GOP Senators Johnson, Grassley request all text messages produced by FBI's Crossfire Hurricane team

GOP Sens. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin, and Chuck Grassley, Iowa, have sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting the complete set of intelligence records pertaining to the Crossfire Hurricane -- i.e. Russia investigation -- team. 

In August, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), of which Johnson is chairman, issued a subpoena to the FBI for the records in question. The letter, sent earlier this month, raises three issues related to that request.

The letter first states that in April of 2020, the committee asked for "all intelligence records, foreign or domestic, received or reviewed by the Crossfire Hurricane team, as well as all FBI records about those intelligence products."

As a result of the request, the FBI did not produced the requested records and instead directed the committee to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Last month, "DNI Ratcliffe identified a different intelligence report from late July 2016. That intelligence report apparently relates to candidate Hillary Clinton 'approv[ing] a campaign plan to stir up a scandal against candidate Donald Trump by tying him to [Russian President] Putin and the Russians' hack of the [DNC].' "

The October letter reiterates the committee's emphasis on collecting all intelligence "received or made available to the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane team," including and especially as it pertains to reports including then candidate-Hillary Clinton. 

Second, the letter requests text and Lync messages that the FBI has been partially withholding. 

"Throughout our inquiry into the department's mishandling of Crossfire Hurricane, we have requested the production of various text or Lync messages for different individuals. Our committees previously had received only about a dozen total text messages from former Director James Comey, and approximately several dozen text messages belonging to former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe," reads the letter. 

The letter notes that "additional text or Lync messages directly relevant to our inquiry have recently been made public; however, many of them appear to have not been produced previously."

The senators once again request "all text messages" relating to the Crossfire Hurricane team.

Lastly, the letter requests that the bureau produce unclassified text and Lync messages belonging to McCabe and send them directly to the committees. The FBI recently made the texts "available in a reading room," despite the specifics of the initial subpoena.

"The public interest in these records is significant, and they have remained hidden for too long," concludes the letters, which asks that all materials be delivered to the Committees no later than Oct. 6.