House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) launched a probe to conduct oversight over Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into former President Donald Trump for the handling of papers at Mar-a-Lago.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Jordan requested information about the probe to ensure the investigation is not politicized by the FBI, which suffers from a lack of public trust after improperly involving itself in the 2016 Russia hoax.
[D]ue to the FBI’s documented political bias, the Justice Department must ensure any ongoing investigations are not poisoned by this same politicization,” Jordan wrote Garland in reference to Special Counsel John Durham’s report on Crossfire Hurricane.
Durham’s report confirmed what many suspected since the Russian hoax narrative began: that the FBI launched a politically motivated attack against the president, using the weak pretexts to “swiftly” initiate a probe into him while dismissing intelligence that Hillary Clinton’s campaign plotted to perpetrate the false narrative of Russia collusion to distract from her mismanagement of a private server.
“Public trust in the FBI is low,” Jordan continued. “Recent examples of political bias in FBI and Department of Justice operations show that the so-called ‘corrective measures’ the FBI instituted after Crossfire Hurricane have done nothing to address, let alone cure, the institutional rot that pervades the FBI.”
“We therefore request that you provide the following information”:
1. Provide information about the use of FBI personnel by Special Counsel Jack Smith, including but not limited to the following:
a. The total number of FBI employees assigned to work on the investigation;
b. The number of FBI employees from FBI Headquarters working on the investigation; and
c. The number of FBI employees from the Washington Field Office working on the investigation;
2. Explain whether any FBI employees who have worked on Special Counsel Smith’s investigation previously worked on any other matters concerning President Trump; and
3. Explain whether Special Counsel Smith’s investigation relies on any information or material gathered exclusively by the FBI prior the Special Counsel’s appointment.
🚨#BREAKING: Jim Jordan Probes the FBI’s Role In Trump Special Counsel Investigation pic.twitter.com/lXAEOrIFB7
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) June 2, 2023
Jordan’s letter comes as the special counsel’s probe reportedly is nearly complete. Garland appointed the special counsel to investigate Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents along with his efforts to challenge the 2020 presidential election results.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
