Elections
Text Messages Question the Start of the ‘Russia Collusion’ Investigation
Newly-released text messages from former FBI agent Peter Strzok suggest that the FBI began investigating then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his campaign for the alleged Russia collusion earlier than the government previously acknowledged.
The FBI claims that investigations into Trump’s campaign began on July 31, 2016. The declassified text messages, released by Republican Senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley on Wednesday, show communications between Strzok and his alleged mistress, FBI special counsel Lisa Page. Strzok asked Page to discuss “[o]ur open C[counter-]I[ntelligence] investigations relating to Trump’s Russian connections” with him on July 28, 2016.
Former FBI Director James Comey denied knowledge of the investigation, saying he first learned of the Steele dossier “sometime towards the end of September 2016.”
The new Strzok texts also reveal that journalist Carl Bernstein, who helped expose the Watergate scandal in the 1970s and appears regularly on CNN, told the FBI that he received the “dossier” from Sen. John McCain.
According to the released messages, Strzok texted Page, “Carl Bernstein (yes that Carl) called [Office of Public Affairs], said he got a ‘dossier’ from McCain.”
Page replied, “Awesome, let Carl run it down then.”
The dossier included allegations about Donald Trump and members of the Trump campaign and was funded in part by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The FBI found that most of the allegations could not be corroborated and that certain allegations were inaccurate or inconsistent with information gathered by the Crossfire Hurricane team.
The dossier became a key piece of intelligence during the ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ FBI probe into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election.
On Thursday, Trump called McCain, “One of the most overrated people in D.C.”
Other newly-released text messages give more information into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
Strzok was aware that there were “27 confirmed classified TOTAL (26 to ClintonEmail, 1 to Yahoo): -6 of the 27 were SECRET then (4 of which remain SECRET now and 2 of which are CONFIDENTIAL) – 21 of the 27 were CONFIDENTIAL then (16 of which remain CONFIDENTIAL now and 5 of which are UNCLASS or FOUO)” on Clinton’s private email server.
Videotapes containing witness interviews conducted by the Democrat-led January 6 congressional committee have disappeared. The chairman of the House Administration oversight subcommittee, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), expressed his apprehension on the “Just the News, No Noise” television show.
According to Loudermilk, all videotapes of depositions have vanished, raising questions about the preservation of crucial evidence. He argued that, under House rules, these tapes qualified as congressional evidence, especially since some clips were aired during hearings. Loudermilk contended that the tapes should have been preserved by the now-defunct Jan. 6 committee and its chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).
Loudermilk’s revelation has broader implications, potentially impacting criminal trials in both state court in Georgia and federal court in Washington, where individuals, including former President Donald Trump, face charges related to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Notably, Trump’s legal team had recently requested evidence from the Jan. 6 committee but was denied by a judge.
The situation takes a further twist as Loudermilk disclosed that the J6 committee had sent certain evidence, such as transcripts, to the Biden White House and the Homeland Security Department. Shockingly, these transcripts have now been returned to Loudermilk’s GOP-led subcommittee almost entirely redacted, preventing the disclosure of their contents.
The lack of records regarding witnesses, their statements, and the extensive redactions have raised concerns among House Republicans. Loudermilk emphasized that these documents belong to the House and should not have been sent in such a heavily redacted form. The chairman questioned the motives behind the redactions, asking why a Democrat-run House was allowed to have unredacted documents while a Republican committee’s efforts were obstructed. This development adds another layer of complexity to the ongoing investigations into the events surrounding January 6, 2021.
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