WASHINGTON, D.C.- Law Enforcement Today has learned from media sources that the acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Richard Grenell allegedly had a “satchel” of documents related to the Russia collusion “investigation” which could be released as soon as today.
The Washington Examiner reported that Fox News chief White House correspondent Ed Henry had two sources who told him that Grenell was prepared to release additional documents.
Those documents would reportedly show that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA), along with other investigators “knew for a long time there was no collusion” between the campaign of Donald Trump and Russia.
This would goes against Schiff’s repeated claims that they had “direct evidence” the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia relative to the 2016 election.
On Thursday, dozens of witness transcripts were released by the House Intelligence Committee relative to the Russia investigation. According to the Washington Examiner, Schiff grudgingly released the documents which ended a showdown between him and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence over the process of declassifying the documents.
And House lawmakers released thousands of transcripts from previously secret witness interviews in an investigation into 2016 Russian election interference, rekindling partisan accusations amid President Trump’s re-election campaign. https://t.co/jrk0QmlUHT
— Bloomberg Government (@BGOV) May 8, 2020
In 2018, Republicans and Democrats had unanimously agreed to release the documents, and Republicans accused him of blocking their release.
In April of 2018, when the House was still under Republican control, the Intelligence Committee released a report that found no collusion in their investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia. Democrats argued at the time that the investigation “was shut down prematurely,” the Examiner said.
Meanwhile last year, special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation “did not establish” that there had been any type of conspiracy between Trump and Russia. Last fall, Schiff said that they would move quickly on releasing the transcripts.
Out of the 53 transcripts, Schiff has held 43 of them for over six months, refusing to turn them over even though they had gone through the declassification process. Part of the standoff involved the DNI wanting to allow the White House to review the transcripts, which Schiff resisted.
This past Wednesday, Schiff relented and said he would release the transcripts shortly after Grenell informed him in a letter that was obtained by the Washington Examiner that the redaction and declassification process was complete, and he would release them if the committee did not.
In a statement on Thursday, Grenell said:
“At the bipartisan request of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Intelligence Community reviewed all transcripts for classification and made appropriate redactions.
HPSCI voted unanimously in 2018 to officially release these transcripts and it is long past time that these are released,” Grenell said.
Schiff tried to lay the blame on the DNI for the “unnecessary delay” and of course on the White House for “its improper insistence on reviewing key transcripts,” while Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration pointed at Schiff for the delay.
According to Fox News, the transcripts revealed that several officials within the Obama administration, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, told investigators they had not seen “empirical evidence” showing member of the Trump election committee had conspired with Russia to turn the 2016 election.
“I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting/conspiring with the Russians to meddle with election,” Clapper said in 2017.
“That’s not to say that there weren’t concerns about the evidence we were seeing, anecdotal evidence…But I do not recall any instance where I had direct evidence.”
Likewise, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power was asked about the same issue. In the transcript of that interview, she replied:
“I am not in possession of anything—I am not in possession and didn’t read or absorb information that came from out of the intelligence community.”
Susan Rice, Obama’s National Security Adviser was asked the same question.
“To the best of my recollection, there wasn’t anything smoking, but there were some things that gave me pause,” she said, in response to whether she had seen any evidence of a conspiracy.
“I don’t recall intelligence that I would consider evidence to that effect that I saw…conspiracy prior to my departure,” a transcript of her interview said.
Rice was then asked whether she had any evidence of “coordination,” to which she replied:
“I don’t recall any intelligence or evidence to that effect.” When asked about collusion, Rice said, “Same answer.”
During his House intelligence interview, former Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes was asked the same question.
“I wouldn’t have received any information on any criminal or counterintelligence investigations into what the Trump campaign was doing, so I would not have seen that information,” Rhodes said.
When pressed further, he said, “I saw indications of potential coordination, but I did not see, you know, the specific evidence of the actions of the Trump campaign.”
Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who served under Obama also said that she “did not recall that being briefed up to me.” She said that she could not say if “it existed or not” when speaking to evidence of collusion.
Finally, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was asked about the legitimacy of the since-disproven bogus dossier compiled by Christopher Steele.
He was asked in 2017 about what he felt was the most “damning or important piece of evidence in the dossier that he now knows is true.”
“We have not been able to prove the accuracy of all the information,” McCabe replied.
“You don’t know if it’s true or not?” a House investigator asked, to which he replied, “That’s correct.”
Henry, who was reporting on Tucker Carlson Tonight, said that Attorney General William Barr had also received a separate “satchel” of documents. As Henry spoke, video played of Grenell personally delivering the documents to the Justice Department.
Henry said his sources were noncommittal as to the contents of the satchels, but that they expected the contents would be identified publicly on Friday.
Henry also noted in his report that a “senior administration source” told Fox News earlier that Schiff was in “panic mode” about the House Intelligence Committee witness transcripts, while now he may have been “even more panicked” now.
Earlier on Thursday the Justice Department filed a motion to drop all criminal charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying that the FBI had no legitimate basis for their interview of Flynn.
Schiff tried to claim that Flynn had tried to “undermine U.S. sanctions on Russia” during the transition period from Obama to Trump, with Flynn later being coerced by the FBI to plead guilty to charges of lying to investigators. The fact that the Justice Department dropped the charges blows holes in Schiff’s claims, just as the transcripts appear to.
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