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FBI Director Kash Patel disclosed the unearthing of numerous documents connected to the Russia investigation, which were hidden in ‘burn bags’ within a secretive room of the FBI.
The documents feature the classified section of former Special Counsel John Durham’s concluding report concerning the origins of the FBI’s investigation into Donald Trump’s first campaign. This report includes the foundational intelligence reviewed, as confirmed by an FBI spokesperson to the Daily Mail.
Durham investigated the FBI’s probes regarding possible connections between Trump campaign members and Russia during the 2016 election, ultimately determining that the FBI lacked the necessary evidence to have initiated the investigation.
A person familiar with the discovery speculated to the Daily Mail that it was likely an oversight by previous directors that prevented the documents from being destroyed.
The person added that it’s likely the documents would have never seen the light of day if the FBI wasn’t diligently looking through everything it comes across at the bureau.
The findings were turned over to Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and will be released later Wednesday, the FBI spokesperson said.
President Trump said he supported releasing the information.
‘I want everything to be shown, as long as it is fair and reasonable,’ he said.
‘I would like to see people exposed that might be bad, and we’ll see how that all works out,’ he told reporters at the White House.
FBI Director Kash Patel found a secret stash of documents related to the Russia probe
However the president added if the FBI had something ‘they would have released it.’
He repeated his old complaint that Democrats were behind it.
‘The whole thing is a scam. It is a scam set up by the Democrats,’ Trump said.
News of the discovery was first reported by Fox News.
A ‘burn bag’ is a secure container used by government agencies to dispose of classified or sensitive documents, usually by burning or shredding, to prevent unauthorized access.
Patel, who used to be one of the FBI’s most vocal critics, has set about remaking the bureau, including firing senior agents and reassigning others.
When he began his tenure, he promised a ‘wave of transparency,’ including on the investigation into the possible ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.
Called ‘Crossfire Hurricane,’ the FBI ran a counter-intelligence probe into potential links between Trump’s first presidential campaign and Russia.
Durham’s report found that the investigation was ‘seriously flawed,’ but it didn’t uncover evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
His report also didn’t support Trump’s claim that special counsel Robert Mueller’s report was a ‘witch hunt’ or a ‘hoax.’
Mueller’s report found the FBI investigation ‘did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities’ but it did find Russian interference in the 2016 contest that it claimed benefitted Trump.
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly claimed to be the victim of a witch hunt when it came to the FBI probe of the 2016 election.
The loyal supporters he’s installed throughout the federal government have been searching for evidence to back up his claim.
President Trump has repeatedly claimed to be the victim of a witch hunt
Special Counsel John Durham (left) was appointed in October 2020 to look into the FBI probe of possible ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia; Special Counsel Robert Mueller (right) examined whether Russia interfered in that contest
Patel, in a June interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, said he found a room full of documents and computer hard drives ‘that no one had ever seen or heard of.’
‘Just think about this,’ Patel told Rogan. ‘Me, as director of the FBI, the former ‘Russiagate guy,’ when I first got to the bureau, found a room that [former FBI director James] Comey and others hid from the world in the Hoover Building, full of documents and computer hard drives that no one had ever seen or heard of. Locked the key and hid access and just said, ‘No one’s ever gonna find this place.”
Patel and his staff have been working through the documents since that time.
Other Trump officials are coming forward with findings tied to the 2016 election.
Last week Tulsi Gabbard, who serves as Trump’s director of National Intelligence, claimed Russia President Vladimir Putin had sensitive information on Hillary Clinton and planned to use it against her when she was serving as president.
She claimed the government had intelligence reports that Russia actually wanted a Clinton victory in 2016.
‘This report shows Putin … held back from leaking compromising material on Hillary Clinton prior to the election, instead planning to release it after the election,’ Gabbard said.
‘The intelligence community intentionally suppressed intelligence that showed Putin was saving the most damaging material that he had in his possession about Hillary Clinton until after her potential and likely victory,’ she noted.
