In a bold move aimed at transparency and accountability, President Donald Trump signed a landmark executive order directing the FBI to immediately declassify all files related to the controversial “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation, an infamous federal probe seeking to determine if the president or his aides colluded with Russian agents to influence the 2016 election campaign.
For reference, the Crossfire Hurricane scandal began in July 2016 when the FBI initiated a counterintelligence investigation into President Trump’s presidential campaign. The investigation started when accusations arose from details in the now-infamous Steele dossier, later revealed to be a politically funded document commissioned by the Clinton campaign.
The landmark executive order releasing the previously classified documents was signed in front of the media at the White House on March 25. During the signing, President Trump announced sweeping declassification of materials following years of combative disputes that uncovered alarming details about the FBI’s conduct during the investigation.
Declaring it a long-overdue act, the president revealed the truth about what he described as a blatant weaponization of law enforcement powers. He said, “Which gives the media the right to go in and go and check it. You probably won’t bother because you’re not going to like what you see. But this was total weaponization. It’s a disgrace. It never happened in this country.”
Continuing, the president then mockingly addressed members of the media. He said, “But now you’ll be able to see for yourselves all declassified? Is that correct? Just saying, all declassified… Is anybody going to look? Frankly, the FBI should be ashamed of themselves, and so should the Department of Justice, and so should Biden.”
Following the announcement, the president released a memorandum addressed to the Attorney General, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Director of the CIA. In it, the president said, “By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby direct the following: Except as provided below, I have determined that all of the materials referenced in the Presidential Memorandum of January 19, 2021 (Declassification of Certain Materials Related to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane Investigation), are no longer classified.”
The president’s memorandum noted that certain information must remain classified to keep America’s intelligence services safe. He said, “My decision to declassify the materials described above does not extend to materials that must be protected from disclosure pursuant to orders of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.”
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Concluding his memorandum, the president clarified additional information and mandated the immediate release of declassified documents. He said, “What is not required is the disclosure of certain personally identifiable information or any other materials that must be protected from disclosure under applicable law. Subject to the exceptions identified above, the Attorney General shall make declassified materials described in this memorandum available to the public immediately.”
Watch the signing of the executive order here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video