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Rep. Jim Jordan is pressing U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to disclose any FBI involvement in the special counsel probe of former President Donald Trump regarding his possession of classified materials.
In a letter Jordan sent this week, the Ohio Republican demanded that Merrick answer several questions regarding any FBI involvement. It comes on the heels of a damning report from special counsel John Durham about the FBI’s unethical and improper targeting of Trump’s 2016 campaign, during which he was falsely accused of “colluding” with Russia, an allegation that Durham’s report said was fabricated by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Warning of “the institutional rot that pervades the FBI,” Jordan said he wants to know how many FBI agents are assisting special counsel Jack Smith, who is reportedly looking at the classified documents issue along with events surrounding the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building and Trump campaign activities surrounding the 2020 election.
“The extent of the FBI’s bias and reckless disregard for the truth, which Special Counsel Durham laid out in painstaking detail, is nothing short of scandalous. The FBI has tried to dismiss the report’s findings by claiming to have ‘already implemented dozens of corrective actions’ to prevent similar misconduct in the future,” Jordan wrote, according to WND News.
“The FBI’s window dressing is not enough. The special counsel’s report serves as a stark reminder of the need for more accountability and reforms within the FBI,” he said.
Jordan went on to explain that Congress is conducting “oversight” to “inform these legislative reforms” that appear to be needed within the bureau. He added that the FBI “did not possess any actual evidence of collusion before deciding to launch” its collusion investigation of Trump. “The FBI appears to have disregarded this issue largely due to the personal and political biases against Donald Trump harbored by FBI personnel,” he said.
The Post Millennial noted further that Jordan’s Thursday letter to Garland Jordan seeks to ascertain “whether any of the FBI employees assigned to work on the investigation had previously been involved in matters concerning Trump, and whether Smith relied on any information gathered ‘exclusively by the FBI’ prior to his appointment to special counsel.”
Late last month, the Justice Department turned over another set of classified documents to congressional leaders that the FBI discovered at the residences of Trump, Presiden Joe Biden, and former Vice President Mike Pence.
The Biden administration is reportedly continuing to cooperate with lawmakers following several months of criticism from both Democrats and Republicans that crucial information regarding the seized documents was being withheld.
“The documents were provided to the Gang of Eight, the top four party leaders, and the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, three sources familiar told Axios,” the outlet noted, adding that the congressional members were not informed which residence each of the documents came from.
The FBI obtained documents from Trump during a high-profile raid in August. Shortly after that, agents found classified documents at one of Biden’s residences in Delaware after discovering some ahead of the November 2020 election at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.
And in January, documents were discovered at Pence’s home in Indiana.
The DOJ is considering searching more locations for classified documents that Biden may be in possession of following searches of his home in Delaware and the Penn Biden Center.
“Justice Department officials are also considering the possibility of conducting other consensual searches at locations linked to Mr. Biden, said the source familiar with the investigation,” the report said.
On Friday, the DOJ announced that no charges against Pence would be forthcoming and that the investigation into his situation has closed.
