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Well-known
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Kash Patel discovered “burn bags” filled with thousands of documents dating back to the bureau’s Trump-Russia probe during the 2016 campaign, a source familiar with the findings told The Post Wednesday.
One of the documents, discovered in a purported secret room at the FBI’s DC headquarters, is a classified annex to the 2023 report by then-special counsel John Durham that scrutinized the original probe, code-named “Crossfire Hurricane.”
The 29-page appendix to the Durham report, which has never been publicly released, includes details of the intelligence he reviewed, according to Fox News Digital, which first reported on the discovery.
In official parlance, “burn bags” refer to containers that hold classified documents that are meant to be destroyed after a certain period of time.
It was not immediately clear whether the documents found by Patel had yet to reach their destroy date or were preserved due to an oversight by officials.
The annex will be declassified and turned over to Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for eventual public release, a source confirmed to The Post.
Grassley’s office didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry about when the documents would be released.
Fox News Digital reported Tuesday that the annex includes information that foreign sources warned members of the US intelligence community that the FBI would help spread a narrative that the 2016 Trump campaign illegally colluded with the Kremlin to win the election — before the bureau launched “Crossfire Hurricane” in July 2016.
Those involved in examining the papers include Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi and acting National Security Agency Director William Hartman.
“I want everything to be shown,” President Trump told reporters Wednesday when asked about the news. “You know, as long as it’s fair and reasonable, I think it will be shown.”
