Devin Nunes is fed up.
The FBI has been playing games by trying to slow walk his investigation into the Bureau’s conduct during their investigation of Donald Trump.
Now all bets are off and Nunes has some really bad news for the FBI.
Nunes fired off a letter demanding the FBI comply with the House Intelligence Committee’s subpoena for documents to shed light on how the FBI moved forward with the Russia investigation after an Australian diplomat connected to the Clinton Foundation claimed a minor Trump campaign aide had told him he knew about the Russians having Clinton’s emails.
The Bureau previously provided heavily redacted documents of the electronic communication that kicked off the counterintelligence investigation.
But Nunes is now demanding they turn over the original.
Investigative journalist Sara Carter reports:
“The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) demanded Wednesday that the FBI and DOJ comply with the committee’s subpoena to review documents pertaining to the bureau’s Russia investigation. In particular, the committee wants the un-redacted version of the original investigative document, also known as “Electronic Communication” that launched the FBI counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign, according to a letter issued by the Chairman.
Chairman Devin Nunes, R-CA, sent the letter to Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray warning them that their lack of compliance with the committee’s original Aug. 24, 2017 subpoena to turn over all requested documents could result in “the Committee pursuing all appropriate legal remedies, including seeking civil enforcement” in a federal district court. The committee gave the FBI and DOJ until April 11 to turn over all the documentation requested.
“The DOJ and FBI are attempting to keep us from seeing an un-redacted copy of it”
congressional official said.
The request for the un-redacted version of the originating “electronic communication” is new and it reveals that the committee is looking into the FBI’s initiation of the investigation into alleged collusion between President Trump and Russia in the 2016 presidential election. The document would be a detailed report of the FBI’s reasoning to move forward with the investigation into the Trump campaign after the bureau was informed by Australian authorities of a conversation Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos had with one of their diplomats at a London bar.
“This is a key document in getting the whole thing started,” stated a congressional official, with knowledge of the investigation. “The DOJ and FBI are attempting to keep us from seeing an un-redacted copy of it.”
Trump expressed his outrage on twitter that the FBI and DOJ have been slow to comply with requests for documents.
So sad that the Department of “Justice” and the FBI are slow walking, or even not giving, the unredacted documents requested by Congress. An embarrassment to our country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2018
It’s clear Chairman Nunes feels the same.
Will it be enough to force the FBI to comply with Congress – which has oversight authority over the Bureau as dictated by the Constitution?
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this story.
