Explosive New Texts Reveal Internal Apprehension During Russia Probe: "Trump Was Right"

Government documents revealed in court filing Thursday, show that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents -- tasked with investigating Russian interference in 2016 United States elections and Donald Trump's presidential campaign -- were concerned about the agency’s illegal conduct.

Explosive new text messages disclosed in the court filings by former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn’s attorney, Sidney Powell, show that agents believed the investigation was being run by FBI officials who wanted Hillary Clinton to win the 2016 presidential election.

“[D]oing all this election research – I think some of these guys want a [C]linton presidency,” one agent wrote on Aug. 11, shortly after the FBI opened the [code-named] 'Crossfire Hurricane' investigation against then candidate Trump.

During the transition period, in one series of texts, one agent admits that “Trump was right” when he tweeted that the FBI was delaying his briefings as incoming president so they could cook up evidence against him.

The text messages were sent the same day as the infamous Jan. 5 Oval Office meeting between Obama, Biden, Comey[then FBI Director], Sally Yates, and Susan Rice, and a day after Trump tweeted: “The ‘Intelligence’ briefing on so-called ‘Russian hacking’ was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case,” Trump tweeted on January 3. “Very strange!”

“So razor is going to stay open???” an agent wrote in a series of text messages on Jan. 5.

“[Y]ep,” another FBI agent responded. “[C]rimes report being drafted.”

“F,” the first agent wrote back.

“[W]hat’s the word on how [Obama’s] briefing went?” one agent asked, referring to the Jan. 5 meeting.

“Dont know but people here are scrambling for info to support certain things and its a mad house,” an FBI agent responded.

“[J]esus,” an agent wrote back. “[T]rump was right. [S]till not put together….why do we do this to ourselves. [W]hat is wrong with these people[?]?

In a series of texts a week later, wrote that the illegal leak of top secret information about Flynn’s phone calls with Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak to the news media came directly from the Obama White House.

“FYI -- someone leaked the Flynn calls with Kislyak to the WSJ,” the agent wrote.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” another FBI agent responded sarcastically. “I’ll resume my duties as Chief Morale Officer and rectify that.”

“Published this morning by Ignatius,” an agent said, referencing the Jan. 12 column from Washington Post writer David Ignatius that included leaked top-secret information about Flynn’s calls with Kislyak.

“It’s got to be someone on staff,” an agent wrote. “[Presidential Daily Briefing] staff. Or WH seniors.”

One series of texts show that agents were worried about how a new attorney general might view the actions taken against Trump during the investigation. But shortly after then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) was confirmed to be Trump’s new attorney general, media and Obama holdovers within DOJ immediately moved to force Sessions to recuse himself from overseeing the department’s investigations.

“[T]he new AG might have some questions….then yada yada yada…we all get screwed,” one agent wrote.

“[W]e all went and purchased professional liability insurance,” another agent texted on Jan. 10, 2017, the same day CNN leaked details that then-President-elect Trump had been briefed by Comey about the bogus dossier compiled by ex-British intelligence agent Christopher Steele who was working for a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

The fake dossier was funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign.

“Holy crap,” an agent responded. “All the analysts too?”

“Yep,” the first agent said. “All the folks at the Agency as well.”

“[C]an I ask who are the most likely litigators?” an agent responded. “[A]s far as potentially suing y’all[?]”

“[H]aha, who knows….I think [t]he concern when we got it was that there was a big leak at DOJ and the NYT among others was going to do a piece,” the first agent said.

In a letter Thursday, to the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, Barr revealed that Steele was the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation from 2009 to 2011 for suspected contact with Russian intelligence officers.

"A footnote in the Inspector General's report contains information, which up till now has been classified and redacted, bearing on the reliability of the Steele dossier," Barr wrote. "The FBI has declassified the relevant portion of the footnote, number 334, which states that 'the Primary Sub-source was the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation from 2009 to 2011 that assessed his or her contacts with suspected Russian intelligence officers.'"

According to court documents filed Friday by the U.S. government as part of the Flynn case, William J. Barnett -- an FBI official who served on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team -- said the prosecution of Flynn was part of an attitude to “get Trump,” and that he did not wish to pursue a Trump-Russia collusion investigation as it was “not there" and considered it to be a "dead end."

Barnett made the comments during an interview on Sept. 17 at the Justice Department, before Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri Jeffrey Jensen, who was tapped by Attorney General Bill Barr to review the case against Flynn. Jensen has joined U.S. Attorney John Durham’s team in his review of the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.

According to his FBI 302, “Barnett thought the case theory was ‘supposition on supposition,’” the 302 stated, and added that the “predication” of the Flynn investigation was “not great,” and that it “was not clear” what the “persons opening the case wanted to ‘look for or at.’”

Barnett said after six weeks of investigating  he was “still unsure of the basis of the investigation concerning Russia and the Trump campaign working together, without a specific criminal allegation.”

The 302 stated that “direction concerning the investigation was coming from senior officials," specifically then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who Barnett believed was “directing” the Flynn investigation.

Even as the investigation dragged on, “Barnett still did not see any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government,” the 302 stated.

Following the review of the federal government’s investigation by Jensen, the government had moved to dismiss all charges against Flynn that had been previously brought by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan refused to dismiss the case but Instead, appointed a left-wing shadow prosecutor, whose partners represent former DOJ official Yates, to smear Flynn and attempt to continue the baseless criminal case against him.

A federal appeals court recently denied Flynn's request to force Sullivan to dismiss the case.

Here is part of the document filed Thursday by Sidney Powell, followed by that filed by the government of Barnett's interview.