Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government by Jerry Dunleavy, Justice Department Reporter
Two top Senate Republicans conducting a joint inquiry into Trump-Russia investigators continued to express their frustration with what they saw as the FBI slow-walking key documents, including hundreds of pages of text messages sent and received by fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa sent a five-page letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday night, telling the bureau leader that “it is simply unacceptable that we have waited so long to receive so little.”
“On October 9, 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation produced 24 pages of text messages from former-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, some of which had already been produced to us years ago. This stands in stark contrast to the more than 300 pages of McCabe text messages that the FBI made available for review in a reading room at the Department of Justice,” Johnson and Grassley said.
They added: “As you know, on August 6, 2020, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee subpoenaed the FBI for all records related to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, which requires that records actually be produced to the Committee, not merely made available for review in a reading room. We have waited nearly 70 days to receive these text messages, and when records were actually produced, we received only eight percent of what we know exists.”
The Republican duo asked for the McCabe texts and all other FBI messages to be handed over to the senators by Friday.
“We have made a public commitment to determine and reveal the full extent of official investigative and intelligence action taken by federal officials against the Trump campaign, its presidential transition, and into the administration. As we have noted before, the information that has already been made public reveals what might be the most outrageous abuse of power in U.S. history against a presidential candidate and sitting president,” Johnson and Grassley told Wray.
“The American people deserve full transparency, and they have waited entirely too long — almost four years in some instances — for answers. In light of that history, it is astounding that the FBI can claim to need more time to identify and produce responsive records.”
Johnson and Grassley said that the 24 pages of McCabe text messages that have been produced from the FBI recently “include notable information that is highly relevant to several aspects of the Committees’ oversight efforts,” including a couple of exchanges between McCabe and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
Page texted McCabe on July 28, 2016, just a few days before Crossfire Hurricane was opened on July 31, 2016, telling the deputy director to read an article in Lawfare titled “Is Trump a Russian Agent? A Legal Analysis.”
Page told McCabe, “You should read this — the D [likely an abbreviation for Director, a reference to then FBI Director James Comey] surely has by now. Some of the internal links are well worth your time as well.” McCabe responded, “Thanks much.”
The article entertained the unproven idea that President Trump was being used by the Kremlin.
“An amazing debate is taking place among serious analysts and journalists in the United States regarding the relationship between the Republican nominee for President and the Russian state,” the article Page sent to McCabe read, adding, “The participants are undeniably substantive — editors of famed magazines, Pulitzer Prize winners, and authors of esteemed books on Russia, its leader, and its history. This high-power group is debating whether Donald Trump is a tool, wittingly or unwittingly, of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
Robert Mueller’s 2019 special counsel report said that Russians interfered in the 2016 election in a “sweeping and systematic fashion” but “did not establish” any criminal conspiracy or coordination between any Russians and anyone in Trump’s orbit.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s lengthy December report criticized the Justice Department and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants against Trump campaign associate Carter Page, who was never charged with a crime and has denied any wrongdoing, and for the bureau’s reliance on Steele’s Democratic-funded and unverified dossier.
Declassified footnotes now show the FBI was aware that Steele’s dossier might have been compromised by Russian disinformation.
Lisa Page also texted McCabe on Oct. 27, 2016, about the possibility that he would recuse himself from the reopening of the FBI’s investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s improper private email server, with her telling him in part that “it still doesn’t change that if you are recused, it will undermine the workforce” and with him replying, “Agree.”
Horowitz released a report in 2018 detailing multiple instances in which McCabe “lacked candor” with Comey, FBI investigators, and inspector general investigators about his authorization to leak sensitive information to the Wall Street Journal that revealed the existence of an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation. McCabe was fired and is suing the Justice Department for wrongful termination. Horowitz wrote that McCabe’s actions were “designed to advance his personal interests at the expense of Department leadership” and “violated the FBI’s and the Department’s media policy and constituted misconduct.”
The Justice Department announced in February that it would not be pursuing criminal charges against McCabe.
Johnson and Grassley sent a letter to CIA Director Gina Haspel on Wednesday, relaying that they were fed up with the CIA allegedly dragging its feet in responding to their request for records relevant to their search regarding the Trump-Russia investigators.
Trump tweeted on Tuesday that he had “fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax… No redactions!”
