House Judiciary Committee Investigating FBI’s Alleged Retaliatory Surveillance of GOP Staffers

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Probes FBI Retaliation

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is investigating whether the FBI acted in retaliation when it spied on two Republican staffers while lawmakers were investigating the bureau for possible misconduct regarding the now disproven Trump–Russia collusion narrative.

In a July 13 letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Mr. Jordan said the committee is conducting oversight of the FBI.

“In 2017, Google reportedly received subpoenas for private emails and records belonging to two Republican staffers of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) while HPSCI was investigating the FBI’s misconduct,” Mr. Jordan wrote.

“These subpoenas only came to light in 2022 due to Google’s policy of alerting customers five years after law enforcement takes such action. The timing of these subpoenas raises questions about whether the subpoenas were in retaliation for HPSCI’s oversight of the FBI,” the lawmaker continued.

The Epoch Times previously reported that the Department of Justice had allegedly used grand jury subpoenas in November 2017 to secretly access personal information belonging to the two House Republican staffers, including email communications, residential addresses, and cellphone data, while Republicans were probing the FBI’s investigation into the Russia collusion allegations against former President Donald Trump.

The subpoenas (pdf) show that the DOJ requested that tech giant Google hand over personal information from former Intelligence Committee senior counsel Kash Patel, who was personally recruited by then-chair of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) to spearhead the investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Trump–Russia probe, and another staffer who is yet to be identified.

Concerns About FBI Misconduct

Google responded to the subpoena requests by Dec. 5, 2017—roughly a month after they were issued—and granted the FBI and DOJ access to an array of private information including Mr. Patel’s and the other staffers’ addresses, including mailing addresses, residential addresses, business addresses, email addresses, phone records, and personal telephone numbers.

They were also able to see billing records from both Mr. Patel and the other staffer.

However, neither Mr. Patel nor the unnamed staffer was informed that the personal documents were handed over until 2022, in line with Google’s five-year policy.

In his letter, Mr. Jordan noted Special Counsel John Durham’s May report documenting the FBI’s “misconduct in opening and executing” the Crossfire Hurricane investigation against then-presidential candidate Mr. Trump.

That report “confirms many of the concerns about FBI misconduct advanced by HPSCI in 2017,” Mr. Jordan said.

Unlawful Surveillance, Snooping

Concluding his letter, the lawmaker requested the FBI hand over “all documents and communications” related to the subpoenas and the FBI’s actions, as well as any internal communications discussing the subpoenas or retaliation against HPSCI.