Chuck Grassley is out here dropping bombshells against the Obama administration having to do with the FISA abuses against Trump and his 2016 campaign staff. First he released this letter:
The “central and essential” evidence used to justify invasive surveillance of an American citizen in the FBI’s probe into Russian interference was, itself, an example of Russian interference, according to once-secret footnotes declassified at the urging of two U.S. Senators. The footnotes, part of the Justice Department Inspector General’s postmortem of the FBI’s flawed operation to spy on Trump campaign aide Carter Page, were released just hours after Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) renewed their push for transparency. The senators expect a fuller declassification in the coming days.
The footnotes reveal that, beginning early on and continuing throughout the FBI’s Russia investigation, FBI officials learned critical information streams that flowed to the dossier were likely tainted with Russian Intelligence disinformation. But the FBI aggressively advanced the probe anyway, ignoring internal oversight mechanisms and neglecting to flag the material credibility concerns for a secret court. Despite later intelligence reports that key elements of the FBI’s evidence were the result of Russian infiltration to undermine U.S. foreign relations, the FBI still pushed forward with its probe. It would eventually spill over into the years-long special counsel operation, costing taxpayers more than $30 million and increasing partisan divisions – all based on faulty evidence. In the end, the special counsel concluded that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia.
“For years, the public was fed a healthy diet of leaks, innuendo and false information to imply that President Trump and his campaign were part of a Russian conspiracy to spread disinformation. The FBI’s blind pursuit of the investigation, despite exculpatory and contradictory information, only legitimized the narrative. The mounting evidence undercutting this narrative should have stopped the investigation early in its tracks. Instead, it took several years and millions in taxpayer dollars to conclude that the allegations were baseless,” Grassley and Johnson said.
“Had FBI leadership heeded the numerous warnings of Russian disinformation, paid attention to the glaring contradictions in the pool of evidence and followed long-standing procedures to ensure accuracy, everyone would have been better off. Carter Page’s civil liberties wouldn’t have been shredded, taxpayer dollars wouldn’t have been wasted, the country wouldn’t be as divided and the FBI’s reputation wouldn’t be in shambles.
“It’s ironic that the Russian collusion narrative was fatally flawed because of Russian disinformation. These footnotes confirm that there was a direct Russian disinformation campaign in 2016, and there were ties between Russian intelligence and a presidential campaign – the Clinton campaign, not Trump’s.”
Then he dropped this heavy, if grammar-challenged, twitter thread that is absolutely lit:
Declassified footnotes frm DOJ IG report on FBI/Page FISA abuse show investigators were warned early+often evidence was tainted w Russian disinformation WHY DIDNT THEY HEED WARNINGS??? Unnecessary violations of Pages civil liberties could hv been avoided!!
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) April 10, 2020
shldnt hv taken 3 yrs+$30 million +special counsel 2debunk Trump collusion theory if FBI did their homework/followed rules We know there was no collusion & FISAs were bogus Thx 2declassification by Barr/Grenell/ @realDonaldTrump we now know the Russians were playing FBI frm start
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) April 10, 2020
These notes beg question of when FBI learned of Russian disinfo in dossier+what did they do about it?? Why did they keep renewing spying authority with this info? What did Mueller know and when? Did we even need Mueller?
More unmasking to come
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) April 10, 2020
ironic how FBI investigation into Russian disinformation/collusion w political campaign was built on flawed Steele dossier that was full of anti-Trump Russian disnformation+paid for by Clinton/DNC FBI tasked with guarding national security WE NEED YOU TO DO BETTER!!
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) April 10, 2020
Dang. I think we can safely say that this is not over, and there are likely to be more revelations from the investigation into the FISA abuses.
You can read the full text of his letter here.