The letter, signed by both lawmakers, reveals that thumb drives containing potentially critical evidence—including classified intelligence, foreign communications, and data related to the Clinton Foundation and former President Barack Obama—have been in FBI possession since 2018 but have never been reviewed.
“Thumb drives containing unreviewed info on the Clinton email scandal & mishandling of highly classified info [have] been sitting at an FBI offshoot office since 2018. I sent a letter [with] House Intel Chair Crawford asking [Director] Patel [to] review materials & report back ASAP,” Grassley wrote in a post on X.
According to a press release from the offices of Grassley and Crawford, the thumb drives are currently stored in a Northern Virginia satellite office tied to the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
The materials reportedly contain intelligence and other documents tied to the long-running Clinton email probe and related investigations.
The letter from Grassley and Crawford was prompted by new information linked to an appendix of the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General’s June 2018 report reviewing the DOJ and FBI’s handling of the original Clinton investigation.
The appendix, referred to as the “Clinton annex,” was recently declassified.
In the joint letter, the lawmakers expressed serious concern over the FBI’s handling of the case, citing what they described as a failure to perform basic investigative duties under former leadership.
“The revelations contained in the declassified OIG appendix are at the heart of why the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) became distrusted by so many under your agency’s prior directors: a failure to impartially conduct its law enforcement and intelligence mission,” the letter states.
“Concerning the issue at hand, Comey’s FBI shockingly failed to review and exploit evidence in its own possession, even though they admitted in written memos the information was necessary to conduct a ‘thorough and complete investigation.’ The FBI also failed to review and exploit other foreign intelligence information.”
The letter specifically points out that the unexamined materials reportedly include emails connected to former President Barack Obama and technical data related to classified government networks.
“Therefore, we now write to stress the importance that this material be immediately dug out from hiding and properly assessed,” Grassley and Crawford wrote.
“How evidence which purportedly includes information related to ‘former President Barack Obama’s emails’ and ‘network infrastructure diagrams for U.S. government classified networks,’ remained unreviewed by the preeminent law enforcement agency in the world is mind-numbing.”
Grassley and Crawford’s request underscores a broader call for transparency and accountability regarding past investigative decisions made during the Obama administration and the early years of the Trump administration.
Their letter urges current FBI Director Kash Patel to act swiftly and ensure the evidence is fully examined, regardless of political implications.
“We know you will not similarly ignore evidence in your agency’s possession, no matter where its exploitation or conclusions might lead,” the letter concluded.
