New Strzok texts suggest the FBI was investigating Trump before the Crossfire Hurricane investigation officially started
Senate Republicans on Thursday released a new batch of declassified internal FBI messages from Peter Strzok, the disgraced former FBI official who was involved in the counterintelligence investigation into President Donald Trump and his alleged collusion with Russian agents.
The declassified documents, first reported by the Daily Caller, appear to show that the FBI began investigating Trump sometime before its Crossfire Hurricane investigation was opened. The FBI has previously claimed its counterintelligence investigation into Trump began on July 31, 2016, after receiving information that George Papadopoulos obtained "dirt" on Hillary Clinton from Russia involving "thousands of emails."
But the Federalist's Sean Davis pointed out that newly declassified text message conversations between Strozk and his alleged mistress FBI special counsel Lisa Page reveal there were open counterintelligence investigations "relating to Trump's Russian connections" as early as July 28, 2016.
The timeline here suggests the FBI was not honest when it claimed anti-Trump investigations began on July 31, and o… https://t.co/95ybOnwY3d— Sean Davis (@Sean Davis)1608221426.0
The text messages raise questions about how honest the FBI was to the American public and to investigators probing the origins of Crossfire Hurricane.
These documents were declassified by request of Republican Sens. Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa) to Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray as the senators lead an investigation into the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane probe.
President Trump and his Republican allies have long claimed that the Russia probe was a politically biased effort by the outgoing Obama administration, the Hillary Clinton campaign for president, and the Democratic National Committee to spy on the Trump campaign and collect information Democrats would later use as part of an impeachment effort against President Trump. They have leveled fierce criticism at the FBI, accusing the agency of presenting a Clinton campaign-funded opposition research document compromised by Russian disinformation — otherwise known as the "Steele Dossier" — to a FISA court judge to obtain warrants to surveil members of the Trump campaign.
Amid the controversy over the investigation, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz last year released a report on the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane probe. While he did not find evidence of political bias in the decision to open investigations into the Trump campaign, he raised serious concerns about how the FBI obtained a FISA warrant.
His report said FBI employees "fell far short" of bureau policy that requires they "ensure that all factual statements in a FISA application are 'scrupulously accurate.'" In fact, the FISA court applications contained "numerous serious factual errors and omissions in the applications." Additionally, the Horowitz report highlighted several instances of procedural errors on the part of the FBI officials involved in the investigation.
Attorney General Barr in October appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham as a special counsel to continue investigating the origins of Crossfire Hurricane under President-elect Biden's incoming administration. Earlier this week reports said Durham is adding additional prosecutors to his probe, suggesting that his investigation is expanding and making "excellent progress."
President Trump found out the Durham probe won't end before the election live on Rush Limbaugh's radio program: 'It's a disgrace'
President Donald Trump on Friday called news that U.S. Attorney John Durham's report on the investigation into the FBI's Russia probe won't be released before the election a "disgrace" and an "embarrassment."
Trump, who had apparently not been told about the news, reacted in real time as radio host Rush Limbaugh informed him of the Axios report.
"It was announced by the attorney general that his investigator, the attorney looking into the coup run against you will not have any announcements, any results before the election. This is disappointing, I can not tell you," Limbaugh said.
"When was this announced Rush?" Trump asked. "I think it's terrible."
"It is because this is the biggest political scandal in the history of this country, certainly our lifetimes," Limbaugh said.
"Yeah, if that's the case I'm very disappointed. I think it's a terrible thing, and I'll say it to his face," Trump said, referring to the attorney general.
"I think it's a disgrace, it's an embarrassment." Trump added.
The president criticized Republicans for not fighting as "tough" as Democrats.
"See, this is what I mean with the Republicans, they don't play the tough game. If this were the other side, you would've had 25 people in jail for the rest of their lives with what we found," he said.
Trump expressed frustration that his administration had been repeatedly targeted by investigations from special counsel Robert Mueller's team, congressional inquiries, impeachment, and a New York investigation into his personal finances, while Durham's probe will reportedly not wrap up before the election.
"So, it's OK for me to have to go through investigations during the election, but for them we don't want to upset the apple cart. The Republicans don't play the same game," Trump fumed.
"We caught them cold and we have people that don't know how to do anything about it, it's horrible," he continued. "If that's the case, I have to check that. I find it hard to believe because you know what? I went through two elections, you don't think that affected [the 2018 midterm elections]? Now I wasn't running in '18 but the whole Russia witch hunt affected the '18 outcome of the election.
"Nobody said let's hold it back until after the election. But the Republicans don't play the same game."
Trump told Limbaugh the DOJ should have made indictments a year ago.
"Look, if they hold it because of the election ... I've gone through two elections now. They started investigating me before I even won the election. They started investigating me when I was coming down the escalator," he joked, laughing.
"I was under investigation illegally by these thieves and [former FBI Director James] Comey and crooks — we caught them in the act!" the president continued. "They were spying on my campaign and then they went for a coup. Nobody said, 'Well gee, you know, let's hold off the investigation.' But with them they do, the Republicans don't play it the same way. It's very disappointing."
Earlier Friday, Axios reported that Attorney General Bill Barr has begun informing top Republicans in Congress that the Department of Justice's review of the origins of the Russia investigation would not be released before the election on Nov. 3.
According to Axios, Barr told Republicans that Durham is focused on winning prosecutions, taking his investigation seriously and waiting until he has all the evidence he needs to convict those he indicts. A source reportedly told Axios that Durham is "not preoccupied with completing his probe by a certain deadline for political purposes."
Trump interrupted Limbaugh as he read from Axios' story.
"Oh yeah, great, let's let everybody get elected to office and then let's worry about it," Trump said. "First of all, if we don't win this election that whole thing is going to end, OK?"
"That's another thing I'm fighting for because these people have to be brought to justice, but they should've been brought to justice before the election," he added. "But if we don't win this election, if we don't win that whole thing is going to be dismissed."
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