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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is seeking information about how the FBI has played a role in the ongoing classified documents investigation that has taken aim at President Donald Trump.
In a letter written to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Rep. Jordan, who is the acting chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, laid out a bullet-point list of FBI failings that were illustrated in the damning Durham report that was released in mid-May.
“The Special Counsel’s report details how the FBI abused its law-enforcement authorities to achieve a political end – that is, hamstring the campaign and presidency of President Trump,” Jordan wrote.
He continued, “While we trust you are familiar with the report’s findings, it is worth highlighting some of the report’s most troubling conclusions…”
Jordan included the following four examples of FBI misconduct revealed in Durham’s findings in his letter to Garland:
- There was no evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign before the infamous Crossfire Hurricane investigation was launched,
- The FBI “failed to apply basic investigative techniques” and assess the credibility of “information it received” in their actions,
- The FBI applied “different standards for investigating information related to Donald Trump and information related to Hillary Clinton, rapidly opening an investigation into President Trump based on raw, uncorroborated information when it had not done so with Clinton,”
- And finally, the FBI “disregarded” intelligence that it had received that Crossfire Hurricane was a “ploy by the Clinton campaign to divert attention away from Clinton’s mishandling of classified information on her private server when she was Secretary of State.”
Jordan noted that the public’s sense of trust in the FBI was “low,” and requested that Garland’s DOJ provide information about the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has been tasked with investigating the Mar-a-Lago documents case.
Jordan is seeking to find out who is working on the case from the FBI, and how many FBI employees are working on the investigation from FBI Headquarters and the Washington Field Office.
He also wants an explanation on “whether any FBI employees who have worked on Special Counsel Smith’s investigation previously worked on any other matters concerning President Trump” and whether Smith’s probe has relied on intelligence or material “exclusively” gathered by the FBI before Smith was appointed by Garland.
Garland has been given a deadline of June 15, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. to comply with the House Judiciary’s request.
