Senate GOP urges White House to declassify key remaining Crossfire Hurricane documents

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) urged the White House on Thursday to release the remaining documents related to the FBI’s discredited investigation into alleged ties between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government, claiming key materials remain classified more than a year after Trump’s order to declassify all documents.Grassley, along with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of a Senate investigative subcommittee, sent a letter to the president requesting all remaining documents be declassified in line with Trump’s March 2025 executive order regarding the discredited investigation that consumed much of Trump’s first term in the White House.The letter points out three key sets of documents that have yet to be declassified and released to the public. The sets of documents include a December 2019 email and attachment from then-FBI Section Chief Tony Riedlinger to FBI Supervisory Special Agent Joe Pientka that the senators claim appear to “corroborate existing public evidence” that Trump was the subject of a political hit job rather than a fact-based investigation, an “approximately 400-page DOJ Inspection Division investigation report,” and the full transcripts from interviews the DOJ inspector general conducted as part of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. “Your administration possesses a treasure trove of records that prove out weaponization against Republicans, including you and your family, which we’ve investigated for many years,” the two GOP senators said in their letter to the president. “These records need to see the light of day consistent with your declassification Executive Order and the overriding public interest.”Grassley and Johnson said that while they appreciate the “strong efforts to bring transparency and accountability to Crossfire Hurricane and its related investigations,” the requested documents have yet to be declassified despite the March 2025 order.“The more we’ve investigated the matter, the more information has come to light exposing the political rot that infected that operation from the get-go,” the two senators said.The push from the two Senate Republican committee chairmen comes ahead of the GOP loss of control of the upper chamber in January. When Democrats retake control of the Senate, along with retaking control of the House, many of Congress’s investigative committees will likely be used to investigate Trump and his administration.RUSSIAGATE DEFINITIVE TIMELINE: HOW NEW INTELLIGENCE DOCUMENTS FIT INThe House and Senate GOP have focused their investigative committees on alleged weaponization of government by the Biden and Obama administrations against Trump dating back to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation of the president’s 2016 campaign.Earlier this year, the White House declassified documents related to a subinvestigation of Crossfire Hurricane, titled “Oxferd Comma,” which looked into whether Trump was acting on behalf of Russia when he fired then-FBI Director James Comey in 2017.