Trump Orders Declassification of Long-Withheld Spy Records

Trump Orders Declassification of Long-Withheld Spy Records

 

October 5, 2020 Updated: October 5, 2020
President Donald Trump on Monday directed White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to begin the process of declassifying more documents tied to the Obama administration’s investigation and spying on the Trump 2016 presidential campaign.
“He’s already tasked me with getting some declassification rolling in follow up to some of the requests that Devin Nunes and others have made,” Meadows told “Fox and Friends” on Monday morning, referring to House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)
The show’s hosts did not ask Meadows for details, but the mention of Nunes suggests that part of the declassification may deal with documents the California Republican brought up during an interview on Sunday.
Nunes told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo that he is looking to declassify two more summaries of the FBI interviews of Igor Danchenko, the primary source of the infamous Steele dossier.
A Washington-based Russian national, Danchenko was once suspected of being a spy for Moscow and investigated by the FBI, according to documents released by Attorney General William Barr last month. The summary of the FBI’s first interview with Danchenko revealed that Christopher Steele, the author of the Steele dossier, amplified rumors from Danchenko and presented them as serious claims in the dossier. The interview summary also revealed that Danchenko was not a highly-placed Kremlin source, but instead a run-of-the-mill Washington analyst who sourced his information from childhood acquaintances.
“The American public needs to see the three reports that we know about at least from the Democrats’ Russian spy that they hired,” Nunes said.
The congressman also referred to more classified documents tied to the information released last week by Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe. In a letter (pdf) to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Ratcliffe disclosed that the CIA in late July 2016 came into possession of a Russian intelligence analysis that claimed that Hillary Clinton approved a plot on July 26, 2016, to dirty up the Trump campaign by insinuating a link between the Trump campaign and Russia in connection with the alleged hacking of the Democratic National Committee. The plan was meant to distract the public from the Clinton-email scandal, according to the intelligence.
“The Clinton campaign created this sick fantasy. Then they went out and hired avatars to do it,” Nunes said.
“The documents that are underlying that we now have seen—I’ve only seen a few of those—they’re definitely smoking guns. That information definitely needs to be made available to the American public. And from what I understand there is even more underlying evidence that backs up what Director Ratcliffe put out,” he added.
Nunes underlined how long it took to get the government to release some of the documents. He and his colleagues have been pushing for the information since early 2017.
“We want every damn bit of evidence that every intelligence agency has or it’s maybe time to shut those agencies down, because at the end of the day our liberties are more important than anything else we have in this country and they have been stampeded over by these dirty cops and the Democratic Party and the media who fails to report on it,” Nunes said.
CIA Director John Brennan personally briefed President Barack Obama in July 2016 about the Clinton intelligence, according to the DNI, who cited notes taken by Brennan. The intelligence was also passed on as a criminal referral to FBI Director James Comey and special agent Peter Strzok.
In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comey claimed to not remember receiving the referral.
The remarks by Meadows did not limit the declassification request to what Nunes said on Sunday. Over the years, Nunes has sought a large number of documents related to the origins of Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s codename for the investigation of the Trump campaign, and conduct of its investigators. Meadows’s reference to “others” may include document requests from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) and Graham, among others.
The Obama-era FBI used a range of government surveillance tools in 2016 and 2017 to target Trump campaign associates as part of the Crossfire Hurricane probe. The bureau used Steele’s dossier, without verifying it, to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The Clinton campaign was Steele’s ultimate client, a fact the FBI failed to disclose to the secret surveillance court.
One of the officials involved in obtaining the FISA warrant on Page pleaded guilty in August to a false statements charge. FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith admitted to forging an email to falsely convey that Page had not been a source for the CIA, even though the CIA had advised the bureau that the opposite was true.
Follow Ivan on Twitter: @ivanpentchoukov

Views: 4

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Doc Vega posted blog posts
18 hours ago
Burbia commented on Less Prone's photo
Thumbnail

Rebuilding Khazaria

"UAE are cousins to these beings also. "
yesterday
tjdavis posted photos
yesterday
tjdavis commented on tjdavis's photo
yesterday
Less Prone favorited tjdavis's video
yesterday
tjdavis posted videos
yesterday
MAC posted a discussion
yesterday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
yesterday
Doc Vega posted photos
yesterday
tjdavis posted a blog post
Wednesday
tjdavis posted photos
Wednesday
Doc Vega posted a blog post
Tuesday
cheeki kea commented on Less Prone's photo
Thumbnail

Rebuilding Khazaria

" You could be right Burbia. Not Khazaria either because according to Themselves- DNA wise its…"
Tuesday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Thumbnail

meanwhile in africa

" Lesson of the day must be Don't poke the bear or it will poke you. ( I'm sure we…"
Tuesday
cheeki kea posted a photo
Tuesday
tjdavis posted a video
Tuesday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Shadows Across the Land

Shadows Across the Land Watching the storm coming over the horizon somedayWondering when reality…See More
Monday
FREEDOMROX posted a blog post
Sunday
FREEDOMROX posted a video
Sunday
tjdavis posted a video

Deliverance - Prince

From the unreleased EP "Deliverance", which was assembled by a sound designer who intended for its posthumous release on the one-year anniversary of Prince's...
Sunday

© 2024   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted