The FBI division overseeing the investigation into the handling of classified materials at former President Trump's Mar Arago residence also is the focus of John Durham's investigation into alleged abuses of power and political bias in the Bureau during Trump's years of Russiagate investigations.
The FBI's nine-hour raid by his 30 agents against the former Florida president's mansion was not in Miami, as was widely reported, Part of a counterintelligence operation carried out in Washington. Sources of information on FBI case documents and issues. The bureau's counterintelligence divisionled a 2016-2017 investigation into Trump's "collusion" in Russia, codenamed "Crossfire Hurricane."
His former head of Crossfire Hurricane, Peter Strzok, was fired after his acrimonious anti-Trump tweets were exposed, while several members of his team were in the counterintelligence unit. It continues to work, sources say. It is under active investigation by both Durham and the agency's disciplinary arm, the Office of Professional Responsibility. The FBI did not respond to questions about its role in the Mar-a-Lago case.
Additionally, Supervisory Intelligence Analyst Brian Auten, a key member of the Crossfire team, has an ongoing investigation into potentially incriminating content found on President Biden's abandoned laptop. continues to be involved in politically sensitive investigations, including federal investigations during Hunter Biden's son, according to recent correspondence between the Senate Judiciary Committee and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
An FBI whistleblower has accused Auten of insulting Hunter Biden. Investigative efforts were halted after it was labeled as Russian “disinformation” during a 2020 campaign claiming it falsely tried to discredit evidence.
Auten referred him for disciplinary review in 2019 by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz for his role in reviewing Hillary Clinton's campaign-funded documents. has since been cleared to work on highly sensitive cases despite being under internal investigation. Used by the FBI to obtain a series of wiretapping warrants to spy on ex-Trump his campaign adviser Carter Page.
Horowitz alleges that Auten cut many corners in the verification process, including information he knew to be false in the warrant affidavit, and even allowed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court to mislead the Court. , chose Oten.
In congressional testimony earlier this month, Wray said that "several" former Crossfire members of his Hurricane team were still employed by the Bureau while undergoing disciplinary review. I have confirmed that In the meantime, sources say, Wray is only preventing the former Russiagate agent from participating in his FISA wiretapping application.
Senator Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked Ray for a copy of recent case files and reports Oten had prepared, including him on the team assembled by the FBI. I asked Ray to determine if there is. Confiscated Trump records are within and outside the scope of the counter-espionage investigation.
"It's a disgrace that Auten is still employed by the Bureau," said Michael Biasello, a 27-year FBI veteran. "I'm going to replace other analysts and agents."
Justice's top counterintelligence officer, Jay Bratt, visited Mar-a-Lago in early June to meet with Trump. I personally inspected the storage facility while interacting with one of his attorneys. Trump allowed three of his FBI agents, brought in by Bratt, to open the boxes in the storage room and examine the contents. They left some documents.
After his departure, Brattasked Trump's attorneys to increase security at the facility and asked him to view surveillance footage from security cameras. Lawyers complied. Before the Justice Department took any politically explosive action, FBI agents were sent unannounced to Trump's home to retrieve documents, photographs from multiple rooms on the premises, including the former president's office, as well as storage facilities. , seized other items.
Former FBI Deputy Director Chris Swecker said the search warrants obtained by agents were very extensive. He noted that it allowed the seizure of any form of information related to "defense intelligence," which "does not necessarily include classified information."
} "This is a large, far-reaching search warrant and a large, far-reaching investigation into a former president," Swecker said.
Additionally,the physical search of the former president's residence was much more extensive than first reported,dozens of bedrooms and numerous storage rooms and closets. It involved unsupervised voyeurism, he said. Including the former First Lady. FBI agents brought out countless boxes and containers of papers and other materials, including several binders containing photographs and even three passports that belonged to the former president. rice field.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has said that the DOJ seeks to "narrow the scope of investigations that are conducted," but the details of the warrant were not available until investigators opened the entire box of records. Reveals that it had the authority to seize - Subject to Attorney Client Privileges and Executive Privileges — if only one document in the container is marked with a confidential mark.
Agent seizes containers or boxes "found together" It was also authorized, according to Attachment B of the warrant ("property to be seized"), to contain classified documents. In addition, FBI agents were given powers to confiscate "governmental and/or presidential records created between January 20, 2017 and January 20, 2021." This covers the entire Trump term. That meant they were able to get their hands on any item related to the Trump administration.
Altogether, dozens of boxes and containers were removed from Trump's residence, but few actually contained classified information, sources said.
Federal Election Commission records show that Bratt gave the Democratic National Committee at least $800, including $800, to only Democrats. Sources say he is close to his replacement, David Raufman, as Justice's top counterintelligence officer. Obama donor Raufman helped oversee the Russiagate investigation and the Clinton email case, which contained classified information.
Senate investigators are the 'mastermind' behind Raufmann's strategy to shatter and 'weaponize' a rarely enforced legal relic, the Foreign Agents Registration Act. said. Investigators said it was similar to current attempts to enforce the Presidential Records Act against Trump by invoking the Espionage Act of 1917.
Raufmann authorized wiretapping of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Altering emails, concealing evidence of innocence, and other wrongdoing.
Rauffman, who suddenly resurfaced as a media agent for the Justice Department defending the Mar-a-Lago attack, said he was a key source of articles by the Post, CNN and other news outlets. I'm here.
For example, on CNN, he claimed that the documents seized from Trump's vault were "particularly astonishing, and particularly egregious," and that their findings were a "demonstration against the former president." "It fully verifies the government investigation," he quickly added. It remains to be seen whether this investigation will lead to full criminal prosecution.
Swecker said he had good reason to fear that the FBI's counterintelligence division would politicize the case.
"Sure, the FBI has thrown himself into a big hole because of the way the Clinton [mail] case, Crossfire he's a hurricane, Hunter he's handled the Biden case," Swecker said. said. "Myself and many of my colleagues think we're walking on very thin ice here."
"Unfortunately, you can't turn down an entire division of the FBI," he said. added.
Reprinted with permission of RealClearInvestigations.