EXCLUSIVE: FBI Director Kash Patel discovered a trove of sensitive documents related to the origins of the Trump-Russia probe buried in multiple ‘burn bags’ in a secret room at the FBI, according to sources close to Fox News Digital. The ‘burn bag’ system is used to destroy documents designated as classified or higher. Multiple burn bags were found and filled with thousands of documents, including the classified annex to former special counsel John Durham’s final report, which includes the underlying intelligence he reviewed.
The declassification of the classified annex is being coordinated between CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and acting National Security Agency Director William Hartman. The declassified annex will be transmitted to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who will release the document to the public. The contents of the annex include findings that the U.S. intelligence community had credible foreign sources predicting that the FBI would play a role in spreading the alleged Trump-Russia collusion narrative, before the bureau launched its controversial Crossfire Hurricane probe.
Patel and his team found a previously undisclosed sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) in the FBI headquarters. Fox News Digital reached out to previous FBI Directors Christopher Wray and James Comey for comment but has not yet received any responses. Patel, in a June interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, revealed discovering a room filled with documents and computer hard drives that no one had ever seen or heard of, locked and hidden by Comey and others.
Patel has been instrumental in unraveling the alleged Russia collusion narrative. He previously served as the chief investigator in the congressional probe into alleged Trump-Russia collusion, uncovering suspected government surveillance abuse that led to the appointment of two special counsels: one, Mueller, who found no collusion, and another, Durham, who determined the premise of the investigation was bogus. Patel has been working through the documents related to the FBI’s original Trump-Russia probe and has turned them over to Grassley. Grassley is now reviewing the underlying information as part of its investigative work. Patel has also opened a criminal investigation into then-CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey.
The investigation has raised concerns about the handling of classified information within the FBI and how the agency’s past actions could impact current intelligence operations. Patel’s findings suggest that the FBI and other government agencies might have been aware of the potential for the Trump-Russia narrative to be used as a political tool, with the intelligence community being potentially manipulated or directed by foreign actors. The situation highlights the complex relationship between intelligence gathering and political influence, as well as the potential for classified information to be misused or mishandled within government institutions.