James Comey Authorized the FBI to Read the Emails of Republican House Intelligence Committee Staffers, Including the Man Who Exposed RussiaGate, Kash Patel

This. Is. Criminal.

The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday opened a formal investigation into why the FBI snooped on two Republican House Intelligence Committee staffers during the height of the Russia collusion probe, suggesting the seizure of their private email and records may have been retaliation for the panel's efforts to expose bureau misconduct.

The letter from Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to FBI Director Christopher Wray was prompted by reporting in Just the News and the New York Post revealing that Kash Patel, the chief investigator on then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes' team, had his email seized from Google back in late 2017, just before the release of a report that identified significant failures and abuses in the Russia collusion scandal.

Patel and a second unnamed committee investigator were not notified until 2022, five years after the seizure, Just the News reported.

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"These subpoenas only came to light in 2022 due to Google's policy of alerting customers five years after law enforcement takes such action," Jordan added. "The timing of these subpoenas raises questions about whether the subpoenas were in retaliation for HPSCI's oversight of the FBI."

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In an interview Thursday night, Patel reacted to word of the congressional probe but urged Congress to be more aggressive and directly subpoena the FBI evidence.

"I can definitively say it was an unlawful surveillance and snooping of me and it wasn't just me," he told the Just the News, No Noise television show. "And I think it's more than two people. And I think it's more than just telephone and bank and phone records. I think they went further than that and got congressional records. So the House better step up right now. Because right now it affects them as much it affects me.

"Congress needs to send out subpoenas, enough with the niceties and asking and put butts in the seat and get some answers to questions," he added.

Below, Christopher Wray testilying.

posted by Ace at 01:10 PM

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