner’s House Intel Committee wants to know the extent of the breach on the nation’s top secrets, if any. Classified docs were found at the home of President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence. Biden’s legal team made a distinction between docs found at Biden’s former Office at the University of Pennsylvania and his private residence. Biden’s lawyers said that Biden voluntarily identified and readily gave up classified documents in contrast to Trump who held them in his locked basement.
Biden left office in 2017, four years before Trump headed out of the White House, showing he kept the classified documents longer before discovered by his lawyers. Why Biden’s docs were not disclosed sooner is anyone’s guess. “The thing that we know is that it’s unbelievable that administration after administration is apparently sloppy and messy, in their use of classified documents, and that’s one thing on the bipartisan basis we have to address well beyond just this,” Turner said. Turner wants to know the nature of the classified material to ascertain whether U.S. intel agencies or personnel has been compromised, endangering U.S. national security. “This has to change, where classified documents are under a certain amount of control,” Turner said. Whether Turner admits it or not, it’s very unlikely that anyone had access to any classified docs left behind by Biden, Trump or Pence.
When it comes to classified docs, some obviously are more tied to U.S. national security than others. Declassification is a arbitrary process where previously sensitive docs are made public because they pose no threat to national security. Turner wants to know if any of the documents found at Mar-a-Lago, Biden’s office and home and Pence’s home had any significances. Chances are that none of documents found had any real national security significance despite the classified label. Todd asked ranking House Intel Committee Democrat Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) whether he knew of any differences among docs found for Trump, Biden or Pence. Himes confirmed that he and Turner were not satisfied with the information received by the FBI. Himes thinks the information is more serious than once thought, prompting the Intel Committee to push the FBI to release the contents.
Whatever docs the House Intel Committee eventually gets, it’s clear that 56-year-old FBI Director Christopher Wray will do everything to make the FBI look good. Wray took over a battered department from Comey, whose investigation of Trump was most likely illegal but praised by Democrats. Democrats want to keep the double-standard, investigating conservatives but giving liberals a free pass. Comey thought nothing of launching his counterintelligence investigation into Trump and his 2016 campaign, even while knowing that the “probable cause” was fabricated by Hillary & Co. Comey welcomed Special Counsel Robert Mueller taking over the investigation, even knowing that it was predicated on complete rubbish, all concocted by mercenary former MI6 agent Christopher Steele. Turner and Himes shouldn’t hold their breaths thinking they’ll get anything-but-half-truths from the FBI.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
