What is 'Crossfire Hurricane'? Trump declassifies probe documents before leaving office
President Donald Trump’s tenure at the White House is set to conclude on Wednesday, January 20, and on the eve of the inauguration of his successor Joe Biden, the former authorized the declassification of a set of documents related to the probe of his 2016 presidential campaign’s contacts with Russia.
The Republican has long revealed his intention to publicize sensitive materials linked with the probe, an exercise he repeatedly called a “witch hunt”. In his final weeks in the White House, Trump has pardoned key figures like George Papadopoulos, a 2016 campaign aide whose connections with a Russia-linked professor helped ignite the investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane. Papadopoulos, a foreign policy advisor on Trump’s 2016 campaign, apparently called “Crossfire Typhoon” by probing agencies, told an Australian diplomat during a drinking session at a wine bar in London that he had heard Russia having thousands of emails that would embarrass Trump’s presidential rival that year — Hillary Clinton.
It was not clear, however, which documents Trump sought to declassify a day before the conclusion of his term, Politico reported. In a memorandum issued on Tuesday, January 19, Trump said: “At my request, on December 30, 2020, the Department of Justice provided the White House with a binder of materials related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Portions of the documents in the binder have remained classified and have not been released to the Congress or the public. I requested the documents so that a declassification review could be performed and so I could determine to what extent materials in the binder should be released in unclassified form."
He added: “I determined that the materials in that binder should be declassified to the maximum extent possible. In response, and as part of the iterative process of the declassification review, under a cover letter dated January 17, 2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation noted its continuing objection to any further declassification of the materials in the binder and also, on the basis of a review that included Intelligence Community equities, identified the passages that it believed it was most crucial to keep from public disclosure. I have determined to accept the redactions proposed for continued classification by the FBI in that January 17 submission.”
What is Crossfire Hurricane?
Crossfire Hurricane is the codename for the investigation which the FBI undertook between July 31, 2016, and May 17, 2017, into alleged connections between Trump’s associates and officials from Russia and whether individuals involved with Trump's presidential campaign worked with the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 election.
The probe was originally launched on July 31, 2016, initially over Papadopoulos’s early assertions that Russia has materials that would harm Hillary Clinton. Between July and November 2016, joint efforts between the FBI, CIA and NSA went through evidence of Moscow meddling in the election that year. A special counsel investigation took over the FBI’s work in May 2017 and it resulted in the Mueller Report. On the very first page of the report, Robert Mueller asserted that the Russian government “interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion”.
Crossfire Hurricane a massive system failure: Lindsey Graham
Recently, the Senate Judiciary Committee led by GOP Senator Lindsey Graham released transcripts of interviews conducted in times of its inquiry into the origins and aftermath of the Crossfire Hurricane probe. Calling the investigation a “massive system failure”, Graham said: “I consider the Crossfire Hurricane investigation a massive system failure by senior leadership, but not representative of the dedicated, hardworking patriots who protect our nation every day at Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice.
“As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I have decided to release all transcripts of depositions involving the committee’s oversight of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. We have released as much material as possible, but some classified material has still been withheld. I appreciate all those who participated in the depositions and their candor. They have charted a path to allow us to reform the system. I believe that Crossfire Hurricane was one of the most incompetent and corrupt investigations in the history of the FBI and DOJ,” he added.
