“Providing documents to commission majorities without disclosure to the minority is unacceptable,” Wyden later added. “Giving access to documents for review by Republican staff without notice or or inclusion of Democratic personnel is also unacceptable.”
Wyden’s letter is the latest salvo in the ongoing partisan battle over Republican House of Representatives investigations targeting Obama administration officials, including the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. President Joe Biden.
Those investigations are mainly aided by Senate Senate Security and Government Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Chancellor of the Exchequer Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Speaker of the R-Iowa First Chamber Election Lindsey Graham (RS.C.). Democrats have accused their GOP colleagues of using the probes to increase President Donald Trump’s chances of re-election by targeting the president’s political opponents, particularly Biden.
Wyden cited several instances in which he says the FBI provided documents to the majority party without informing Democrats or giving them access to the information.
For example, according to Wyden, the FBI showed Republican employees sensitive documents related to an FBI briefing Trump received shortly before he took office, but Democrats were “not informed of or given an opportunity to participate in this review.” ” A similar practice was followed for documents related to defensive briefings delivered to the Trump campaign and staff president of the president, Wyden said.
The senator quoted a letter on August 7 from the director of the FBI’s Congress of Affairs stating that the agency had “stored resources to speed up the processing” of GOP requests for information related to Trump transition team. According to Wyden, the letter also states that the FBI’s compliance is due to “extraordinary and unique circumstances, and should in no way be construed as a pre-emptive strike.”
Wyden said FBI law enforcement officials “described these circumstances as an oversight that would be remedied in advance.” He also said that in a staff-level phone call earlier this month, FBI staff “refused to discuss” whether the agency had determined that the Republican investigations served a valid legislative purpose.
“Nevertheless, FBI agents argued that providing this kind of highly sensitive information to commissions without clear jurisdiction over such matters was indeed exceptional and would not be repeated in the future,” Wyden added.
FBI agents did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wyden’s letter. Taylor Foy, a spokesman for Grassley, said Wyden had never requested such information from the FBI.
“Nevertheless, Sen. Grassley has often called on all governments to respond to requests for oversight from members of the majority and minority parties in Congress,” Foy added. “It looks like the FBI is trying to do that with these requests – many of them date back to then. Grassley was chairman of the Judiciary Committee.”
Although Wray is a Trump nominee, he has often angered congressional Republicans, especially when it comes to overseeing the FBI’s actions before and after the 2016 presidential election, in which the Trump campaign was the target of a deliberate investigation. in connection with Russian interference in the campaign.
Last week, Johnson issued a writ of summons to Wray demanding all documents related to that probe. Two days later, Graham published a statement detailing a telephone conversation with Wray, saying the FBI chief was “committed to being helpful – in an appropriate way – by balancing the needs of Office staff with public transparency for benefit the American people. “
“Director Wray urged me to hold his commitment to accountability to those who may have committed breaches of law or policy, thereby providing appropriate process sooner rather than later,” Graham continued.
Indeed, Trump has openly encouraged the investigation by GOP leadership of the House of Representatives, and even pushed Graham to one point to drag in former President Barack Obama before the Judiciary Committee – a suggestion that Graham flatly rejected.
Johnson has meanwhile accused Democrats of seeking to undermine his investigations aimed at the Obama administration and the Biden family, specifically the son of former Vice President Hunter and his role in the council of a Ukrainian energy company.
Earlier this month, US intelligence officials said Kremlin-affiliated Ukrainians were trying to intervene in the 2020 presidential election by printing similar corruption allegations against Biden, specifically the name of a Ukrainian lawmaker, Andriy Derkach, who provided information about Biden has sent to Trump allies across Capitol Hill.
