Trump directs FBI, DOJ to declassify Russia-related documents, James Comey texts, and more – By Kelly Cohen (washingtonexaminer.com) / Sept 17 2018
President Trump on Monday ordered the Justice Department and FBI to immediately declassify key documents related to the FBI’s investigation on Russian actions during the 2016 presidential election — including text messages from former FBI Director James Comey and other top officials.
The demand for declassification, announced by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a statement, comes roughly two weeks after a dozen Republican lawmakers called on the president to do it.
The documents ordered declassified are a handful of pages of the June 2017 application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to continue surveillance of Trump campaign aide Carter Page, which originally began in 2016. Trump also ordered all FBI reports of interviews prepared in connection with all surveillance applications of Page be declassified and released.
Trump also ordered that all FBI reports of interviews prepared in connection with all Page surveillance applications be released.
Trump also ordered the declassification of all FBI reports of interviews DOJ official Bruce Ohr prepared in connection with the Russia investigation. Ohr had a close relationship with former British spy Christopher Steele, the author of the dossier connection Trump to Russia. Steele was hired by Fusion GPS, the same opposition research firm that Bruce Ohr’s wife, Nellie Ohr, was contracted by.
Trump also directed the Justice Department and FBI “to publicly release all text messages relating to the Russia investigation, without redaction,” of Comey and Ohr, as well as former FBI Deputy Director Andre McCabe.
The text messages of Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were also ordered to be released without redaction. Strzok and Page were both part of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, as well as the Russia investigation.
Strzok and Page — who were having an extra marital affair — were also detailed to the special counsel’s team, before being removed when Mueller found the two sent disparaging and biased text messages about Trump to one another. Strzok was eventually fired by the FBI and Page resigned.
Trump and Republicans have continually questioned the credibility of the Russia investigation, specifically how much the dossier — which was paid for by Democrats — was used by top federal law enforcement officials to justify launching it in 2016. Republicans have also insisted that the release of Russia-related documents will show overall bias atop the Justice Department and FBI.
Special counsel Robert Mueller took over the investigation in may 2017.
Democrats have decried the GOP efforts, characterizing them as a means to discredit Mueller’s investigation.
Trump has already declassified documents before at the urging of Republicans. In February, he declassified a memo written by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee that revealed some details about the Page surveillance warrant.
