GOP Senators Release 400 Pages of Documents Related to FBI’s Trump–Russia Investigation

Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 16, 2020. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo

Two Republican senators on Dec. 3 released hundreds of pages of documents pertaining to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane probe, alleging that “agency bureaucrats” refused to hand over more information.

Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released the documents as part of their investigation into the FBI—starting from the end of President Barack Obama’s administration—about how they surveilled Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Ultimately, a special prosecutor found that Trump’s campaign didn’t collude with Russia.

“For years, the American people have demanded answers to questions regarding the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation and its targeting of the Trump campaign, the presidential transition, and the Trump administration,” said Grassley, the head of the Senate Finance Committee, and Johnson, the head of the Homeland Security Committee.

“Our committees have sought to uncover and expose misconduct by calling on agencies to declassify and produce text messages, internal emails, and other investigative material, which in turn we have made public.”

They stated that it’s necessary to release documents about the probe so the public can know what happened.

“Although agency bureaucrats have fought tooth and nail to keep records hidden, our commitment to transparency has never wavered. The documents we are releasing today are the product of our continued fight for transparency,” the senators stated.

“These documents are far less than what we have requested, but we are making them public so the American people can decide for themselves what wrongdoing did and did not occur.”

Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) speaks at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on June 17, 2020. Andrew Harnik/Pool/Getty Images

The DOJ’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, issued a report in 2019 finding that the FBI committed a series of errors or omissions when it surveilled 2016 Trump campaign aide Carter Page, who in November filed a $75 million lawsuit against the FBI, DOJ, and former FBI Director James Comey.

Johnson, in a Dec. 3 Senate Homeland Security hearing about the documents, said media outlets have failed in their responsibility to cover their investigation into the FBI and DOJ.

“This is troubling and just amazes me how the press has turned a blind eye to it,” he said, while also referring to reports of ties between Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden’s family and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked firm CEFC, which “disappeared off the face of the Earth” several years ago.

Johnson and Grassley have also sought and released documents suggesting Joe Biden’s son Hunter had an extensive relationship with a CCP-linked billionaire. In November, the senators claimed that the Biden family had stronger ties with Chinese foreign nationals than previously expected.

Johnson on Dec. 3 further stated that the FBI and DOJ took no action on irregularities that were uncovered during probes of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane program, arguing that investigations in the political realm are “totally backward.” He said Congress should first investigate politicians, not intelligence agencies filled with bureaucrats.

“It’s far more important to expose this so the public knows what’s happened,” Johnson said, as opposed to a criminal prosecution “to put somebody in jail.” The alleged corruption should concern every member of Congress regardless of political affiliation, he added.