Politics

Christopher Wray: FBI ‘Too Slow’ In Producing Clinton And Russia Documents

REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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The bureau has been “too slow” in providing Congress with documents related to investigations into Hillary Clinton’s email server and Russian meddling in the 2016 election, FBI Director Christopher Wray acknowledged on Tuesday.

To remedy the situation, Wray will double the number of FBI staff working on the document production, he said. The announcement comes in response to a subpoena House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte issued to the Justice Department March 22 for records related to the two investigations.

“Up until today, we have dedicated 27 FBI staff to review the records that are potentially responsive to Chairman Goodlatte’s requests. The actual number of documents responsive to this request is likely in the thousands. Regardless, I agree that the current pace of production is too slow,” Wray said in a statement.

“As the Director of the FBI, I am committed to ensuring that the Bureau is being transparent and responsive to legitimate congressional requests,” he added.

The 54 FBI staff will work two shifts per day — from 8 a.m. until midnight — “to expedite completion of this project,” President Donald Trump’s appointee, Wray, said.

Goodlatte’s subpoena sought documents related to the Justice Department inspector general’s investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email investigation as well as any FBI and DOJ documents related to applications for surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

“To date, the Department has only produced a fraction of the documents that have been requested,” Goodlatte wrote in a letter accompanying the subpoena to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

The subpoena also sought documents regarding the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility’s (OPR) determination that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe should be fired for “lack of candor” during interviews with the DOJ inspector general.

Republicans on the House Judiciary and House Intelligence Committees have questioned how the DOJ and FBI handled both the Clinton email and Russia meddling investigations. They have generally argued the agencies gave Clinton a free pass by declining to charge the former secretary of state for mishandling classified information by using a private email server while in office. They have also argued the FBI and DOJ misled judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court by using the infamous Steele dossier in applications for spy warrants against Page.

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