President Donald Trump on Tuesday (Mar 26) ordered the immediate declassification of material related to the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane Investigation on alleged Russian meddling into US elections, which he had repeatedly called the 'Russia hoax'. While much of this is already in the public domain thanks to several media leaks and a partial declassification in 2023, there may still be material that could potentially reveal some national security secrets.

Advertisment

In a memo addressed to the attorney general, director of national intelligence and director of Central Intelligence Agency, Trump wrote: "I have determined that all of the materials referenced in the Presidential Memorandum of January 19, 2021 (Declassification of Certain Materials Related to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane Investigation), are no longer classified. I have further determined that the material proposed for redaction by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in a cover letter dated January 17, 2021, remains classified."

Ordering the declassification of the material, he made an excemption saying "the materials described above does not extend to materials that must be protected from disclosure pursuant to orders of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and does not require the disclosure of certain personally identifiable information or any other materials that must be protected from disclosure under applicable law."

 

Advertisment

"Subject to the exceptions identified above, the Attorney General shall make declassified materials described in this memorandum available to the public immediately," said the order.  

What was Crossfire Hurricane investigation?

Advertisment

The Russian election interference investigation codenamed 'Crossfire Hurricane' was conducted by the FBI from 31 July 2016 to 17 May 2017.

Trump signs executive order to tighten voter registration, demands stricter proof of citizenship

 

This counterintelligence investigation pertained to allegations that Russian President Vladimir Putin and/ or his intelligence agencies tried to help Trump win his first term in 2016.

It looked into whether people linked to Trump presidential campaign were 'coordinating, wittingly or unwittingly, with the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election.

During his first term, Trump fired the-then FBI director James Comey, partly over what he called the 'Russia hoax'. This spiralled into an obstruction of justice case, which was investigated by the former FBI director Robert Mueller. That probe did not bring out anything to directly implicate Trump.

 

Donald Trump attacks Robert Mueller ahead of testimony on Russia probe

Mueller concluded that the Russian meddling was "sweeping and systematic" but there was no proof that Trump campaign had "conspired or coordinated" with the Russian government.

The investigation was partially triggered by information from former Trump campaign member George Papadopoulos that the Russians had damaging material on Hillary Clinton, the Democratic rival of Trump for the 2016 presidential race. It was reported that the Russians were willing to release that information anonymously to help the Trump campaign.

What is the 'Trump pee' tape document, also known as Steele Dossier?

Christopher Steele is a former British spy who prepared documents that came to be called the 'Steele Dossier'. It contained allegations about how Russian intelligence and Trump campaign cooperated to defeat Hillary Clinton.

Among these documents is an explosive claim that Trump once stayed at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow where he allegedly paid Russian sex workers to perform a show for him that involved urinating on a bed. As per the claims and reports at the time, this was the same bed in which former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama had slept in, in the past.

The Steele dossier claimed that the hotel was under the control of Russian intelligence agency FSB, which had wire- tapped it with microphones and installed hidden cameras.

Ex-FBI chief James Comey violated policies with Donald Trump memos: Watchdog

In broad strokes, the suggestion was that the Russians had an understanding of, and took advantage of, Trump's sexual tastes to obtain incriminating material on him. 

The whole thing exploded into conspiracy theories, with many asking whether a 'Trump pee tape' existed somewhere.

In subsequent reported remarks, Steele has been ambivalent about it. At times, he said the pee tape probably exists but the Russians didn't need to release it.

He reportedly told his colleagues that 'It's 50–50' and that the information about it was 'anecdotal'.

Steele had shared some information with the Crossfire Hurricane investigators. The Investigation General report into the probe said that the Steele Dossier "became an important part of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation" but is silent on the pee tape claims.

Whatever happened to earlier investigations into 'Russia hoax'?

Trump, during his first term, asked FBI director James Comey to make his agency investigate the pee tape allegation. Trump "wanted to convince his wife that it wasn't true,"  wrote Comey, who was subsequently fired by Trump, in his book A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership. Comey indicated that he believed the peeing incident may have happened.

The US Inspector General investigation report of 2019 expressed doubts about the dossier's reliability and sources:
"Much of the material in the Steele election reports, including allegations about Donald Trump and members of the Trump campaign relied ...could not be corroborated," said the investigation report by Michael  Horowitz.

Trump issues series of pardons, including Russia probe figure George Papadopoulos

"Certain allegations were inaccurate or inconsistent with information gathered by the Crossfire Hurricane team; and that the limited information that was corroborated related to time, location, and title information, much of which was publicly available," said the IG report, published on December 9, 2019.

Will Crossfire Hurricane documents contain material incriminating FBI?

In 2023, the FBI released some documents with redactions from the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

Still, some of the files that were not disclosed, or reportedly went missing, could contain intelligence from the US and NATO allies on Russians and Russian agents that were feeding information to the US, American media reports said.

If fully released, that might reveal information about FBI’s problematic foreign intelligence surveillance warrants and interview notes with Christopher Steele.