Rep. Devin Nunes plans to submit a criminal referral to the Department of Justice following the release of newly declassified messages from former FBI agent Peter Strzok.
The California Republican suggested the DOJ and FBI misled Congress regarding documents that had been requested during an investigation of potential FISA abuses.
Nunes wants to know why these messages, released earlier this month, weren’t revealed to the committee previously.
“This is clearly lying and obstructing Congress,” Nunes claimed during an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo. “This is information that we asked for numerous times.”
“We sat in meetings with DOJ and FBI, and they sat there and stone-cold said there’s no more information, there’s no more text messages.”
RELATED: Subpoenas Authorized For Comey, Brennan, Other Obama-Era Officials Over Russia Investigation
Devin Nunes Wants to Submit Criminal Referral After Release of Peter Strzok Messages
Late last week, the DOJ declassified a batch of internal messages from Strzok who was heading up ‘Crossfire Hurricane.’
Crossfire Hurricane is the code name for the counterintelligence investigation undertaken by the FBI seeking to find links between then-candidate Donald Trump, his associates, and Russian officials.
The messages show Strzok and other associates deliberating over the investigation, while also demonstrating that the former agent was receiving real-time updates as agents were meeting with Trump campaign advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos.
Other messages indicate he also had advanced knowledge of media reports regarding then-FBI Director James Comey’s briefing to Trump regarding allegations in the Steele dossier.
Perhaps most notably, the texts show Strzok commenting on open investigations into the Trump campaign on July 28, 2016.
The FBI has insisted that the bureau had not investigated Trump before the Crossfire Hurricane investigation was opened on July 31, 2016.
These texts, Nunes believes, could have been critical and necessary “to run a proper investigation.”
“They knew that we were investigating FISA abuse, why would this not have been given to Congress? This is just another example we’re going to have to do another criminal referral,” Nunes said.
NEWS: Devin Nunes says on FOX he’s sending another criminal referral to DOJ over the Peter Strzok texts released last week.
“This is clearly lying and obstructing Congress.”
By my count, that makes 10 criminal referrals now related to the Trump-Russia investigation
— Daniel Chaitin (@danielchaitin7) December 20, 2020
RELATED: The FBI Spying Denial That Never Grows Cold
Subpoenas Authorized Over Russia Investigation
This past September, the Senate Homeland Security Committee voted to authorize over three dozen subpoenas and depositions of Obama-era officials involved in the 2016 Russia investigation into the Trump campaign.
Some of the officials named include former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan, as well as Strzok.
BREAKING: The Senate Homeland Security Committee has just authorized subpoenas for John Brennan, James Clapper and James Comey.
This is long overdue.
— Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) September 16, 2020
Strzok was removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team once messages were discovered between him and his lover, former FBI attorney Lisa Page, showing the pair exchanging rabidly anti-Trump messages.
He has recently been seen pushing debunked RussiaGate conspiracy theories involving the President, declaring he still believes Trump is “compromised by the Russians.”
Peter Strzok on Meet The Press:
“I believed at the time in 2016, and I continue to believe, that Donald Trump is compromised by the Russians. And when I say that, I mean that they hold leverage over him that makes him incapable of placing the national interest ahead of his own.” pic.twitter.com/maeHVQ3Qp4
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 13, 2020
That was shortly after DOJ documents revealed multiple members of Mueller’s investigative team “accidentally wiped” their phones after the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) requested them.
A statement from the Senate Homeland Security Committee regarding the new Strzok text messages shows there has been a history of stonewalling information.
“Agency bureaucrats have fought tooth and nail to keep records hidden,” the statement reads.
Despite transcripts showing all of the aforementioned Obama officials knew there was no evidence of Russia collusion, they continued to push their investigation.
Now we need to find out why, how, and who is going to be punished for illegal activity.
Will any of Devin Nunes’ criminal referrals actually stick?
