EXCLUSIVE: A recently declassified document obtained by Fox News reveals that the FBI agent who released the defensive report on electoral interference in the Trump campaign in August 2016 “actively listened” to certain topics, using it as a “cover” to monitor the then Candidate Donald Trump and Michael Flynn, said a source familiar with the document.
The document, obtained by Fox News, was declassified by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and transmitted to Capitol Hill.
The document reflects typewritten notes by FBI agent Joe Pientka after a briefing on August 17, 2016 with then-candidate Donald Trump, Michael Flynn and Chris Christie, “in support of the ODNI briefings provided to the United States presidential candidates and two of their advisers. “
The briefing, which was held at the FBI’s New York Field Office, also included a “13-minute defensive briefing” delivered by Pientka. The ODNI informant was Edward Gistaro, according to the document.
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The document was dated August 30, 2016 and filed under “Crossfire Hurricane,” the FBI code name for its investigation into whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians to influence the 2016 election; “Crossfire Razor”, the FBI code name for the Michael Flynn investigation; “Russia Sensitive Investigative Matter” and FARA, the Law on Registration of Foreign Agents.
The document states that FBI officials Kevin Clinesmith and Peter Strzok “approved” Pientka’s notes.
The source told Fox News that Pientka, at the time of the briefing, was also tasked with leading the FBI’s investigation into Flynn.
The source went on to tell Fox News that the report was used as “a cover for listening to any comments” by Trump or others about the Russian federation.
During the briefing, the source told Fox News that Trump asked Pientka: “Joe, are Russians bad? Because they have more numbers, are they worse than the Chinese?
Pientka, according to the notes, responded by saying, “Both countries are bad.”
The source told Fox News that it was Pientka’s duty “to warn and tell the candidate what they needed to monitor,” but that he did not implicitly warn that the “Russians were targeting the campaign.”
“During ODNI reports, the writer actively listened to issues or questions about the Russian Federation,” Pientka wrote in his notes.
According to the notes, the ODNI informant said the United States “is the world leader in counterterrorism.”
“Trump asked, ‘Russia too?'” Pientka wrote. “During a discussion regarding nuclear testing, Russia and China were raised for cheating on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Trump asked: ‘Who is worse?’ [REDACTED] He declared that “both are bad, but Russia is worse.”
The notes added: “Trump and Christie turned to each other and Christie commented, ‘I’m amazed.'”
Meanwhile, according to the source and the document, the Pientka case file was “approved” by Clinesmith and Strzok.
A senior administration official told Fox News on Thursday that the recently declassified document “shows the same cast of virulent characters who spearheaded Russia’s deception, prompting Trump to jump.”
“Clinesmith, the FISA counterfeiter and his trusted partner, Strzok, attempted to fulfill their promise to prevent Trump from winning,” the official told Fox News. “An Informational Scam from a Team of Scammers of Scammers at the FBI”.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz discovered last year that Clinesmith altered an email to say that former Trump campaign aide Carter Page had not been a CIA source when he had actually been working with them. This eventually led the FBI to renew an order of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) against Page while leaving exculpatory evidence out of its enforcement.
Pientka participated in the January 2017 interview at the White House that led to Flynn’s prosecution.
Fox News has previously determined that Pientka was also intimately involved in the investigation of former Trump aide Carter Page, which the Justice Department has since acknowledged was riddled with fundamental errors and was based on a discredited dossier that the bureau was told it could be part of a Russian disinformation Campaign.
Meanwhile, Fox News also obtained a recently declassified document that appeared to be Pientka’s summary for the briefing with the Trump team, dated August 17, 2016, and also labeled “Hurricane Crossfire” and “Scheme Used During the Trump report on 8/17/16. “
The document outlined the issue that Pientka reported to the Trump team and included handwritten notes in the margins.
The handwritten notes refer to Flynn, during the briefing, asking Pientka “How many special agents are there in the FBI?”, To which Pientka replied “over 10,000.”
The initial document said that Flynn replied: “You have 17,000.”
The initial document revealed that Flynn asked Pientka if Russia’s threat was “worse now than during the Cold War.”
“The writer replied that the number of known and suspected identified IOs of hostile Foreign Intelligence Services published in the United States is equal to or greater than during the Cold War,” the initial document said.
In the document outlining the guidelines for the briefing, Pientka scribbled side notes, including “Flynn worse than the Cold War” and “Flynn 17,000,” among other illegible notes.
Fox News’ Gregg Re contributed to this report.
