Declassified FBI Records Shatter Trump-Russia Collusion Hoax

Debunking a long-held refrain by his opponents, the Trump White House has released declassified FBI records showing the bureau secretly investigated the President as a suspected Russian agent, despite the agency’s own evidence failing to establish any collusion with Russia.

The documents, identified and declassified by the White House Government Transparency Task Force chaired by veteran investigative journalist John Solomon, detail a previously undisclosed FBI investigation codenamed “Oxferd Comma.”

They show that former deep-state figures James Baker, then FBI General Counsel, and Assistant Director for Counterintelligence William Priestap approved the probe. Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were also notified that the case had been opened, but none of them told the President.

The FBI classified the case as a “Sensitive Investigative Matter,” describing its decision to open the case as the least intrusive means of addressing what it characterized as a serious national security concern. What it turned out to be was a carefully-plotted assault on a sitting president that became an all-consuming political narrative, repeated relentlessly throughout much of Trump’s first term and fueling years of investigations, media scrutiny and political attacks.

According to the newly released records, the investigation set in motion events that led Rosenstein to appoint former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate the President. Mueller’s nearly two-year investigation examined Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign but ultimately did not establish a criminal conspiracy with Russia.

The White House contends the newly declassified records demonstrate the FBI pursued the investigation despite possessing significant evidence undermining its central premise.

Among the details cited are text messages from senior FBI official Peter Strzok, who wrote to FBI attorney Lisa Page during the same week the investigation was opened that he had a “gut sense” there was “no big there there” regarding allegations of Trump-Russia collusion. Strzok and Page later became central figures in the controversy after thousands of text messages between the two—who were engaged in an extramarital affair—were made public, revealing sharply critical views of Trump and prompting accusations that political bias had infected the FBI’s handling of the case.

The White House also points to statements from former FBI Special Agent William Barnett, who later told Justice Department investigators he never saw evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Barnett described the investigation as resembling a game of “Collusion Clue,” saying investigators could place almost any person with another and treat it as evidence of collusion.

According to Solomon, the FBI had already largely discredited the Christopher Steele dossier, a collection of allegations about Trump and his campaign’s supposed ties to Russia that played a significant role in the bureau’s early Trump-Russia investigation. Previously released FBI records showed agents found many of its claims uncorroborated, based on rumor or contradicted by available evidence. The dossier’s primary subsource later told the FBI much of the information amounted to hearsay and barroom conversation rather than verified intelligence.

The White House further argues the records reinforce findings made by Special Counsel John Durham in his 2023 report, which concluded the FBI lacked sufficient factual basis to open the original Crossfire Hurricane investigation into alleged Trump-Russia collusion.

In interviews discussing the newly released records, Solomon called the documents one of the most significant disclosures to emerge from the Russia investigation, arguing they show the FBI formally investigated a sitting president as a suspected Russian agent after internal evidence had failed to substantiate that allegation.

Solomon also said the documents could become part of an ongoing federal investigation examining whether government officials engaged in a broader conspiracy to violate Trump’s civil rights by initiating investigations without sufficient factual predication. He said witnesses have recently appeared before a federal grand jury and that prosecutors continue reviewing evidence related to the government’s handling of what Trump characterized as an ongoing "witch hunt” designed to undermine his presidency.

The White House Government Transparency Task Force said additional declassified records are expected to be released as its review of the government’s actions during the Russia investigation continues.