[Pages S5479-S5480]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Federal Bureau of Investigation

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, once again, I am going to remind people 
that there was some wrong done by the U.S. Government between the 
periods of about 6 years ago to 10 years ago, and the taxpayers of this 
country might wonder why a Senator is bringing this stuff up. It 
involves government coverup. The public's business always ought to be 
public, and if there is government coverup, we need to make sure that 
the public knows about it and people in government know about it that 
might be wanting to cover up things today so they learn a lesson that I 
hope I can say that nobody is going to get away with wrongdoing if they 
are working for the U.S. Government.
  So here I go on something that most people would consider history but 
has got a present-day purpose for doing. As part of my longstanding 
oversight of the FBI's discredited, ``Crossfire Hurricane'' 
investigation into President Trump, this week I made public a formerly 
classified document. Probably most of it shouldn't have been classified 
in the first place. That is the way the government does things to cover 
up.
  The American people deserve to see the facts that the FBI previously 
buried. This document, known as the Durham Annex, contains intelligence 
suggesting Hillary Clinton's campaign fabricated the Trump-Russia 
narrative in 2016. But the FBI turned a blind eye to the evidence. In 
other words, it was used as a political weapon.
  The American people deserve full transparency about the FBI's failure 
to investigate this intelligence and related records so that America's 
law enforcement Agencies and intelligence communities aren't weaponized 
again.
  I am grateful to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash 
Patel for working with me to totally bring this information to light, 
and it is just not those two people that President Trump has appointed 
but other people like Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, 
have done in other ways things that were buried by previous 
administrations that she is making public knowledge of. And I could 
say, very generally, that the Trump administration is better than any 
Republican or Democratic administration in the past of trying to get

[[Page S5480]]

some of this wrongdoing out and declassifying stuff that shouldn't have 
been classified in the first place.
  Now, what I have just told you is not the end of the story. There is 
a lot more to uncover, and you can expect more documents to be released 
from this Senator in the coming months. This is not a Republican issue, 
this is not a Democrat issue, this is an issue of the bureaucracy, in 
this case the FBI being used as a political weapon, covering up. In 
fact, some of these documents that I released, Director Patel told me, 
and I think he also told the public this, that they found some of this 
evidence in what the FBI would call a burn bag.
  So we have got to make sure that this stuff doesn't happen again.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.