President Donald Trump signed a memorandum Tuesday calling for the immediate declassification of most FBI files related to the agency’s investigation into the since debunked allegations Trump colluded with Russia during his first presidential run – known as Crossfire Hurricane.
The FBI launched its Crossfire Hurricane investigation in July 2016 in the midst of Trump’s campaign against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The investigation was meant to uncover whether the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia to illegally influence the outcome of the election, allegations pushed by the mainstream media.
“This was obviously one of the instances of the weaponization of [the] law enforcement powers of prosecution against you and others,” said White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf, as he handed the memorandum to Trump for signing. “We believe that it’s long past time for the American people to have a full and complete understanding of what exactly is in those files.”
Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigated the claims and “did not establish” any criminal collusion between Trump and Russia.
Trump already signed a similar memorandum before leaving office in January 2021 declassifying investigation files the Department of Justice had provided to the White House to the “the maximum extent possible.” Trump simultaneously challenged the media Tuesday to dig into the files, insinuating that they wouldn’t find anything incriminating against him there.
“You probably won’t bother because you’re not going to like what you see, but this was total weaponization. It’s a disgrace – should never happen in this country,” the president said. “But now you’ll be able to see for yourselves. All declassified.”
Exempt from declassification is redacted information in an FBI cover letter dated Jan. 17, 2021, as well as materials protected by orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and “personally identifiable information or any other materials that must be protected from disclosure under applicable law.”
The declassification comes at a time when the president’s foreign policy toward Russia and Ukraine has been under scrutiny.
