The documents are the latest in a series of Ratcliffe revelations to Republicans in Congress seeking to support claims by Trump and his allies that the FBI’s investigation of Trump was politically motivated and corrupt.
The agents’ decision to monitor the briefing seemed to point to obtaining information from Trump’s close adviser, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who attended the briefing with Trump, and then-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who was the leader of the Trump transition team on the hour. Flynn was codenamed “Crossfire Razor” by investigators, and the document’s headline includes a reference to his case. At the time, Trump had recently secured the Republican presidential nomination.
The summary indicates that the agent coordinating the briefing, Joe Pientka, also one of the agents who later interviewed Flynn days after Trump’s inauguration in 2017, paid particular attention to mentions that Trump or Flynn made of Russia. .
“During the [intelligence] writings, the writer actively listened to issues or questions about the Russian Federation, ”wrote Pientka.
Although there were a handful of mentions from Russia, it is unclear whether the agents’ approach yielded anything of importance. At one point, after Trump’s informants described the Chinese and Russian intelligence officers operating in the United States, Trump chimed in with a question: “Joe, are Russians bad?”
“The writer responded by saying that both countries are bad,” wrote Pientka.
Trump also asked which country, Russia or China, was worse when it came to violations of nuclear test bans. According to Pientka, the brief replied: “They are both bad, but Russia is worse.”
“Trump and Christie turned to each other and Christie commented, ‘I’m amazed,'” Pientka wrote.
The document, dated August 30, 2016, was written two weeks after Trump’s briefing and one month after the FBI opened the Hurricane Crossfire investigation. It was approved by one of the main investigative agents, Peter Strzok, whose anti-Trump text messages during the campaign have fueled Trump’s claims that the investigation was a “hoax”.
It was also approved by FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith, who was accused by the Justice Department inspector general of tampering with an email that was used to obtain a surveillance warrant against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Pientka’s contemporary notes to the report were also declassified. They include a general summary of the topics that were discussed.
During the briefing, FBI officials warned Trump that foreign agents may try to reach out to his associates, including family, friends, and campaign staff. Although Trump has argued that he was never explicitly warned that the FBI had concerns that some of his closest aides were engaged, including Flynn and campaign manager Paul Manafort, the file indicates that he and his team received a general warning about the possibility.
During a discussion of some foreign intelligence capabilities, Flynn mentioned that he had been responsible for signal intelligence during his time as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Pientka replied that this should give him a good idea of the capabilities that foreign powers could deploy against the United States.
“Trump stated, ‘Yes, I understand this is a dark moment,'” Pientka described. “’Nothing is safe on computers anymore. We used to lock things in a safe in one room. Now anyone can enter. My son is ten years old. He has a computer and we give him a keyword. In ten minutes he broke the keyword. “
In addition to information about Trump’s first intelligence briefing, Ratcliffe declassified on Thursday a series of emails between Pientka and Strzok, in which Strzok requests that counterintelligence agents be included in future briefings.
